Wife swapping zebs?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2019 11:49 am
Hi,
I need some advise on four of a group of six I've been trying to integrate. My Original pair Scarlet and Vision, a lone male, Paragot, who I got to keep Vision and Scarlet's offspring with, but he passed away, and three new, Iolanthie, Loki and Emisha.
Initially it looked like everyone was going to mix ok, but over the next few days, fights started to break out.
I decided to take a step back and split them into pairs, Loki and Iolanthie who seemed to bond from day one, Scarlet and Vision and Paragot and Emisha.
The third pair don't seem to be bonding at all. When they were all getting on Scarlet and Paragot seemed to spend a lot of time together and looked like they were scoping out nesting sites. Emisha and Vision also seemed quite interested in each other, but Scarlet always chased Emisha away and Paragot chased Vision away.
Scarlet has now started to pluck Vision, who is looking very stressed and has started to hold his foot up, although I can't see anything wrong with it and he is eating and drinking fine. I'm hoping he's just knocked it in all the drama!
I've isolated him, with Emisha as he did look like he was being bullied by his original female, but now they're all calling frantically and fluttering at the bars.
I don't know what to do for the best. Is it right to swap their partners? Should I put the original male and new female in another room so they can bond? I've just caught him singing to her, is that a good sign?
I'm at my wits end with them. I'm newish to finches and although I've read pages and pages of info from the internet and I can't seem to find an answer to this problem.
My nearest avian vet is an hour away each way (I didn't know this when I got them), even if I take him I'm afraid of what the journey will do to him.
All three pairs were supposed to sleep in my flight cage at night and have access to the spare room that their cages are in all day. If I let one pair out at a time to stretch their wings the two pairs spend their whole time fluttering around the cage of the other pair.
I was happy to keep them separately in their pairs indefinitely, but everyone is so stressed (including me!) I feel so out of my depth as everything I try just seems to stress them out, but leaving them to it means Vision gets bullied.
I'm only in this position because I allowed them to breed and then couldn't imagine giving up the baby, but then he passed away and here I am! I'd read four was a terrible number to try and keep together, and I did loads of research, so I thought I was doing the right thing.
Any advice?
I need some advise on four of a group of six I've been trying to integrate. My Original pair Scarlet and Vision, a lone male, Paragot, who I got to keep Vision and Scarlet's offspring with, but he passed away, and three new, Iolanthie, Loki and Emisha.
Initially it looked like everyone was going to mix ok, but over the next few days, fights started to break out.
I decided to take a step back and split them into pairs, Loki and Iolanthie who seemed to bond from day one, Scarlet and Vision and Paragot and Emisha.
The third pair don't seem to be bonding at all. When they were all getting on Scarlet and Paragot seemed to spend a lot of time together and looked like they were scoping out nesting sites. Emisha and Vision also seemed quite interested in each other, but Scarlet always chased Emisha away and Paragot chased Vision away.
Scarlet has now started to pluck Vision, who is looking very stressed and has started to hold his foot up, although I can't see anything wrong with it and he is eating and drinking fine. I'm hoping he's just knocked it in all the drama!
I've isolated him, with Emisha as he did look like he was being bullied by his original female, but now they're all calling frantically and fluttering at the bars.
I don't know what to do for the best. Is it right to swap their partners? Should I put the original male and new female in another room so they can bond? I've just caught him singing to her, is that a good sign?
I'm at my wits end with them. I'm newish to finches and although I've read pages and pages of info from the internet and I can't seem to find an answer to this problem.
My nearest avian vet is an hour away each way (I didn't know this when I got them), even if I take him I'm afraid of what the journey will do to him.
All three pairs were supposed to sleep in my flight cage at night and have access to the spare room that their cages are in all day. If I let one pair out at a time to stretch their wings the two pairs spend their whole time fluttering around the cage of the other pair.
I was happy to keep them separately in their pairs indefinitely, but everyone is so stressed (including me!) I feel so out of my depth as everything I try just seems to stress them out, but leaving them to it means Vision gets bullied.
I'm only in this position because I allowed them to breed and then couldn't imagine giving up the baby, but then he passed away and here I am! I'd read four was a terrible number to try and keep together, and I did loads of research, so I thought I was doing the right thing.
Any advice?