gender and aggression

[bkhenry]

I now have 4 finches because one of my initial 2 was beating up on the other one badly enough to need medical care. My question is twofold. 1. What gender are these birds and do I have them paired up well. 2. The aggressor is being somewhat aggressive with his/her new buddy and I'm at a loss. I don't want to let it escalate and need another vet bill.

[bkhenry]

I'm guessing the two I have labeled Cage 1 are male and female looking at the picture on my computer.

[flrancho]

I'm not the best at Zebras, especially when you get into the non-gray colors. Anyway, your gray one is definitely a male. Initially, in the abscence of cheek patches on the white one, I thought it was a female. However, its beak is awfully dark red. I think you might have two males. Someone else will probably be able to tell you better though.

How big is your cage? I've found Zebras to sometimes be overly aggressive, even when they're in a larger cage. I have a lone Zebra with other birds in my 6 ft flight and he will still his and go after other birds, especially if they get anywhere near his nest, and he doesn't even have a female.

[L in Ontario]

I think you could be right flrancho.

Also, it may help if you remove any/all nests and nesting materials (if you have any in the cage).

[bkhenry]

The cage is 30 inches long. I don't remember for sure how tall or wide it is. I took the nest out a long time ago and he's still being a rotten little bully. He's doing the same thing with the new bird- picking at her head.

Should I put the two males together? That seems like a bad idea to me. The male in the other cage looks like he was being picked on in his cage at the store where I bought him (it was criminally small for the number of birds in there- and they ONLY sell birds!!)

I'm at a loss. I don't even have a way to sell or get rid of the aggressive male if he doesn't calm down.

[Finchgirl]

You can try the cage calculator to see how many birds will comfortably fit in your cage. The birds in cage 1 are probably male and female- the grey being the male. Did you buy the birds as a bonded pair? If not, they may not be compatible matches which can cause aggression.

[ac12]

I always keep the sexes separate, to control unplaned population growth. In a same sex cage, pairs will buddy up, and you do not want to have an odd bird out, as that bird will be picked on.

The cages have nothing in them that looks like it could be used as a nest, to prevent them from going into breeding mode, which could change their behavior to be more aggressive.

I have had similar aggression problems, to the extent that I had to separate my zebras into 2 birds per cage. I identified the 2 most aggressive ones and put them together and let them be aggressive to each other rather than picking on the least aggressive/most passive bird(s).

When a bird is plucked badly I will separate it into a hospital cage and give it LOTS of egg food, to help it regrow its feathers. In about 1 week the plucked feathers should be growing in and about 2 weeks the bird should look OK.

[bkhenry]

Okay, thanks for all the help. I don't want to mess with their pairings anymore because the two in the second cage seem to be quite content. If the aggressive little turd continues to act out on his new cagemate, then I'll just have to get rid of him and get her a new friend. I don't know how I'll accomplish that, but I'll talk to my local bird store. They may have an idea.

Zebra finches are easy- my butt!! But live and learn ;)

[ac12]

Zebras are easy to breed and take care of, it is their personality that is aggrivating.
With any luck, the store that you got the bird from may exchange the bird for one that will "get along" with the other bird better.