Ask Lafeber

Agressive Female Toward Male

I had two young male brother zebra finches and recently one died. I was given a female and had her separated in a cage right next to his for a week. They seemed quite interested in each other. When I finally put the female in with the male in a large cage (30Lx18Wx36H) with separate water/food dishes and plenty of toys and perches. After a couple of days, despite mutual grooming, chatting with each other and sleeping together, the female from time to time becomes very aggressive toward the male and chases him around. No feather pulling, but pecking. I am wondering what is going on. Curious perhaps he might want to mate and she doesn’t and is fending him off. Any ideas?

Hi David,

Occasional harmless squabbles are OK. If feathers are being ripped out or blood is drawn, then you have to split them up. Or if one bird relentlessly follows the other around the cage, then they need to be split up. But as long as they are mostly getting along, I wouldn’t worry about these spats. It’s part of them getting to know each other.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda