Mean Male

[fideaux64]

I have a good-sized cage with a male and female zebra.

During their first go at breeding, the male plucked and harried the female pretty aggressively.

I added more nesting material which may have helped, but in retrospect I probably should have done that earlier.

The adult male took the lead in feeding the new birds. He is a splendid looking bird.

Today one of the two juveniles fledged, and within hours the adult male was seen plucking feathers from the newest bird.

I have no interest in keeping these birds if the male continues to abuse his family, however natural it may be.

Shall I:
1) Wait until the young ones can feed themselves and then permanently remove the adult male
2) Add more nesting material
3) Add an adult male and let the two of them fight it out /s
4) Wait for the family to work out their problems
5) other

thanks in advance.

[lovezebs]

fideaux64

* Personally, I would remove the male from the equation at this point.

Unless the clutch is more than five or six chicks, the Mum can feed them on her own without any major issues.

Place dad in another cage, close to the initial family cage, he may continue to feed through the bars, but will be unable to pluck anyone.

If you have fledglings, make certain you supply loads of hard boiled eggs, and spray millet close to the perch where they like to sit, and a very shallow dish of water on the ground.

Eventually you will see them starting to sample a bit of food here and there, but not ready to be independent yet.

Do not take babies away from Mum, until you are 150% sure that they are both EATING and DRINKING on their own, or they will starve to death.

Let me know how things are going.

[ac12]

I had a male that was similar.
At a certain point just before or after fledging, he would start to PLUCK the chicks and his mate. He had really PLUCKED his mate, so I remove the hen so she could recover from her PLUCKING. But as soon as I saw him PLUCKING his chicks, OUT he came and into the male community cage. And I put the hen back in to take care of her chicks, which she did very well.

On subsequent matings, his behavior did NOT change. So as soon as I saw him pluck his mate or any of the chicks, I knew his PLUCKING has started, and I immediately removed him from the breeding cage.

A chick (or any bird) that is PLUCKED BADLY, will not have enough feathers to keep it warm, and could die from exposure. And I cannot but think that the constant plucking would be painful and traumatizing to the chick.

So, IMHO, remove the male NOW.
The hen will take care of the chicks.
And remove the nest as soon as the last chick fledges.

[fideaux64]

Thanks lovezebs and ac12

The male seems to be leaving the chicks alone, but continues to harrass the female.

Three more questions:

1) the male is currently doing the clear majority of the feeding. If I remove the male, will the female step up?

2) What is the endgame for the male? I'd prefer to avoid having birds in two cages.

3) Why remove the nest? The fledglings (sex tbd) won't be ready to breed in months.

[MisterGribs]

If you don't want to give him a cage of his own, my advice would be to rehome him to someone who knows about his aggressive behavior, and is prepared to deal with it.

I'm dealing with a male of my own that is extremely aggressive as well, but only to his eggs and chicks. He leaves the female alone but killed at least one chick of mine and desperately injured the other.

[ac12]

When I had to remove the male, the hen took over feeding the chicks. The begging chicks will get her to feed them.
Make sure she has plenty of easy to eat food, like chopped up hard boiled egg.
At a certain point she may switch from egg to more seeds. Just keep an eye on what she is eating.

I normally remove the nest so that the parents are not distracted with starting another clutch.

Chances are that the hen is already carrying sperm from the male and will lay eggs now. The hen starts to lay eggs after the first chick fledges to soon after the last chick fledges.

Problem. As the chicks grow, the males will want to mate. So they will end up mating with their mother or sister. I separate the males into a male community cage, as soon as I can identify the males. This is to prevent unplanned population growth.

I band ALL my birds.
Chicks are banded with different color bands, so that I can easily tell them apart from each other. Because it is easy to get them mixed up as they fly around trying avoid you catching them.

I do not know how the male will behave in a male community cage. But without a female to mate with, he may calm down.

Caution. Be VERY careful if you have 3 or 5 birds in a cage. The zebras will pair up, and the odd bird left out may be picked on. I had 2 birds that were plucked to death (in 2 separate incidents), because they were the odd bird in the cage.

[Gracie85]

The male wants to mate and start a new clutch already. He does not wait for the current chicks to wean and become independent.

He is plucking them both for feathers to re-line the nest with, and to try to drive them away so he can have the female all to himself for another round of nesting.

Taking away the nest can help stop that urge. If you leave the nest, the female will lay more eggs and start sitting, and you will have more babies in just a couple of weeks.

The current juveniles will be fine sleeping on perches, they do not need the nest.

If the male does not stop plucking or harassing the others, remove him for now. The female will feed the young. If you put his cage right next to theirs, he may still feed them through the bars, but he won't be able to hurt them.

It's not that he's mean or aggressive, he's simply following his natural urges, which say make a good nest, mate and get a clutch of eggs started, get the juveniles away and on their own as fast as possible so that he can start another clutch....instinct says make as many babies as fast as possible so that your species is successfully maintained. It's not meanness at all. Living in a cage, there just isn't enough space for it all to work out peacefully. In nature, the babies would be able to fly away from his plucking and harassing, but call out/beg for food when they needed it until they were all on their own.

So, you have to compensate for their life in a cage by doing things like removing the nest as soon as possible after fledging, and maybe separating him until the young are bigger.

[FinchLady]

I have had Societies in the past but have been considering Zebras (only 2 males as pets). From these and other posts, sounds like Zebras are much more aggressive than Society finches? My Societies were sweet gentle birds with friendly personalities...great as companion pets. Would Zebras be less interactive with people? I love the beautiful patterns/colors on zebra finches.

[ac12]

FL
Zebras are infinitely more aggressive than societies. And some are worse than others.

There is no telling if the 2 males will get along. And if they do, for how long. I had a pair that were just fine together for months. Then the dominate male suddenly turned on the other male, and killed him. I was so MAD at him, that if I were at home, I would have flushed him down the toilet. He killed my favorite penguin zebra that was the core of my penguin breeding plans.

I have since given away all my zebras, and am concentrating on gouldians.

From my experience, zebras do not interact with people/me.

[FinchLady]

Wow, talk about 'a cautionary tale'.... yikes! That's way too much drama for a little old lady that just wants to enjoy some birdie company. Good Grief, I'd have to seek professional counseling...LOL

thanks for the heads up....therapy sessions averted

FL

[ac12]

I had to play musical cages, trying to find pairs that would get along with each other. And I had 2 zebras that would ATTACK whoever I paired them with, so they went into solitary confinement. This used up too many of my cages, and contributed to my abandoning breeding zebras.

[fideaux64]

An update.

I removed the cavity nest, leaving only a cup nest. All four birds sleep on the perches.

The father has settled down measurably, although he acts territorial and occasionally chases the young ones.

The mother's plucked feathers have grown back, which is reassuring.

The juveniles' beaks are reddening, and it seems we have a male and a female.

So now it's like the four of them are stuck in a long family vacation car ride, at a temporary equilibrium.

[ac12]

The chicks are all fledged? If so, remove ALL the nests. Any nest in the cage may trigger the male into breeding mode.

If you do NOT want to breed any more, you will need to get another cage and separate the Males and Females. Or you will have an unexpected population growth when dad mates with mom or a daughter. Or son mates with mom or sister.

After they are weaned. I separate the father, then separate the males chicks as soon as I can identify the males.

Did you band the parents?
I found that when I waited too long, after the chicks finish their molt, it was difficult to tell the difference between the parent and chicks. And I got them mixed up once. I figured out my mistake by seeing which female dad snuggled up with, must be mom.

[sparrowsong98]

FinchLady OH YEAH! My two are sassy little brats. They have their good point, but right now I am arranging to borrow a cage from my aunt to put the hen in so she will stop plucking the male... Poor Macho. He has feathers gone from the back of the neck and the tail, and that make the feathers left look like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

[FinchLady]

Sparrowsong98:
Oh my goodness! Zebs seem to require frequent 'Time Out'. I think I'll stick with Societies or another passive type finch. Just want to enjoy my birds...no feather pulling-eye plucking drama, thank you. lol