Java Compatiblity

[flrancho]

I've gotten a single Java and have come to love the species. I'd like to get another one at some point so that I'll have a pair, and possibly breed them. My current one does not act aggressively towards my current birds, but they are intimidated by her and she is a little "pushy" with them especially when food is involved. She doesn't attack them, but more or less intimidates a lot of them away from the food dishes when she is eating. I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on what can be kept with the Javas. I've heard not to mix them with passive species, but then I've heard others say they haven't had problems with their Javas and passive species.

Anyway, if I'm wanting a pair, possibly to breed, but still what some variety in my flight, what species can I mix with the Javas? What has everyone else had success with?

[wellingtoncdm]

I have mixed spice and society finches with them in LARGE cages. In a huge outdoor aviary they also lived with owls, cordons and parrot finches. They weren't mean or aggressive just pushy and they made other finches nervous. They bicker and squabble and are tougher on each other than the smaller birds.

[flrancho]

Thanks. Mine is actually being kind of a bully. I don't know if its because she's very young or because she's molting and she's just "moody". Basically, if she wants it, its hers. If another bird is eating egg food and she decides she wants it, she'll hop up there, intimidate the other bird, and possibly "chase"/hop after it on the bottom of the cage some distance until it is away from the egg food, then she'll leave the bird alone and go back to eat the egg food. Same thing applies if someone else is in the swing, or in the bath; if she wants it, she'll go up to them, chase them away from it and then go back to the item and use it. She usually never touches them, just more or less intimidates them and then kind of hops after them if its on the cage bottom, or follows them from perch to perch for some distance, until their away from from whatever it is they had that she wants.

For some reason, she was also quite preturbed yesterday when my male Silverbill started singing. He sings very rarely, and this was the first time he's sung since we got the Java. She followed him around while he was singing from perch to perch. He'd fly to another, she'd follow him. Getting closer and closer to him until he'd fly off and she'd follow again. Once he stopped singing, she stopped harassing him. I don't know if she was interested or intrigued by his singing and thus following him, or if she is maybe a he and viewed the singing as a threat and wanted him to stop.

[kenny]

hi
i agree with mike,they do squabble a lot and are very pushy and most of mine where kept in a large aviary......the biggest problem with them is when they are breeding if they make a nest they will deter intuders from going anywhere near it to the point of attacking them not all of them do it but some are really nasty...i am not trying to deter you from keeping them its just that i have been breeding them since the 80s and i like to point out thier good points aswell as the bad.if you decide to breed them in a seperate cage then they will be fine,they just dont like intruders.just as a footnote do you know the sex of the one you have,as they are notoriously hard to sex

ken

[flrancho]

When I first got the bird, I suspected it was a female. I saw a website that described, with pictures, how to sex them based on their beak and eye rings. The bird was a juvenile, but the eye rings and beak looked a lot like the females, and she didn't sing.

However, as time passed, she started making little churring, cheaping sounds (it actually almost sounds like the noise cockatiels make when they are breeding, if you've heard that). I'm not sure if this is a song, or just calls. I've also since the the bird do the mating dance hopping up and down with head angled downward to my Spice Finch on several occasions. Most of the time the bird makes the churring noise when it does this, but not all the time. The beak/eye ring features still look female, but the bird is young. So because of the dance, I'm suspecting she might really be a he.

[kenny]

hi
you may well be right if it is dancing,it may not get its full song if it is a juvenile i8 would wait a while longer to make sure because you dont want 2 of the same sex if you intend on breeding them


ken