Changed nest and now birds are arguing! :(

[Petey+Pickles]

I recently acquired a zebra finch in a 'unique' sort of way. I was making a salad in my kitchen and my patio door was open. In flew "Petey", a zebra finch, and landed in my salad! He started eating immediately, as he was very hungry. I searched for his owners for some time before I gave up and decided to keep him. In reading up about finches, I found out that they prefer to live in pairs. So, I bought him a female zebra finch at Petsmart.... or so I thought! As it turned out, I had bought a male chestnut flanked zebra finch! I guess the store had no idea that different variations exist and assumed "he" was a "she".

While they argued for the first couple of days and displayed aggressive behaviour, I came home one day and they were building a nest together! They had become friends! They began preening and grooming one another, sleeping alongside one another, etc.

Because the nest I had initially purchased was for canaries, I bought a finch nest when I finally found one. I thought I'd add it to the cage and, apparently, that was a BIG mistake! While I didn't remove their old nest, the presence of this new nest set off some sort of territorial behaviour and they began arguing again! It was as if their little bond hadn't existed! I've since removed the new addition but they still haven't gone back to the way they were.

Is this normal? Is there anything that I can do to help repair this! Help!

[CommaHolly]

oh dear I don't know enough yet to have any advice for you, but I wanted to welcome you to the board (it's a fantastic board, SOMEONE will have good advice for you!),,,,,,,

and amazing on the way you got the finch!! If you're not where they fly free (and I assume you're not), it must be a pet that got free,,,,,,at least he found a new home!!!!

[Sally]

Usually two males will get along when there aren't any females present, perhaps they are just going through a minor adjustment. One thing you can try is take both of them out of the cage, rearrange things a bit, and then put both of them back in. Giving them things to occupy their time may help as well. Finches aren't big on toys, but you could give them some nesting material (get a bag of orchard grass in the small pet department, don't get those little boxes of white strings) which they can use to complete their new nest. Some plastic plants for hiding places, a swing, a few dangle toys that they can tug on. In additon to chopped veggies, a big piece of romaine lettuce will give them something to work on.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading about housing, diets, and many more subjects at the Finch Information Center, linked at left. If you put your general location in your profile, it helps when answering locale-specific questions later on.

[Sally]

I forgot to add that it is miraculous that Petey found your open door! He knew what he was doing when he headed for your salad!

[MiaCarter]

That's a wonderful story of how your bird adopted you! Love it!!

Unfortunately, lots of people set them free, so it's possible that he was dumped. If you have a bird feeder outside, I'd keep an eye out for any others.

I'd put both nests in there. I always give an extra nest so there's some element of choice involved.
And I'd also do as Sally recommended, by adding foliage and nesting materials -- just something to keep them busy.

Males can get a bit territorial at times and they're still a bit new to each other, so a fragile relationship.
But rearranging the cage will eliminate any existing territories, basically wiping the property lines. Plus, it helps to give them something to do, and providing foliage helps too. All great tips from Sally.

[Petey+Pickles]

Thanks for all of the advice! I'm going to try out some of these suggestions. They seem to be slowly getting better - allowing each other to feed and sharing the space nicely. They haven't gone back to sharing their nest but maybe in time.

It is so lucky that he found us! We live on the coast of B.C., so a lot of rain. It was actually quite cold at the time he flew in - so lucky he survived.

[dutch]

Petey+Pickles.....this one's easy....

Just remove both nests....