Aggressive zebra cock

[snugglepuss02]

Hi, can someone please help me. I have just introduced a pair of canaries to my aviary which has 1 pair of zebra finches who I am pretty sure have young ones in their nest. The cock finch is very aggressive towards the hen canary. Is this normal????

[Jayburd]

yes that would be normal
Zebras can become quite aggressive, especially when young are in the nest. how big is the aviary? if the canary gets too close to the nest, the male would probably attack her.
well done on young ones

[shanny2]

not sure but i don't thick canaries mix well with finches

[Jayburd]

canaries are usually fine with finches, know someone who breeds blue caps alongside them!
also since the canaries were just introduced, the zebras may feel they are encroaching on their territory. hopefully they should settle down.

[dano_68]

not sure but i don't thick canaries mix well with finches

Just for the record Shanny, many finch breeders keep at least 1 canary in the aviary because the canaries teach finches what to eat. Many finches can be very fussy eaters and if they don’t recognise some type of new food they will generally ignore it. But a canary will eat just about anything, so when the finches see the canary eating something they will follow. Finches are very much monkey see, monkey do. In fact, I use Red Face Parrotfinches for exactly the same purpose. RFPF will try just about anything – twice! So they are good at teaching my other birds what is eatable.

[cranberry]

Agreed dano_68. My canaries taught my Gouldian young to eat broccoli, something I thought I would never see.

[Greg41]

Iv'e got a pair of canaries in with my finches, no problems at all and they are now on their second clutch of eggs.
Cheers Greg.

[snugglepuss02]

Thank you all for your information. My first ever baby left the nest the day after I wrote my email. The zebra cock seems to have settled down with my canaries, especially the hen. I am very excited about my first baby finch

[Jayburd]

awesome well done!

[finchbreeder]

Have been keeping Canaries and finches together without any trouble for 20plus years. He was just upset at intruders in his teritory at such a critical time. As they have obviously not done anything agressive he is now OK with them.
LML