Zebra Finch Questions

[pandamak1]

A little history and then the questions, any advice is greatly appreciated!
During the summer I adopted 5 zebra finch (siblings-3 Male & 2 Female) and 2 canaries (1 male & 1 female that have been together since they were just a few months old). They came from 2 homes that no longer wanted them. I introduced the finch into the canary cage and all has been going well. I've always loved finch, I'm not a breeder and I read up on finch and canaries before I got them. They are very healthy and happy. Recently though, I've noticed that 1 of my finch boys seems to be the "odd man out." Most of the day they all sit together and are fine but I've noticed the 2 other boys chasing him after the girls lay eggs. I know that it's ok if siblings reproduce as long as their offspring don't. They've only hatched one clutch of 3 -none of which survived (I think they were thrown from the nest). They usually lay eggs and just leave them, so I give it the time I read and then I remove the eggs. Nobody is plucking and 95% of the time everyone is fine. Their cage is 30"wide x 18"deep x 33"tall.
My question is...
Should I introduce another female for my lonely boy? Or does this sound like normal behavior? The other 2 seem to have chosen a "mate" to be with. The boys still sing all the time and my lonely guy will sit and sing too from time to time. I hate to seperate males/females since they usually seem so happy together. What should I do?

[abcrystcats]

Zebras have a kind of society that is very much like our human society. I know you'll laugh, but it's true.

Here's my advice:

1) Canaries dont need to be in with Zebras. Sure, they can be together, but the canary is a much larger bird, so please, to avoid intimidation, separate them.

2) Yes, once you've got the Zebras in their own exclusive Zebra home, introduce new females.

3) Don't be too surprised if your match making does not work out. I had a male and a female loner for months that just could not find friends. It was sad. Eventually, the two loners got together and had ONE living chick. It took over a year for this to happen.

Listen to the songs. My male never developed the full male Zebra "call" until later in his life. He was a healthy bird when I bought him, but not a full adult, and he was always missing a note or two.

Look at coloration closely. My female was a "gray ticked." That is not a popular color and she did not have the appropriate facial markings. Zebras respond to certain facial markings as attractive.

It is sad, but just like in our society, the misfits get shuffled off.

In the end, the female raised her one chick. She put her whole energy into it. Shortly after that one chick left her nest, she lay on the floor of the cage, dead. She'd had a long history.

I got obsessed with my finches, just like you.

I learned the hard way that no matter what you do, there is always going to be the "odd man out."

[krazy4birds]

Our grandson gave me 2 Finches. He had several in his cage but knew one of them was the bully, we thought he would act better without others around so I took him and one other one. He had her dead before I noticed anything unusual when the female died. We took her out and she was full of evidence that he had been abusing her. So, here he was all alone. I said good enough for him!!!!! I already had a small yellow Parakeet in there. One day I heard the loudest screaching ever coming from that cage. It was evident that the Finch had tried a bit of his "bully tricks" It did not work. He tried at best twice now and after she puts him in his place, I say
Go for it!!!! They have been cage buddies for about 5-6 months ago and not one spec of trouble!

[Jerica]

I would recommend that you don't let the related birds breed. Inbreeding is never a good idea unless you know exactly what you are doing. When I had zebra finches I bred two birds from the same place, their babies never made it. Finally I bought a male from a different place and four chicks survived only to 8 weeks old, the only explaination I have is that they were related, three of the four chicks who lived had missing toes and such. Please don't inbreed them. If you want to breed get some more cages and new mates. If you have 3 males and two females you will always have an odd man out, you may want to get him a mate and put them in a seperate cage from the rest, especially in that size cage they may start to fight when they really get into breeding. I still would suggest not letting your birds inbreed, if inbreeding is done usually it is more like father to daughter, uncle to niece, etc. not brother and sister.