Aussie Finch Forum

Hey guys, quick question and sorry in advance of its been asked before but I searched for something similar and couldn’t find it :/

I have 2 pairs of zebs in a breeding cage, fairly large plenty of space, one white pair and one red pair

The pairs were both in their respective colours and nesting happily until the red male jumped to the white couple, ditched the red female and is now nesting ect with the white couple no problems ... I’ve never had this happen, is it normal ?

Thanks in advance

Birds prefer to choose their own mates, so having a bird swap partners is not uncommon. Zebra finches in particular live in huge flocks and have lots of prospective partners to choose from. Grabbing any 2 birds and putting them together does not necessarily guarantee a compatible pair.

I asume you have 3 nests, so each of the ladies has a choice? If not and the reds went down 2nd then he could be trying to go up in the ladies (collective) eyes. Not being able to show your lady a choice is the sign of a loser cock in the bird world. Don't let that happen to your birds.
LML

I have 5 nest sites with only two pairs in the cage , and now three birds (2 cocks, 1 hen) are nesting together, sleeping together, preening together ect ....
I’ve just never seen 3’s as opposed to pairs :/

They sound like young birds that are still seeking company at night, similar to when they were in the nest.

Does the 4th bird sleep in a nest at night?

Yeh the 4th bird sleeps in a half built nest alone at night ... who knows it might change once the young hatch

Which bird/s is looking after eggs, the red female, or the trio?

The trio is looking after the eggs

You have probably got a broody male that wants to help look after the eggs and young. Just monitor them and see how they go. When the other bird comes into breeding condition, they might pair off and use a nest together.

I've actually had this happen a few months back.
My oldest male managed to court both a female and a male. All three preen one another, sleep together, and shoo away others when they're relaxing on their favourite perch together.
That's despite available females who the second male simply didn't want anything to do with.

Strangest part is, the female is the one that joined the relationship. Those two males have been mates for a while before that.
They've now been a trio for probably 6 months or more.
I ended up separating one male and the female for breeding season and after raising 3 beautiful babies, the trio came back together, and the oldest male even helped with weaning.