when to separate the young zebras from the parents?

fantail · Post by **fantail** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:01 am

I'm sure this has already been answered somewhere, but how old should the young zebra be before I separate them? I have two babies who hatched almost 5 weeks ago. They still do not have their adult colors, but one appears to be working on starting a song. They eat almost entirely on their own but still beg for, and are given, food from the parents occasionally. I have someone lined up who wants the babies, just want to make sure I wait long enough.

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:46 am

I would say at a month old you can remove them from there parents. The first 3 weeks they in the nest and a week after they fledge they are more on there own and can be seperated from there parents. Iplan on keeping mine with the parents for about 6 - 8 weeks only because the flight cage i have is big enough to hold all the babies.

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:41 pm

To be 100% safe if you're not sure, wait till they stop begging.
Paul.

williep · Post by **williep** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:46 am

The most important thing to consider before removing babies from parents is are they completely weaned. This means they should be independent in all aspects, flying eating on their own and drinking on their own. Once you observe this for a couple of days you can remove them. I always ensure that all birds in the clutch are weaned before removing them all at once, so don't just remove them when you see one baby eating and drinking but all of them.

Post by **Sally** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:30 am

At the FIC, linked at left, there is a chart under each Species info that gives weaning ages. I have noticed that my fledglings of all species start trying out foods fairly quickly, but they still need to stay with the parents, some species longer than others. Zebras mature much quicker than many others. I look at the time between fledging and weaning as training days, when they learn from their parents how to be Zebras (or whatever species they are), so it is very important.

williep · Post by **williep** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:12 am

Sally raises an important point which perhaps I did not highlight enough in my reply. The weaning test is complete independence, which means the parents must not be feeding the young anymore.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention sally!

Post by **Sally** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:07 pm

I learned the hard way. I separated two Owl babies from their parents long after the projected weaning date, and both were eating and drinking on their own. One juvie did just great, but the other one immediately started going downhill, got all puffy. I put him back with his parents, but a day later he was gone. Zebras are much tougher, but this points up the fact that separation from the parents is very stressful on the young ones and is another time that they need extra attention. With clutches of 4-5, they seem to do better, they have each other to lean on, but these 1-2 clutches seem to take the separation harder. Some of mine have been absolutely pitiful to watch, they get so timid for that first day or two, they just sit on a perch and call for Mom and Dad.