If zebra finches are overcrowded, a pecking order quickly emerges, and individual birds tend to fall into a distinct social order according to age, dominance, health and other factors. A practical rule of thumb for housing finches is one pair, three pairs (or more), but never two pairs per enclosure. I’ve repeated this experiment with parrot finches, Gouldians and cherry-headed finches, and the results were similar. After some initial excitement and confusion, the cages now housing three pairs were suddenly peaceful and productive. Then I added a third pair of zebras to all four cages. Most of the birds seemed too preoccupied with harassing the neighbors to raise a family. Those that did nest, produced few babies. Over the next three months, only about half the pairs attempted breeding. The birds raided each others nests for material, attempted to control food dishes and antagonized each other. I tried an experiment and set up four 18- by 18- by 30-inch cages with two pairs of zebra finches and two nest baskets in each. It created a dynamic that led to fighting and poor breeding. When I was new to birds, a friend cautioned me about housing two pairs of finches together. Sounds like just a few simple adjustments are all that’s needed for your zebra finch flock to be happy and productive. Its the presence of the female and nest which motivates the plucking. Once separated from the female in this way, the male’s picking behavior usually stops. If you use a cage with a wire divider, the female can help feed the babies without the male pestering her to mate. Once the babies fledge, they can be placed with their father so their mother can rest as he assumes feeding duties. The female will care for the babies on her own. If these distractions do not stop the male from plucking his babies, remove him from his family temporarily. These toys look like nesting material to the bird but do not detach from the cage bars as he tugs at it. All that could be seen of his baffled zebra finch family were their eyes and beaks poking out! Place a few canary tassel-type toys around the cage or a few strands of clean jute string tied near a perch to distract an overzealous zebra finch from picking at his babies. I once had a male zebra finch build a nest directly on the backs of his mate and babies. Male zebra finches can become so stimulated when given fresh nesting material that they build a new nest right over a current one. Do not offer more nesting material when eggs or babies are already in the nest. Normally this kind of picking is not too serious, but you can deter it. When no nesting material is available, the parents sometimes pluck their babies for building supplies. The male zebra finch is eager to build a fresh nest and start another family before his current babies are fledged. The usual explanation for parent zebra finches picking at the babies’ feathers is that they are desperate for nesting material. All four are doing great, but the parents are picking feathers off all four of the babies. The second one was not growing, so I took it from the parents and put it in with the other three. One pair recently had three babies and the other pair had two, but one died. I have two pairs of zebra finches in a flight cage with a center separation due to constant fighting between pairs.
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