New Firefinch owner - aggressive male towards new female

[Eddieturbo2]

Hello, this is my first post and I need some help getting my male and female redbilled firefinchs to bond.

I have had the male for six months and it has been hard trying to find him a mate/friend. But I got lucky at a local bird show down hear in Orlando, FL and found a beautiful female. I had the female in quarantine but in the same room so they could see each other for several weeks.

Well I obtaned a new flight cage for them to give them a fair start. 36"x18"x18" not big but easy for me to handle in my house and a nice upgrade over the temporary travel cages I had.

I put the male in first then the female two or three mins later. She flew right up to him and he got real close and started packing her on the head and tried to mount her within a few seconds. After this it has been nonstop chasing the female around. So much so that the female crashes often because she is so tired. Luckily my cage has a divider to isolate them. And I take it out only when I am present to keep an eye on them. It's been two days and whenever I open it up he just keeps chasing her. Eventually she gets so tired she just hides under the water dish.

What can I do to make this bonding easier on her? Visual barriers? Nest box? Prolonged separation where they don't see each other at all for a time?

What would you do?

[CathyCraftz]

The male is probably too eager to breed. Separate them so they can only hear each other.

[Eddieturbo2]

I went ahead and cut a wood board as a divider and isolated them in the existing cage. So each has a 18x18x18 area now.

How long should I wait till before removing the divider?

[Sally]

Eddieturbo2 When I acquired a hen for my male Red-billed Fire, they took weeks to bond. He had been in a cage with his three sisters, so maybe he missed them, but he ignored the new mate, and she had no interest in him. Now they sit together, but I haven't set them up for breeding. Can you put in a wire divider so they can see each other and gradually bond through the wire? In order to bond, I think they really need to see each other, but they need to be kept separated for now. When you put them back together, have some artificial plants in the cage to give her some hiding places too.

[Fraza]

I had one of my society aggressively attack his female for ages and I put him in a smaller cage whilst she was in the big one and then left the cages next to each other for about a week and then let him in the big cage again they got along and quickly bred lol

[Eddieturbo2]

Thanks for all of the advice. I tested with wire divider but no real change in behavior. I removed the male and placed him in a small cage right next to the large one. Gonna let the female establish her territory in the big cage. Hopefully the male will calm down. I will invest in some plants for the cage before reintroducing the male.

[Eddieturbo2]

Hello, I just wanted to give everyone an update. The Firefinch pair are getting along now. Putting the agressive bird in a small cage worked perfectly.

[CathyCraftz]

Good so if they have mounted each other the next step is raising babies ;)