Three finches in a cage?

[Hayley]

Hi There

Today my family brought two Zebra Finches from my local pet store, they was in a cage with a 3rd finch, at the time we only purchase the two as that was recommend them being in pairs, they are still finding there feet with the new environment and set up, the cage is a lot bigger then one they was kept it and they've started to settle, but we've been thinking of going back and getting the 3rd finch, they seem to have been ok together in the other cage, what I was wondering would it be okay getting the finch or should it be left as a pair?

another thing was the pet store owner couldn't be 100% sure if the pair we got was male and female, although he said eggs had been laid.

Apologies if none of this makes sense.

[Sally]

If you can post photos of your birds, there are Zebra breeders on this forum who will be able to tell you if you have a male/female pair. Though the three seemed to get along at the store, trios often don't work. Two will buddy up and often bully the third odd one.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, where you will find many articles on housing, diet, and the Zebra finch. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on.

[delray]

Welcome to the forum! I agree with Sally , the third could become the off man out or the "third wheel" . Zebras are good starter finches. Enjoy! There are many helpful members and a great community feel!

[Hayley]

Hi There

Thanks for the replies theses are some pics they're sorry they're good quality as I snapped them from my phone.

The lightbrown/taupe one with less markings is very active and makes the most sound out of the two it's sort of the 'leader' it will do everything first, the darker brown one with all the markings is much more quieter and will chirp but not as much as the other one, I'm not too sure what colour or mutations they come under.

[Colt]

You have a pair. The one with the orange cheeks is the male. The other a female. Both birds are pied so you can expect to see lots of white feathers in their offspring.

[MiaCarter]

Hayley -- They're lovely!

You sound just like me. I hate leaving one behind!

I say get the third one, but only if you have room for 4 in this cage.

You can end up with a third wheel situation, but others work out very nicely. It all depends on the individuals.

They're more likely to get along if the third one is a female (so two females, one male) but I've also had two males with one female and they were just fine.

So I'd get the third one with the understanding that you could purchase a fourth one (a mate for the third one) if he/she appears to be a third wheel.

Just remember that pet shop birds are virtually always related. I think there's a very high chance of blood relation with their pied appearance. So I wouldn't breed these guys together.
But the blood relation works to your advantage as the third one is likely a sibling and sibling trios can do really well together since they've grown up together and figured each other out along the way.

[Hayley]

Hi There

Thanks for the advice and tips.

I thought they might of been from what I read online but not sure what the significant of pied is, is it a good or bad thing that they are?

In the end we did get the third one, it's look similar to the taupe one in size and shape, although is whiter and has different markings, I will post a pic later.

At the moment it seems to be ok the only thing I've seen is the larger one with all the markings makes a chirping noise at it if it gets too close it seems to like being close to it though, the taupe one (still thinking of names) seems to be like a mother hen of the group will fly about and is much more lively and full of character.

Atm I'm going to keep a eye on them and will get another cage just encase anything does occur for me to have to move one of them, there such lovely birds they love the rope perch in my pic, sit on that most of the time.

We not actively looking to breed them but one of the birds pop a egg out this evening it cracked on the floor, we do have a nest and have put nesting on the floor but they've not made any attempt to create one, the pet store said they would but I'm think the nest and nesting material might be wrong so we're looking at getting a wooden box.

I will keep everyone update on how things go, still very much a newbie but have already caught finch fever! my lovebird loves the company aswell (it's in a separate cage), it was 'windowed' after it's mate died two years ago and we were told not to get another mate as its over ten years old but it loves the noises the finches makes.

[MiaCarter]

Hayley -- Pied is just a type of coloration; a genetic trait.

A pied bird has random patches of white in place of the typical markings.

It's not good or bad per se. In terms of show birds, the more heavily pied birds are typically preferred, with 50% or more of the marked areas being white.
Lightly pied birds with white on the chin and wing edges are usually considered split to pied (rather than full pied.)

I quite like pied birds myself!

The lighter colored of the two -- the taupe one -- is the female, so I'm not surprised she's more of the mother hen type! She sounds lovely.

It's funny as the males are usually more chatty and vocal but it sounds like you've got a talkative girl!

The male is the one who has more markings, a darker back and the orange on his cheeks.

I'm happy to hear you got the third one! I hate leaving one behind when there's a trio.

[Corkysgirl]

Hayley If you have any problems and have to separate them, just keep the bird in a cage right next to the other cage until you can purchase another finch as a mate. The other one sounds like a pied female. Make sure you're supplying enough calcium...cuttle bone, egg with crushed shell, etc. if your bird or birds are laying eggs to prevent egg binding.
The male will be the one that sings while the girls chirp only.

[Hayley]

Hi There

They have a cuttle fish, I'm gonna do a egg mix tomorrow and see how they take with it.
She is lovey she bounces around the cage and loves the swing.
Here is the pics of the newest addition above, can any identify if it's male or female pls?

[Corkysgirl]

The other one "looks" like a pied female.
I'm assuming you mean the one on the left. He is a pied male I believe.
@Mia Carter

[Hayley]

Hi Guys

A little update, unfortunately things took a turn for the worse the last two nights, Albie the brown one with all the markings started to bully and peck at Sansa the female (the taupe/grey one with black stripes under its eyes) since we introduced the third one Claude the white one, it would fly around attacking and plucked feathers off it, after leaving it for the night it seems to calm down but then it started up again so for the moment we've divided the cage off and put Sansa on her own, Albie seems to have calmed down his not done the same to Claude he sometime makes a noise at it to move it on if it gets to close.

She seems ok, much less stressed but I hate sectioning off the cage as she loved to fly around it and I'm gonna order another cage but this will take a few days to come, Claude seems to be pining for her though so I'm not sure what we gonna do whether to put him in with her or not they seem to get along or we have talked about getting another finch for her but I'm not sure atm as I don't want her to be more stressed in case they don't get along, the pet shop had some bengalese finches and I read they quite pleasant easy going birds compared to Zebra.

As for Albie I don't know what to do he seems quite anti social if that possible he is the dominate one but he goes from ignoring them to getting annoyed at them, perhaps it's the change of environment as he was OK at the start but slowly his behaviour got worse.

Sorry for the long post, hope it makes sense.

[DanteD716]

I would never do a trio situation with zebra finches. Even if you have two females, that can be the worst culprit. Zebras can get quite nasty toward one another. In this situation i would separate all three because they are most likely related. If the lack of room prohibits this I would take out the main offender and place them in a separate cage. Males will often fight over a female even if they are related. Good luck and keep us posted!

[DanteD716]

Also although societies (bengalese) can be housed with Zebras in some situations this can also turn out bad got the society. If two seem to be getting along I would let them be together but keep in mind they'll most likely try breeding which can result in poor chicks due to inbreeding.

[Hayley]

Hi There

At the moment, Albie who was doing to the bullying has calmed down and not attacked Claude we believe might be male zebra finch, he only went for Sansa, I'm not sure if they are blood related, it's possible Sansa and Claude are as they look similar but Albie is much larger and has ring on his legs on his leg why the other two done.

It wouldn't be possible to separate them all as the cage isn't big enough for that, the only option is to put Sansa in another cage or possibly Albie as his the main offender.

As for breeding we've not going to encourage it even though it's possible but with two males in one cage and female in another it will relive the possibility atm of it happening as long as Claude don't turn out to be a girl!

Thanks for the tip though.