Hi Kara,
Some birds simply are not compatible. It sounds like for her own reasons, the female doesn’t like this male. If he is a lot younger than him, this can be the cause. When one bird is hormonal and the other one isn’t mature yet, the mature bird will often attack the other bird out of frustration. Some birds never show any interest in breeding. This may be due to not being fertile. If these birds are the same age, then I would conclude they are not compatible. In the wild, birds choose their mates. They do not always like the mate we choose for them in captivity. He will definitely know if you get a different female. Birds are individuals, so they aren’t interchangeable. If they are bonded to a mate and it dies, they will grieve for a while before they will look for another mate. I’m assuming these are both the same species of finch? If they are Zebra or Society finches, there are a lot of color mutations of those species so even if they are the same species, if they are different color mutations that can sometimes cause a pair to not like one another. Your female might accept a different male and your male would probably accept a different female. However, you can’t put them all together, especially if you plan to breed them. Finches can share a large cage when kept in even numbers and when no nests are provided. But as soon as you provide a nest, they will all start fighting over territory. Even if you don’t want them to breed, I don’t think I would keep these birds in the same cage with new mates. She still may attack that male. You either need to get each bird a new mate, and separate cages for each pair, or get a different male or female and trade for one of yours if that is an option. As far as nests go, only give them a nest if you want them to breed. They have no need for a nest unless they are breeding.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
