zebra male begins plucking feathers

[rayeast]

I have two pairs of zebras in separate cages. (long story) The males have done their dances with the female and mated etc. I have, from the outset not wanted any new birds and have not put out any sort of nest, and I have lectured them on abstinence...to no avail.

Anyway one of the male zebras is plucking feathers from its females neck and maybe other places. The male has been flying around for a week or so with bits of paper it has managed to wrestle from the paper towels under its grate(floor). I switched the paper to blank newsprint and it may be that that is when the male began to pluck. Is this all about trying to make a nest?
I have not been giving them eggs with crushed shells very frequently, so I am giving then some today.
The plucking is not too bad at this point. But the male seems pretty pretty frustrated pulling on a bits of bag-tie on the swing, paper etc.
What should I do?
Christmas Eve, so no big hurry on this, And Happy Holidays all!

[Sally]

Zebras want to breed, simple as that, they are the rabbits of the finch world. Since you haven't provided them with a nest or nesting material, they will make do with what they can, which is their mate's feathers. He may continue to pluck her till she is bald. The only sure way to stop it is to separate males and females, or give in and let them have nests and nesting materials.

[rayeast]

Thanks for your advice. I cant separate the pairs since I got each female when I separated the males for fighting. I cut up short lengths if string , bits if straw and braided some strings so the need a lot of tugging and small torn bits of cloth to try to keep the male busy till I go to the pet store after Christmas.

The male zebra (Earnest) has loaded an empty, rather large rectangular water cup with his precious bits of paper towel and such and is resting in it and adding material.

However, I'm a bit late to this. This morningI found an egg on the floor of the cage , but it was broken, very thin shelled and seem empty.

I live in an apartment and It wold be wrong to breed more birds unless there is a way to give the to someone.
I think the female is not getting enough food. She is active but look a bit ragged and exhausted. I give greens and fruit and sprouted seed and they all ate their crushed eggs yesterday.
What should I get at the pet store? What next?

Thanks, Best to everyone,I'm off to baste our Christmas ham!

[lovezebs]

rayeast


I'm afraid the only way to stop the breeding, and the laying, and the plucking, is to seperate the males from the females. Unfortunately there really is no other way.

I know your Zebra boys were fighting in the past, but supplying them with females, was actually sort of like jumping from the pan into the fire. Zebra and Society Finches will breed endlessly given half an opportunity (and by putting them together, you have supplied them with just that opportunity).

If your females continue to lay endless eggs and get plucked, they will eventually either weaken, get sick and die, or become eggbound and die.

The only recommendation I can offer, is to try and house the two girl together, and the two boys together, offering them enough things in their cages to keep them entertained and busy.

If that is not an option, than I would concentrate on making sure that your females have enough calcium in the form of cuttle bone, crushed egg shells, oyster shell grit, etc. as as eggs severely depletes calcium from their tiny bodies.

I would also offer the best possible diet, as in the best finch seed mixture, hard boiled eggs at least once a week, and a variety of greens and vegetables.

You could also try to offer fake eggs in exchange of the real eggs in an attempt to stop the egg laying and give the girls a break for a least a while.

Good luck.