Aggressive Zebra Finches

[shirleyo]

Is there anything that can be done, other than separation, for aggressive Zebra Finches -- have 2 males, 2 females, siblings, born a couple of months ago. had to remove the parents as the babies were picking at the mother. now male and female are picking on the other female, not the other male -- have 3 cages now, my larger aviary houses my cordon blues, nuns, who get along quite well. have had Zebras for many years, understand their aggressiveness. Can I put something in the water, food for calming? Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

Shirley

[Ameza]

From what I would gather keeping the 2 female and 2 males together is not a good idea. From what I have read, 2 pairs don't get along very well, they need to be 3 pair or more and in a very large cage.
I think it would be best to split them up in same sex or different sex pairs. If they are siblings same sex pairs would probably work best to prevent them from breeding. Or just keep a keen eye on them.

Agressiveness can also be more if they don't have enough room or privacy, and how old are they? My male brothers were quite bothersome around 3-5 months old but then calmed down.

[williep]

Splitting males and females will almost guarantee success, but obviously this is not feasible when you intend them to breed.

Adding another pair might help, but you need a fairly big aviary or flight for this to be successful.

You can also try visual barrier in the cage, plants or screens work the best - but again you need quite a big cage for this to work. I would not recommend putting pairs with your CB and nuns, but you might find this a solution for the female that is picked upon.

Good luck

[ac12]

I too would separate the M from the F.
That is my setup for non-breeding birds. Even so, w zebras, I will have some squables, some worse than others.

[Sally]

You don't want to leave the males and females together anyway, since they are siblings, you don't want them breeding. Separating by sex is the best way to avoid aggression, though not guaranteed.