zebra finch question

[apachetear]

just a qustion on zf behaviour. My zf's recently had a little baby, well over 2 moths ago now, and since baby twiggy lef they had been madly in love more than they had ever been. Except the past week the female has just snapped.

One minute they'll be sat next to each other chattering beaks all cuddled up, the next she'll peck him at the neck, she's also pulled out alot of feathers off of him, is there any reason why she could be doing this?

When she pecks him at the neck he sort of puts his head above her and looks down at her before she hops away. is it possible there is some sort of battle over who is in charge of that cage? i only think that because of his attempts to "be taller than her' , he usually only does this when he thinks he's seen something he doesnt like and tries to intimidate it.

I'm just interested in animal behaviour and wondering if there's a possible explanation as to why she dislikes him all of a sudden, we have changed absolutely nothing so i cant see any logical reason.

thanks in advance =)

[CandoAviary]

This is not a sign of the hen disliking him. The signs of rejection are flying away from the male. She would not sit next to him.
What you are witnessing is either a nutritional defincancy or the need for nesting material. I would be willing to bet if you provided the hen with a good eggfood with fresh boiled egg, a mineral dust, and possibly sprouted seed she would stop this behaviour.
The male rising up and acting annoyed is exactly that...it hurts when she plucks his feathers.

[FinchDegg]

i'd just blame the female hormones lol ;)