Female finch being harassed by the others.

[sunparakeet]

Hi all,

I am new this forum so thanks for reading my question and thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

I have 5 zebra finches. 2 males and 3 females. I have a large flight cage for them (about 2x3x5 feet). Anyway one of the female has been getting picked on, and this has been happening since before I got them. Not long ago she was lethargic and seemed pretty bad so I took her to the vet. 10 days of antibiotics later (which I can assure wasn't easy to administer to a bird so small!) and she seems to be back to full health.

However, I had her in a spare cage away from the others during that time. Just about an hour ago I put her cage next to the flight cage and she freaked out! She wanted to get back with the others so badly that she SQUEEZED THROUGH THE BARS OF THE CAGE AND GOT LOOSE.

So what do I do? What if I put her back with the others and they hurt her again? Or - what if I leave the 2 cages side by side and she hurts herself? Would it be too stressful to keep her totally isolated? All options seem bad

Thanks for all of your help and any advice you might give! I love the zebra finches and want to do whats best!

[kenny]

hi
since you took her out they see her as an interloper,evntually they will accept her back but this always happens when a bird is moved for a period of time you could try putting one of the males with her in the seperate cage and the put them back after say a week then there would be 2 starngers or you could transfer them across put all the others in the other cage and put her in the original cage then when you put them back together they should settle down because then they would be the starngers.you may not notice but its all down to the pecking order they saw her as the sick bird so they picked on her and the highest ranking always sleeps in the best nest or on the highest perch and naturally with the bird being a little ill she will have tried to cuddle up to the others and maybe invaded the bosses space and he hasnt liked it! i would try the cage swapping thing and see how it works out

ken

[ac12]

Odd numbers can be VERY bad on the bird that is the odd bird out. Being unpaired means it coud get picked on the by other pairs.

According to what I have read, you should have either 2 or 6 or more birds. More than 2 and less than 6, and one of the birds can be singled out for being picked on.

That hen needs a buddy, either male or female, to keep her company.

With zebras be especially aware if the odd bird out is a white bird. It seems that my white or pied zebras get picked on more.

If you must keep her separated, put her so she cannot SEE the other birds. That will reduce her desire to be with them. That is how I have my hospital cages set up. She will jump about for a day or so trying to be with the others, but she will calm down.