Hello,
Asking around to see if there's anything I can do to help the current situation. In March, I got what I thought were two zebra finches - one was a Society whom I was told was a Pied Zebra. Not a big deal, I suppose, as they got along just fine. However, I need a steady stream of eggs for my snake, so I thought for health reasons on the hen, I'd get two more pairs. One pair I got was two Pied English Zebras, the other was a Gouldian pair. To house all of these, I built an aviary - 80 x 36 x 53 inches. So it's big. I put them all in at once, as I found that introducing them all to a new setting at once would reduce fighting.
At first, everything was fine. But then suddenly the male Zebra I got in the beginning started chasing and screaming at the new birds. Sometimes he's fine, others he goes mental. It's so peaceful at times, but suddenly he'll turn on them. Obviously, this is stressing everyone out, including my original female Society. At first he was just chasing the female English Zebra, so I removed the two English Zebras, and put them in a quarantine cage, to see if they were the cause. For a bit, I thought that was the case as things went well for about an hour. But now, this original Zebra is chasing around the Gouldians at seemingly random intervals. One second he's fine, the other he freaks out and goes after them. So removing the English Zebras wasn't a fix. I should say he's not getting physical with the Gouldians, he's just chasing them and screaming. Chasing them off perches, food sources, up into the upper corner of the aviary.
My question is... what exactly can I do here shy of simply removing the problem bird? I have three food sources, three bath sources, two drinking water sources, lots of perches... I feel bad about removing him because the Society and him have bonded and have been a stable pair, but everyone is getting stressed out because of him. It's only been a day, am I just needing to give them more time? Ever since I got the first two, it has only ever been them. So now this is a new cage, and four new birds - do I simply need to wait and give everyone more time? I know that having only two pairs can cause extra fighting, so should I just put the English Zebra pair back in? I'd appreciate any help or advice.
Asking around to see if there's anything I can do to help the current situation. In March, I got what I thought were two zebra finches - one was a Society whom I was told was a Pied Zebra. Not a big deal, I suppose, as they got along just fine. However, I need a steady stream of eggs for my snake, so I thought for health reasons on the hen, I'd get two more pairs. One pair I got was two Pied English Zebras, the other was a Gouldian pair. To house all of these, I built an aviary - 80 x 36 x 53 inches. So it's big. I put them all in at once, as I found that introducing them all to a new setting at once would reduce fighting.
At first, everything was fine. But then suddenly the male Zebra I got in the beginning started chasing and screaming at the new birds. Sometimes he's fine, others he goes mental. It's so peaceful at times, but suddenly he'll turn on them. Obviously, this is stressing everyone out, including my original female Society. At first he was just chasing the female English Zebra, so I removed the two English Zebras, and put them in a quarantine cage, to see if they were the cause. For a bit, I thought that was the case as things went well for about an hour. But now, this original Zebra is chasing around the Gouldians at seemingly random intervals. One second he's fine, the other he freaks out and goes after them. So removing the English Zebras wasn't a fix. I should say he's not getting physical with the Gouldians, he's just chasing them and screaming. Chasing them off perches, food sources, up into the upper corner of the aviary.
My question is... what exactly can I do here shy of simply removing the problem bird? I have three food sources, three bath sources, two drinking water sources, lots of perches... I feel bad about removing him because the Society and him have bonded and have been a stable pair, but everyone is getting stressed out because of him. It's only been a day, am I just needing to give them more time? Ever since I got the first two, it has only ever been them. So now this is a new cage, and four new birds - do I simply need to wait and give everyone more time? I know that having only two pairs can cause extra fighting, so should I just put the English Zebra pair back in? I'd appreciate any help or advice.
