Female zebra rivalry

[Sherri]

I recently moved 4 finches into a flight cage together. 4 month old brother and sister siblings who had been in a small cage with their parents and an older (unrelated) pair that had been in a tiny cage by themselves. I was so glad to get them into a space where they could fly around but I'm concerned about the bickering!

Almost immediately, the young female took to the older male and is being very agressive with her mating behavior. He seems to be dividing his time between the 2 females and although he prances and sings and coos, he doesn't seem to be interested in mounting either one. (That's fine, cause I don't want any of them laying at this time and there are no nests in the cage.)

The 2 females are hissing and chasing each other around. The younger male is trying to be friends with the older female but she doesn't seem to care for him at all. I'm inclined to just let them work it our for themselves, but I'm not sure how long to wait. At least there's no blood or feather picking!

What do you think, will they be okay?

[ac12]

While siblings may get along, having grown up together, mix in new birds, and the dynamics changes. That happened to me, I had 2 F and 2 M, siblings. I added a MF brother/sister pair, and immediately, the birds from the set of 4 chased and was aggressive to the new 2. And this just did not get better. In fact, what they did was to essentially teach the new pair how to be aggressive. I finally sent 3 of the 4 to the pet shop, to keep peace in the cage. Unfortunately, the new M learned to be aggressive, and now he may be headed to the pet shop, to break the cycle of aggressive behavior.

If the one F wants to mate, she may view the other F as competition for HER mate. It may will not end, especially if both F want the same M, then it may get BAD.

I separated my non-breeding zebras into male and female cages. This eliminates mating caused aggression. And this eliminated unwanted pregnancies/eggs. You don't want them to breed until about 9 months of age.

[Sherri]

Thanks for your input. I'm watching them pretty closely and just when I think they're getting better, they start hissing again. I think I'll try different combinations before I get rid of any. I'm in love with all of them! Why can't they just get along