I'm new here as well.
I received a beautiful hutch for my birthday with 2 male Zebra Finches. We went out and bought them girlfriends. So now we have 4 finches in the hutch.
We've had them for about 3 weeks. They both built nests and one couple is doing great. They eat and sing and one of them is always on the eggs. They both take turns almost equally throught the day and both stay in the nest at night.
The other couple laid eggs, one fell and cracked and appeared to be unfertile. One egg still remains in the nest but the female stays on a perch all day long, all fluffed up with her head tucked into her back. Her mate picks at her and the only time she responds is when he tugs a feather. Neither one sits on the single egg. The only time the male enters the nest is to chase off the other male who takes things from their failed nest to put in his already thriving nest..
What should I do? Should I buy another cage and put the male of the unwell female in there so she can rest? Should I put them both in there with new nesting materials?
I don't want to do the wrong thing. He seems to be bothering her and I don't want to take her out of the cage for fear that it will stress her.. The couple seems to ignore her for the most part. The male stays right at her and seems to be plucky and antagonistic. My husband thinks he is trying to persuade her to the nest but who knows what goes on in a bird brain?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
This is because they tend to be pushy anyway, and when you have an odd number like 3 or 5, that always leaves one odd man out that gets bullied by the others. Four doesn't always work either, because you can have a dominant pair that picks on the one other pair. Once you get to 6 or more birds, it seems to help with aggression (unless the cage/flight is too small, in which case you will always have aggression problems).
That's okay, I really just want to do the best thing for my little birdies..
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