FINCHforum

I have two zebra finches - Cooper (female) and her mate. Cooper was mating fine with her new boyfriend, she laid 2 eggs, and she's been sitting on them. As of yesterday, she's been so aggressive! She's been chasing the male around like crazy, to the point he has a scratch on his beak and the corner near his nose has a pluck mark and was bleeding a little. I said enough is enough and separated them. I have no idea what to do. They were just fine. They did the deed, made a nest, and laid the eggs. Once she started sitting on the eggs, things went south and she's been so mean! The second he is within her sights she starts chasing him and screaming. What do I do? Keep them separated or get her a new mate?

lnlovesorange
debbie276
Sally

Not an expert on zebra behavior, sorry.
Best to let a zebra expert answer

Best of luck

hi
keep him separted on nearby cage for half or one day , reintroduce him again and keep monitoring

She does not want him in the nest, so she chases him away. Remove him, once the babies hatch you can try adding him back to help with feeding but watch her. Hens can raise a clutch on her own but it can wear her down.

yes i forgot it but cindy explain it verry well , what isuggest is for short and passanger case , if the hen still chasing him so leave her incubating the eggs at her own , once hatched reintroduce him if still same so she has to raise them .
lot of single zebs hen (or cock) on my folcks ,had raised whole clutche at their own and doing it verry well and better than single soc !!!

Thank you everyone. I just moved him to the cage next door and they seem to be doing much better

Remember this as an example of how a pair of compatible zebras will have one of them turn on the other. I had a MM buddy pair, where one turned on the other and killed him. That ticked me off, as the one that was killed was my favorite, and I wanted to keep breeding him.

Although I have seem a similar behavior with gouldians. Sometimes the hen will come out of the nest and aggressively chase the male. The male has to hang onto the side of the cage, as any time he landed on a perch, she charged him. I had to separate them as being incompatible with each other. BTW, both were RH/OH-PB/WB-YB.

ac12 It was really weird though. She laid 2 eggs and sometimes they even sat together on them. Once they showed signs of being fertile, she started becoming very defensive. Now that they are in the same cage but with a grid wall between them, she's perfectly fine. He can sing to her, come near the wall, etc and she doesn't attack him. They have been in the same cage for a few weeks before the eggs came along. I'm hoping she's just being overprotective.

Can never tell what is going on with zebra finches and their aggression.
That is why I finally gave up on them. I just got tired of playing musical cages, looking for compatible groupings/pairs of zebras.