Ask Lafeber

Male zebra finches ‘mating’ behaviour?

We have two pet male zebra finches, brothers. They are about 18 months old. We have recently noticed a change in behaviour. They seem to be trying to ‘mount’ each other, they are also taking feathers and bits of tissue etc to a new place on a shelf and seem to be ‘nesting’? Is this all quite normal and healthy behaviour? They have a cage but we also let them out in one room during the daytime. They seem to be flying around less and spending more time ‘nesting’ in the bookshelf.

Hi Karen,

This is perfectly normal with captive birds. Since they are males, you don’t have to worry about unwanted eggs. I would not give them a nest, but you can let them nest the way they are doing if it doesn’t bother you. However, if they get obsessed and only want to nest, you need to break up their nest and try to get them focused back on being male finches.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda