Newbie with a plucking problem

[phred8301]

Hi! I'm new to the hobby and looking for some plucking advice. I got 2 male zebra finches about a month ago; one is a smaller grey and one is a fancy white (I haven't come up with good names yet). They are in a 24"x14"x30" cage. I did put a nest in the cage because they were both males so I wasn't worried about babies. They got along very well for the first 2 weeks but around week 3 they realized there was a nest in the cage and started building. At that time, the white finch started plucking the grey. I immediately removed the nest in hopes the plucking would stop, but it's been over a week and he now has a pretty good bald spot on one side of his head. I tried to give them more to do during the day with foraging but the plucking continues and he'll do it while I'm standing near the cage watching. At the moment, I do not have another cage to separate them. I have been considering getting a larger 65"x21"x62" flight cage and expanding to 6 pairs, but I don't want to do that if the bully could continue plucking. Any suggestions?

[debbie276]

I'll let the zebra experts help with your question just wanted to say welcome to the forum!

[Sally]

I too will let the Zebra experts offer advice, but I did want to ask about the 24x14x30 cage. Is 30" the height? If so, finches do better in a cage that has more flying room. The cage can be tall, as long as it is also long horizontally. As far as putting 6 pairs in the larger cage, I think it would be overcrowded, especially with a more pushy species like Zebras. With pairs, you will have breeding, and that will cause territorial issues.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care, especially the Zebra finch. If you put your general location in your profile, it will help later on when answering locale-specific questions.

[phred8301]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I came across this site early on and it has been super helpful. Yes, 30" is the height. I meant to say 3 pairs in the larger cage...6 would certainly be crowded! If I do not put nests in with the pairs will they still breed/be territorial? Would it be better to stick with all males?

[Sally]

I don't have much experience with Zebras, but I would think that three pairs in that large cage would still want to breed and you still could have territorial issues. There are others on here that have kept large numbers of Zebras, so they would have better advice.

[xz_zebs]

With my zebs, the only way to stop plucking around the neck and head is to separate. It is usually done when one bird is grooming the other. The plucked bird sits still for the process and even "seems" to enjoy it. Even in a bigger cage I will see the plucker and pluckee sitting together participating in plucking/being plucked. It's possible that providing a much larger cage with mates for each would change the behavior, but you might also end up with much more serious territorial aggression. YMMV though - all finches are individual.

I agree that your current cage size isn't ideal. Perhaps you can put 2-4 more appropriate sized cages together in roughly the same space that you are planning to put the large flight cage? That would allow you to put compatible finches together. You could put 2 of the 30"l x 18"d x 36"h cages placed next to each other in that space. Or perhaps 4 30"l x 18"d x 18"h cages stacked 2 high and 2 across? The cages that I'm referring to here are available from a number of places. Here are 2:
http://www.llcages.com/breeders.html
http://www.countryfeathers.net/breeder-cages.html

There are also larger double flight cage available that have a divider. The divider would allow you to separate incompatible personalities.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... 2&start=15 (look at Kiko's post)
http://www.birdscomfort.com/doubleflight_bird_cage.html