Penguin Zebras

[Rispa]

After looking through the mutations of Zebras and Societies, I think I've decided that the Penguins are the cutest and I would like a pair or two of them to be my first finches. Before deciding for sure I had two questions: Are there any breeders in the Houston or surrounding area? Do they have any genetic problems that I should be concerned with?

[cindy]

I have 6 pairs and young.....they are a bit difficult to get to raise a large clutch...they can not be placed with pieds even split to pied. I am also going to try to do fawn Penguins once I move stock out.

no genetic issues, good stock is essential

[Rispa]

I'm going to have just the Penguins, so I have no problems with avoiding mixing. Out of curiosity though, why are pieds so bad for Penguins?

[minori]

I'm going to have just the Penguins, so I have no problems with avoiding mixing. Out of curiosity though, why are pieds so bad for Penguins?

Well what's the point of having penguins if you're just gonna mess it all up with pied markings?

[cindy]

I'm going to have just the Penguins, so I have no problems with avoiding mixing. Out of curiosity though, why are pieds so bad for Penguins?

Penguins can be combined with some mutations for some very interesting effects but as explained in

http://www.efinch.com/species/pengzeb.htm

for some reason the pied will remove the orange in the male penguins cheeks and flanks...male then look like the females...to me it ruins the lines of a pure penguin...personally I would even avoid adding NG if their is a split to pied in the background.

You can if you find either a male or female penguin take a normal gray or fawn and pair it with the penguin....you will get splits and penguin offspring...not everytime put you will get penguins in clutches.

[ac12]

Penguins are nice to look at, but....

...penguins, like most zebras are aggressive birds. Chasing, hissing and fighting drove me nuts. I had to split my zebras into pairs or individuals, to minimize aggression. To do that I had had to play musical cages to arrange my birds in a combination that had the least aggression. Maybe with a LARGER cage you won't have the problem I did.

As a separate issue, I have my non-breeding birds separated by sex, to prevent unplanned population growth.

When you get your penguins, you want to get unrelated birds. You do not want to mate brother to sister.

I breed all my birds in individual breeding cages, one pair per cage. This lets me control which birds breed with which birds, so I know the lineage of the chicks.

As Cindy mentioned, pied could ruin the look of a penguin. I breed penguins because of how they look.

[cindy]

Gary..I like the fawn look but may just do the regular penguin...I like the contrast. Mine are separated by pairs except for the juvi flight....and that will not last long...so I will be pairing those up as well.

[Rispa]

When separating birds can you separate a pair in one cage with one on one side of the divider and the other on the other side, or is it better to have a couple of birds on each side? Instead of using a cage with a divider is having two separate cages better? What sized cage is best for these guys. I know it doesn't have to be as big as for some of the other finches, but with the aggression what would be ideal? For birds in the cages is an even or odd number best? Lastly is banding recommended? The woman I got my baby Bourke from banded some of her babies and a Gouldian and a Red Rump Parakeet chick got caught and somehow died from the banding. How can I avoid any deaths caused by banding?

[cindy]

I keep my pairs together...do not separate them. The young are in a flight until pairs can be made of them and they are mature. They seem to do better parent wise at about 7 to 8 months old.

If you band your bird be sure it is the proper fitting band and make sure there is nothing in the cages they can get caught on.

[ac12]

I divide a pair with M on one side and F on the other side only if one attacks the other. I keep them separated like this for a week or 2, so they can see each other but not attack. After a couple weeks, the aggressive one has calmed down enough that I can remove the divider and they get on with mating.

You can put a pair MF on both sides and have them mating. But there is the risk of one wanting to mate with a bird on the other side. To eliminate that problem I use a solid divider, so they cannot see the other birds.

When you set the birds up for breeding, think about how crowded the cage would be with 5 fledglings + 2 parents. That will help in determining if the cage is large enough. Divinding a small breeder 24x16x16 will result in a 12x16x16 cage. IMHO that is too small once the chicks fledge.

I use both 30x18x18 and 24x16x16 divided breeding cages.
The divider makes it easier when you have to catch the birds. Slide the divider in and they have less space to get away from you.
Also when doing nest checks, I slide in a SOLID divider, so the parents can't see what I'm doing to the nest.

You do NOT want an odd number of birds in a cage. The odd bird out will get picked on, sometimes BADLY picked on.

I band all my chicks, close or split bands. You can't avoid all accidents but try not to have anything that will hook onto the band. And make sure you don't use a too small band, as that will choke the leg.

[Rispa]

Okay, so I will probably need at least two 24x16x16 cages. I've never seen the solid dividers. Where do you get them or how do you make them?

[Rispa]

Oh and what size band do you use for Zebras?

[cindy]

I use the open split bands...in colors. I use perler beads split. Martie sells them @ https://sites.google.com/site/finchlegbands/

Or you can make your own by cutting/splitting them with a fine pair of scissors and using a banding tool.

L&M sells a wide array of leg bands http://www.lmbirdlegbands.com/

[ac12]

My solid dividers is just a piece of cardboard from a cereal box, or a corrugated cardboard from a shipping box.
Just make sure that the cardboard divider goes all the way up, to completely separate the cage with no gaps. They will sometimes try to sneak over the divider if it does not go all the way up.

[cindy]

To funny Gary...I can just picture them "hopping the wall"!!!