Page 1 of 1

trouble male society finch

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 3:34 am
by goldfinchowl
I recently got society finches about 3 weeks ago, I'm a beginning birdkeeper.

I have 2 black and white, 1 dark brown and white and the others r light brown an d white, 1 female is a crested light brown and white.
The black r female and male. The person I got them from on craigslist didn't give me any info about them.
The black male had a shorter tail which has grown out. He is a little bit odd. I think he was still young.

But the problem is that he sometimes chases the light brown females away from food and even around the cage or pecks at them aggressively and forces them off perches.

The black female sort of acts protective towards him, but she is interested in the darker brown male and sometimes seens interested in the light brown male.
The dark female can also be a bit more aggressive at times but not bad like this young male.

They came from different cages/groups.
They don't act like a flock.
The crested female gets left out a lot and she is the one he was picking on today which was really rotten of him.

Is this just a stage or could this continue or even escalate with this black and white young male harrassing the light brown females?
He doesn't sing nor dance to any of them. He sings the least of the other 2 males.

I thought society finches weren't aggressive towards each other?

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:16 am
by CathyCraftz
Separate either the bully or the victims. Society finches are generally passive and avoid fighting, so you may want to look into what made them fight.

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:18 am
by Gracie85
Can you post pictures? Are you sure the black and white one is actually a society finch?

And yes, pull out the bully. A mean finch can seriously injure or even kill another one.

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 1:41 pm
by goldfinchowl
CathyCraftz
Gracie85
Thank you

Originally with his shorter tail he looked a little different but now that his tail has grown he looks and sounds just like a male society

If I pull him out he will be alone, I thought society finches especially couldn't be alone?

He is odd. When he came he was the only one in a tiny travel cage that had difficulty figuring out what a door was. And again when I moved him he was the only one that wouldn't go through the door. But he was easy to catch, too easy. He sometimes misses perches but then just stays on a bottom perch or lower perch. But he flies well when he wants to, especially to harass the females he is very good and precise.
Maybe he is being intimidated by the other males some and then turns around and is aggressive to the females that r less likely to defend themselves.

Because there is divisions and problems among them maybe if I got a few other different kinds of finches it would distract them and hopefully even bond them together?

Hard to find birds in my area of smaller towns.
Maybe canary? 1 or 3?

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 1:50 pm
by goldfinchowl
One closest is the problem one but his tail now looks long and thin not scruffy and short.
Next to him is black female who seems to treat him like a baby society.
And next to her is the dark brown male who sings the most and likes black female .
Dark brown male sleeps separate from all the rest at night. Sometimes black female goes to him but eventually she leaves to go sleep with the rest.
The 2 black ones usually bath last. Especially the young black male is almost always last.

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:29 pm
by Babs _Owner
goldfinchowl

I dont know how many total societies you have. But if you remove him and put in another........the two will bond.

Yep, societies dont like to be alone at all.

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 11:38 pm
by wildbird
If you get another one for him, try to get the same size. He is much smaller than the others. Could he be much younger than the others? You could keep the two in a separate cage for awhile, until they bonded, and then put the two in with the rest of them. How big is your cage? I think canaries would be intimidating to the other birds, by their size.

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 7:24 am
by Fraza
SO IS THER 6 2 males and 4 females ???

If so I WOUKD pair one Male to two females and then re introduce after about a week

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:54 am
by goldfinchowl
Babs
wildbird
Thank you

I saw him and a light brown female preening each other. He seems happier.

Yes I wonder if I was given a very young male. He does sing occasionally. Not as much as my other 2 males.

The 2 adult society males r now busy with the new gouldian. They have knocked him off the perch but he too knocks them off. I added a perch right next to the main one they were fighting for and that so far has stopped their fighting. They have been too busy to pick o n Junior which is good.
I call my two adult society males R2 & D2

R2 the more dominant one and more aggressive, escaped yesterday. Must have gotten out through the center divider gap. Fortunately, I do love the the ability to divide the cage, I moved all the birds over to one side, divided the cage and opend the door and put the bird baths they love and he went in pretty quickly.

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 2:48 am
by lovezebs
goldfinchowl

How big is your cage?
How many birds in total?
How many males? How many females?

You mentioned a Gouldian... is there only one?

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 5:06 am
by goldfinchowl
The bigger the cage I put the society in the more trouble it seemed. I did also increase lighting and gave some egg food. I think I put them in breeding mode

Re: trouble male society finch

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 7:45 pm
by Egret
His size, but more importantly his slouchy posture on the perch, and the way he's a little fluffed up tells me he's a juvenile. He's probably the baby of the hen you said treats him as one.
The easiest thing would be to just remove the bully to another cage by himself, give the "flock" time to readjust and the juvenile time to get strong and confident, and then try re-introducing the former bully to the flock.
Another way would be to remove the juvenile and his "mother" from the cage, and put them in one of their own until he is strong and confident. Then change all the perches around in the big cage, put the feeders/waterers in different locations, and re-introduce them that same day, while the flock is disoriented from the cage being rearranged.
If the bullying starts up again, I'd remove the bully and find him a new home. I have about 85 societies, and there are none that will bully a juvenile, because I've removed those birds from the gene pool. It's not normal Society behavior. I started breeding my Societies specifically to be foster-parents for other species, back in the 1980's, so that kind of behavior was unacceptable for foster parents. The rare bullies were never allowed to reproduce, and I either make a pet of them or give them to someone who will. I breed Societies now just because I love them, but that's partly because I haven't allowed the less-lovable ones to contribute to my gene pool.
Hope this helps!