Zebra Finch Aggression (and some bad planning)

[WHBonney]

Hello Everyone! I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to finches and I'm having a few problems. Any advice would be great. This post is a bit more long winded than I had intended

I had a couple of Zebra Finches and they produced two chicks, one male one female. Once the chicks started getting to grips with using them perches the adult male became aggressive toward them but I couldnt move them out immediately because I didnt have anywhere to put them and they were still looking to the parents for most of their food.

Astoundingly quickly the chicks became almost adult size and were fighting back against the adult male. Before long he was being plucked of alot of feathers and looked exhausted. I had to put him in a very small cage temporarily before shelling out for another large cage.

I put the two adults into the new cage and had left the chicks in the other. The adult male was growing his feathers back but still tired looking, but was trying frantically to make a new nest with his mate again. After a couple of weeks he looked much better.

I enjoyed watching them build the nest and rasing the chicks but I was reluctant to let them do it again. Aside from the energy it took out of them, getting up early boiling eggs every other day and preparing other food was tiring me out too.

In the other cage, the female chick began to get very aggressive with her sibling who seems to be much more timid. So I decided to move him to the small cage to grow his feathers back, with the intention of putting the two males in one large cage and the two females in the other once the male chick was looking better.

So the time came and I did just that, but now it has gotten worse still! The female chick, became instantly very aggressive with her mother moving in on her territory, and the adult male became aggressive with his son, albeit slightly less furious than the females.

At the moment I have the mother on her own in the big cage, the aggressive female chick in the small cage, and father and son are still together which isn't exactly ideal.

So if anyone who was able to follow that barely coherent post has any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

[L in Ontario]

Hello and welcome to the Finch Forum.

To be honest - it sounds like the cages you have your finches in are just too small still. Two males or two females 'should' be able to get along in one cage IF it is big enough. Of course there will be the pair that just don't get along but that's not too common.

What is the size of all your cages?

If the babies are weaned (it sounds like they are by now), you also have the option of rehoming them as it would not be a good idea to let them breed together.

Re making eggfood - you can make up batches ahead of time and freeze them (in small containers or ziplok bags) until needed.

[ac12]

I have had several situations where the just weaned chick would turn aggressive against its own father or mother. If it is too bad, then I do an early separation for that chick to a juvenile molt out cage.

I have had same sex pairs that just do NOT get along with each other, no matter what I tried, and I have had to keep them separated.

I tried a trick that worked a couple times. I put the 2 disagreeable zebras into a travel cage, so they are forced to be in close contact with each other. In 2 cases they started to get along, in 2 the aggressive one kept being aggressive, and I mean REAL aggressive. In one case to the point of fighting with the other. Those were quickly separated. I then tried to put them into travel cages side by side, so they can see each other but the aggressive one can't attack the other, then after a couple weeks of see-but-can't-touch I open the door and let them get together. That worked a few times, and also failed a few times.
So sometimes, you just can't get them to accept the other bird, and you have to keep them separated.

My experience is that the hens are the most aggressive, and that is to other hens or their own chicks.

Related to this, it "seems" that a zebra being pied or white, for some reason attracts aggression from some of the non-pied and non-white zebras. So that is another separation factor that I have. My white zebras (white, CFW) are separated from the non-whites (gray, penguin, black face).

My males are all in one cage, but my hens are separated into 3 cages based on what other hens they get along with. And yes, having to separate the zebras because of their aggression has been an irritation for me.

[WHBonney]

Awesome thanks for the replies. At least the behaviour isnt unique to my finches

I now have the parents in one cage (they seem to get along very well) and the chicks in separate cages for the time being, but they are a bit agitated, jumping on the side of the cage and what not. I read that they shouldnt be kept alone but I guess I dont really have much of a choice at the moment, the female chick seems to be really up for a fight. Should some zebras just have be separated permanently?

One glaring omission I should have added is that I also hung a couple of small feeding pots with sand/grit in them every once in a while which the female chick seemed to be trying to use as a nest and sleeping in it. I later read that nests can trigger aggression but I hesitated over taking it out becaused she really liked sitting in it.

In retrospect it was probably difficult to get a timescale from my post but the 'chicks' are now about 4 months old.

The two larger cages are maybe little over 2.5ft long 2.5ft high. The smaller cage is only really big enough for a finch to make a small hop from one perch to the other which after some research (and a little common sense) I found was way too small. Probably similar in size to a travel cage. I'm not sure i'd like to risk putting another bird in there with the female chick to coerce her into being friendly but it might be worth a try

On the plus side they all look healthy to my untrained eye, even if the adult female is possibly a little chubby, certainly better off than in the places I got them from. The male I got from a small place that is mainly about selling feed, and the female I picked out from a larger pet store with 10+ finches behind a small display, she looked great compared to the rest, but most of them looked in pretty bad shape . I did get some dry eggfood which I havent tried yet, hopefully they will take to it in place of the real thing.

[ac12]

I would take out the pot, never mind that she likes to sit in it.

There are some zebras that are VERY aggressive, and yes, for peace in the cage you may have to separate it permanently. I had a male that I had to keep separated.

On the flip side, you could have a bird that the other birds pick on. So you have to separate it to protect that bird.

I used a travel cage to force some of my zebras to get along.
You do have to keep an eye on them, that the small space won't create a situation where one attacks the other and the other can't escape because the cage is so small.
That is when I use 2 travel cages, side by side.
The aggressive one can see the other, but can't attack it.

[WHBonney]

I made sure the aggresive female could see her sibling from where her cage was for a week and decided to put them back together again yesterday and it worked!!!

They seem to be pretty happy now grooming each other and what not and they are also sleeping beside each other, before they would sleep on different perches after a day of fighting. I guess i'll take out those pots for the egg mix after they're done feeding next time incase they get anymore ideas about it or failing that I might just use a seed container at the side of the cage.

Thank you for your help!

[Zebra-mutations]

Harry my black faced male is IMPOSSIBLE to put in with ANYTHING other then his mate as he WILL kill any other male in his cage! Or any other hen really.

I tried everything but nope. He hates all others. Doesnt matter if he was in an avairy. He would make a habit of finch bashing for fun

[dutch]

Zebra-mutations....have you tried putting him in an avairy ?

[cindy]

Wow.....this topic is an old topic from 2011.

Not everyone has space or the means for an aviary, that is not always a reasonable solution for some. Zebra-mutation, it sounds like you have tried several things, including a large group setting. Seems the BF is destined to be in a cage with his mate.

Basically aggression can stem from territorial disputes over food dishes, perches, nesting sites and mates.

Often the solutions are adding extra feeding stations, removing all and anything deemed as a potential nesting site, banishment to a cage of it's own.

Aggression is not good especially if planning to breed....does he turn on his offspring? If so you may want to remove him and let mom raise the young if she can on her own. Once the young are weaned well remove them and put the BF back in with the hen.

[Zebra-mutations]

He is doing fine raising his young atm. He even fed his mate. Never seen that before 0.o

Avairy isnt an option as everyone here would steal them =(

[cindy]

Good to hear he is taking good care of his own.

[dutch]

Zebra-mutations....you mention he would even be aggressive in an aviary ...but you haven't tried so how can you be sure?

[Zebra-mutations]

I cant. Its an educated guess. Since he is mine I would think I know how he would react the most

[dutch]

Zebra-mutations...educated guess?....so your just guessing he would be aggressive in an avairy ..ok

[cindy]

I cant. Its an educated guess. Since he is mine I would think I know how he would react the most

There are some birds that do not do well in a group environment. I have had a few such as yours. One male did not want others around, tried a long 5ftx 3ft flight with others, did not work. Tried the 8x6x3 aviary did not work. Put him in a 30x18 with just his mate and he was fine.

So yes I can truly understand....zebras are can be very aggressive, not all but some.