Zebra Finches hang out in the food cup?

[suebmoe]

I have a society finch (female) and two baby zebra finches (previously thought two females, now believe one female and one male).

My zebra finchs seem to enjoy hanging out in the food cup. I have covered food and water cups to keep as much refuse in their habitat as possible (HA HA HA). Two or three days in a row I've caught either PeneloHe or Eliza, full body inside the cup, eating and sometimes sitting. They don't stay in there for long, but they're fully inside.

Since the society finch was sleeping in the hut, and the zebras on top, I bought another hut, thinking they'd be happy to have the nest and would sleep inside the new hut and maybe stop hanging out in the food cup. They still sleep on top of the original hut, but the society has moved into the new hut.

I made them a foraging box, so they'd have more to do...is there anything else I should do?

Is it okay for them to get into the food cup, or should I be doing something different? Is this just a thing they do?

I have to say that they are the cutest little things I've ever seen. I should've gotten finches YEARS ago.

[Celeris]

What an interesting problem to have! I've only had my zebras a bit over a month now and can say the only issue I've had is pooping in the food cup. (One particular bird. With one particular style of cup. Changed the way I presented the food, problem stopped.)

To my inexperienced finch owner ears, sound like a strange personality trait. Each bird definitely has its own way of going about things. Perhaps I'm missing something, though?

Adore the name change to "PeneloHe" by the way! Cute!

[lovezebs]

suebmoe

Some birds just like to hang out in the food dish, for whatever the reason.

How old are these kids?

I ask, because being male and female, you might end up with a budding romance on your hands. Keep your eyes open for the possibility of eggs in the seed cup, lol.

[Sojourner]

I got rid of all the large cups from my cages. I use a silo feeder for their staple seed and a silo for water, then I have small treat cups, egg cups, and what they call biscuit cups scattered throughout the rest of the cage.

With the exception of the egg cups, none of these are large enough for them to climb into, nor even to turn around and poop into. Strategic placement of perches keeps them from turning around on a perch and pooping into their feed cups. The egg cups are still too small for them to perch or nest in, but my female society, Pyewacket, did try for a little while. I removed those for awhile until she lost the urge.

These are all (except the egg cups) fairly shallow, so I don't have the problem of seed being buried in hulls. My guys don't scatter seed either, for which I am grateful.

There is nothing in the cage big enough for them to crawl into, should they be so inclined. That's your best option to solve the problem, really. Just get rid of anything big enough for them to sit in.

BTW I keep mineral mix in one egg cup, and actual egg food (the dry commercial variety) in the other - my guys seem to handle these two types of feed/supplements best when they're in a little deeper container. Seems to be easier for them to scoop them up that way.

[platypus777]

I'm a total noob still, but from what I've seen it's not something to worry about unless they start building a nest there.