segregation or not, comments wanted

[ac12]

I have 4 male zebras and 3 female zebras, total 7 in 2 cages.
Right now I have them separated M and F, so they don't breed. 6 of them are still too young to breed. Problem is in the male cage, I ran into the issue in the FIC. With 4 birds, one of the males is being picked on by another.

So the question, should I keep them separated M and F (so they don't breed too young), or let them mix to get the bird count to 7 (and risk breeding too young) so it would be harder to pick on any one bird?

The easy answer is to get rid of some of the birds to the pet shop.
And I may just do that if the chasing gets to be too much disruption.

[CandoAviary]

There is always an issue of 'pecking order ' with these guys. Even if you put them all together it is possible that the same male finch would be picked on....low guy on the totum pole. Some things that help are..large as possible cage or flight. some deterents, toys, sisal, nesting material for the males to fiddle with...you could even give the males a nest...they would probably spend a lot of time building in 'hopes'
Also a bottle brush or paint brush tied to the inside of the cage will fascinate them for hours....they sell a product called a bird pacifier...it's a bunch of straw like material bound together..really helpful for feather pluckers. The paint bruch..large 3 to 4 inch from is cheaper. Seems the finches will preen and try to pluck the bristle instead of each other. I have seen it work wonders

[ac12]

I gave up.
The 2 aggressive chicks (brothers) went to the pet store, along w one of their sisters who was also aggressive.

In thinking back, their mother was very aggressive to the chicks. I think she wanted them GONE so she could start another clutch. And I think that is how the 2 males and one of the females developed their aggressive behavior. They treat others as they were treated.

The remaining juvenille (adopted) is sometimes aggressive, but pretty much knows he is on the bottom of the pecking order. The other 2 males are pretty calm, so I don't have the commotion that I used to have.

I separated my first pair, and all the males are in a small flight/community cage, and the females are in the entire breeding cage (they were in half of it before). So they all have more room...for now, until more chicks arrive

Interestingly, I have one juv male from the same parents, but the egg was fostered by my societies. He is still in with the societies, and his behavior is totally different from his brothers, and the adopted male. He seems calm and not chasing or picking on the societies. So what I thought might have been inherrited aggressive behavior may not be, but based on how they were brought up by their parents.