HELP! Parents fighting as soon as the chicks left the nest.

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Fri May 09, 2008 1:55 pm

What's going on? Everything was fine until the zebra chicks left the nest today.
The parents started fighting immediately after the first one left. Then they calmed down.
The second one was about to leave and they started fighting again.
If it continues do I need to separate the mother since the father is the one feeding the chicks?
I don't understand this at all.

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:25 pm

How big is your cage....these problems are usually down to space.A lot of folks on here think a small cage is sufficient...it isn't...
If your cage/flight isn't big enough ....don't breed your birds.

Paul.

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:40 pm

The cage size is 24" wide, 22 " high and 13" depth.
There's the one pair of parents and now two chicks.
I gave them plenty of room to fly across and up or down.
Is this big enough?

Once the chicks are weened the nest comes out.

But why are the parents suddenly fighting?
The male is going after the female.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:43 pm

I think your male wants to breed again. I would split them up until the chicks are weaned. (JM2C's)

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:49 pm

Oh!
She wants to part of him.
The second chick hasn't left the nest yet and dad keeps going in there and moving stuff around.
Which one should I remove?

Thank you, thank you, thank you......

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Fri May 09, 2008 4:08 pm

Is it normal for one of the chicks to stay in the nest even though the other has left?
Dad sits in there right next to him.
And I thought this was going to be easy!

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Fri May 09, 2008 5:45 pm

I thought both chicks were out of the nest. Hard to say if one is still in. Perhaps others have more experience.

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Fri May 09, 2008 6:41 pm

I feel like I'm at a crossroad here. The first one that came out sat on top of the nest all day. The parents were feeding it though. I finally ended up putting him back in with the other one.
But the male is still going after the female with the intent to fight her.

the.puppeteer · Post by **the.puppeteer** » Fri May 09, 2008 6:55 pm

You should be able to safely remove the female if she's not doing much of the feeding anyway. We also had to do this with our pair twice and the male was able to raise five and four chicks (from fledging) on his own. Just keep an eye on them to make sure the male continues to feed the chicks.

Good luck.
-Julie

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Fri May 09, 2008 8:11 pm

Any idea what brought on the sudden rage in him?
I'm getting the impression that he wants the kids all to himself.
All was fine until the first chick left.
When is it safe to return her to the family?

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:01 am

the.puppeteer wrote:You should be able to safely remove the female if she's not doing much of the feeding anyway. We also had to do this with our pair twice and the male was able to raise five and four chicks (from fledging) on his own. Just keep an eye on them to make sure the male continues to feed the chicks.

Good luck.
-Julie

I just noticed that L in Ontario is your mom.
She's been soooooooo much help.

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:04 am

L in Ontario wrote:I thought both chicks were out of the nest. Hard to say if one is still in. Perhaps others have more experience.

the.puppeteer is your daughter?
That apple didn't fall far from the tree.

the.puppeteer · Post by **the.puppeteer** » Sat May 10, 2008 4:12 pm

I have to agree with my mom, I think the male wants to mate with the female and she's having none of it.

Has your second chick jumped yet? If so, you can remove the nest (they love to sleep in it but don't need it) and if you haven't removed the hen yet this *should* help lower the agression.

If this doesn't help and you are keeping the chicks once they are grown, you can separate all the birds by sex once weaned; have mom with any daughters and dad with any sons. If you are selling them, then I'd wait until the chicks are either gone or in a separate cage before returning the female to her mate.

-Julie

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Sat May 10, 2008 5:36 pm

The second chick has come out. I cleaned the nest and put it back with a little cloth in it and the chicks and dad are still going back into it.

I'm almost certain that the smaller chick is female. Looks just like mom. The second one is white and light gray and has very white patches on the cheeks. Male? So if they are in fact male and female the seperating is easy. His and Hers.

As soon as they come out the father just wants to protect them it seems and starts going after the female. But...only when the chicks are out. Otherwise they're still in love.

I wanted to remove her for a while but are they ever hard to catch. I don't want them to have a heart attack.

Next week for sure the nest comes out for good.

Bonzo · Post by **Bonzo** » Sat May 10, 2008 5:43 pm

I'm sure we all would love to see a few pics of them $\:D/$