# my finches killed each other what the heck!



## Lolita (Mar 23, 2011)

so this is my finch story i rescued 4 zebra finches a mated pair and their offspring one day i walked in to find the father killed one of the babies judging from the coloring it started to get male markings which i've seen males kill each other if theres only one female so next day same thing happened (i was trying to get a second cage for the young one but didn't in time) well i ended up getting my second cage for weaned babies anyway and put the mom and dads nesting box back in after a month or two, they were doing fine always happy and chirping (i loved being greeted by a bird song whenever i entered my room) i fed and watered them this morning as always then this evening when i went to take some pictures of my leopard geckos i didn't hear their song when i walked into my room so i look down at the bottom of the cage and there they are bloodied and missing feathers like they had just gone after each other ferociously theres nothing sharp in their cage and nothing remotely predatory that can get to them so the only thing i could think of is they killed each other.

it's so weird they were getting along fine this morning and had been for months in all my years having finches i've never seen that happen before so now i miss my birds and i'm sad i just wanted to vent a little i guess and ask if anything similiar has happened to anyone else. rest in peace meep family i enjoyed you


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## RyTheTGuy (Mar 23, 2011)

Thats insane, maybe they just decided they hated each other and fought it out. Sorry for your lose


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## Lolita (Mar 23, 2011)

i've bred finches for years and never had a mated pair up and kill each other i'm in shock it was horrible to find them like that so i stuck them in the freezer and i'm doing a bird funeral this weekend


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## RyTheTGuy (Mar 23, 2011)

Lolita said:


> i've bred finches for years and never had a mated pair up and kill each other i'm in shock it was horrible to find them like that so i stuck them in the freezer and i'm doing a bird funeral this weekend


Im sure it was just a classic case of Munchausen by Proxy. Still very horrible to find that your birds had done this to each other. a Bird Funeral thats awesome!, i remember doing that for birds i shot when i was like 10. :wall:


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## Lolita (Mar 23, 2011)

RyTheTGuy said:


> Im sure it was just a classic case of Munchausen by Proxy. Still very horrible to find that your birds had done this to each other. a Bird Funeral thats awesome!, i remember doing that for birds i shot when i was like 10. :wall:


i do it for any animal that comes into my life and passes away (even little 1/4" slings i had that had rough molts and died) idk it makes me feel better to give them burials it's just crazy it happened in the first place it's like they went phycho maybe they had a suicide pact or something and just didn't tell me or maybe it was a domestic abuse double homicide


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## RyTheTGuy (Mar 23, 2011)

Lolita said:


> i do it for any animal that comes into my life and passes away (even little 1/4" slings i had that had rough molts and died) idk it makes me feel better to give them burials it's just crazy it happened in the first place it's like they went phycho maybe they had a suicide pact or something and just didn't tell me or maybe it was a domestic abuse double homicide


Murder Suicide, takes the best of them.:8o Yeah i get what you are saying about the funerals, girls are so sensitive ....idk never had a T die so idk what i will do.......


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## jrzyspider (Mar 23, 2011)

Wow, that's really crazy.  Sorry to hear about your pets.  I never knew birds did anything like that.


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## Lolita (Mar 23, 2011)

RyTheTGuy said:


> Murder Suicide, takes the best of them.:8o Yeah i get what you are saying about the funerals, girls are so sensitive ....idk never had a T die so idk what i will do.......


lol my gender has nothing to do with it i'm more like a dude than most guys i know it's more of a respecting their lives and existance by giving them proper burial to me.

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jrzyspider said:


> Wow, that's really crazy.  Sorry to hear about your pets.  I never knew birds did anything like that.


thanks yeah i know birds will do that sometimes but they typically don't kill their mates


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## Rue (Mar 23, 2011)

Sorry about your finches.  We had finches for years...but never bred them.  I don't remember any aggression issues though...they all seemed to get along very well...


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## Lolita (Mar 23, 2011)

Rue said:


> Sorry about your finches.  We had finches for years...but never bred them.  I don't remember any aggression issues though...they all seemed to get along very well...


what kind did you have? it seems like zebra's are the worst for aggression their like evil sometimes i miss my lady gouldians and my java finches those were nice and pretty and not murderers


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## Rue (Mar 23, 2011)

We had a mixed flock of males only...zebra, java, cordon bleu, strawberry, black-rumped...

There would occaisonally be a bit of squawking...but nothing ever amounted to any real aggresion between these males...


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## Lolita (Mar 23, 2011)

Rue said:


> We had a mixed flock of males only...zebra, java, cordon bleu, strawberry, black-rumped...
> 
> There would occaisonally be a bit of squawking...but nothing ever amounted to any real aggresion between these males...


thats cause it was a male only flock ad a female in there and it would've gotten ugly i've always wanted a cordon bleu (blue is my favorite color)


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## ZergFront (Mar 25, 2011)

I had three zebra finches before. Two were a pair and one other female. The pair would always pick on the third one. First they kicked her to the bottom perch, then they tried keeping her to the floor. She died before we got the new cage home. 

 I think if we'd had a bigger cage with a lot more perches, maybe that wouldn't have happened. She had a crossed beak we kept trimmed so I wonder if they were just trying to take out the weak one.


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## Lolita (Mar 25, 2011)

idk it seems like zebras are kinda turds they do pick on them thats what happened with their babies i didn't get my second cage in time and they died idk why my mated pair killed each other though it's odd


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## LeilaNami (Mar 25, 2011)

Sorry for your loss!  I had the same issue with my doves.  My male started getting aggressive towards his offspring so now I have to have two cages. :wall:  As far as the zebras though, I have known them to be more of the territorial species of finch.  We kept a mixed gender flock but we had to make sure there were always more females than males otherwise I'd start having males without tail and head feathers.  The only death I had was when all the males piled on top of a female and crushed her.


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## Lolita (Mar 25, 2011)

LeilaNami said:


> Sorry for your loss!  I had the same issue with my doves.  My male started getting aggressive towards his offspring so now I have to have two cages. :wall:  As far as the zebras though, I have known them to be more of the territorial species of finch.  We kept a mixed gender flock but we had to make sure there were always more females than males otherwise I'd start having males without tail and head feathers.  The only death I had was when all the males piled on top of a female and crushed her.


yeah i probably should have adding a second female so it was a little trio instead but hindsight is 20/20 idk if i'll get more birds or just sell my supplies i havent decided yet


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## LeilaNami (Mar 25, 2011)

Lolita said:


> yeah i probably should have adding a second female so it was a little trio instead but hindsight is 20/20 idk if i'll get more birds or just sell my supplies i havent decided yet


Aw, don't give up!  If you get more, just make sure you have at least two (some suggest three) girlies for every male and that will dramatically reduce the fighting.  If you want a small bird that's really easy going and calm, you can try a small species of dove.


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## Lolita (Mar 25, 2011)

i used to breed diamond doves and i never much liked them like the finches i wish societies were easier to get out here cause they're so much better tempered than zebras


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## LeilaNami (Mar 25, 2011)

Lolita said:


> i used to breed diamond doves and i never much liked them like the finches i wish societies were easier to get out here cause they're so much better tempered than zebras


I would probably stick with Javas or Cordon Bleus then.  I've never had a problem with the Cordons though they can cost a pretty penny but the males look so cute with the blush on their cheeks. 

From what I hear, though I've personally never kept them, Mask finches do very well together with little problem.


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## Lolita (Mar 25, 2011)

idk what i'll end up getting but it wont be anymore zebra's they're pains in my butt


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## BigMomma (Dec 3, 2018)

I've sorta had the same problem. Got a pair of Zebras a female with white wings and an average male. They were happy and making eggs but they were young and accidentally broke them. In about a month or so of being very happy together Lucy killed Ricky. At first I figured Ricky had become sickly and died off because birds are whimps when it comes to disease. So Lucy stayed a single lady for several months and she just looked sad and lonely so I went and got another female, the more cream colored brown Zebras. I've never seen a bird so happy before in my life, they did everything together, cuddled, pruned, ate, bathed, and slept. I have an insanely large cage for finches with 2 nest boxes. After the whole summer of loving each other, Ethel was perched alone one night, they usually sleep in the nest together. Next day Ethel was dead.


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