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Zebra Finches

Family: EstrildidaePoephila guttata castanotisPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

    Zebra Finches are great birds for a beginner or any bird enthusiast! These attractive little creatures are hardy, inexpensive, active, and one of the easiest birds to keep and breed. They are long-lived, with a life span in captivity of about 12 years.

   The Zebra Finches have been a most popular cage bird for over 100 years! They originated in Australia and belong to the Estrildidea family. In the wild, these are hardy little grass finches live in groups and breed in colonies. There they occupying grass or brush lands, dry savannas, open areas, pastures and cultivated fields, eating mostly grass seed they find on the ground.

For more information about the care of Finches see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Finch

Scientific name: Poephila guttata castanotis Learn more about the Zebra "Family", the Estrildidae Finches here: Finch Families

Description:    Zebra Finches reach a size of 4" (10 cm). Their normal, or "wild" color contains quite a lot of distinctly colored areas. Males have a light gray crown and neck, Their lores and cheeks are white set off with two black vertical lines and they have a rusty red patch on the sides of their head. The crop and throat are silvery with black cross barring, and just below that is a black breast front. The lower body is white while the side is reddish with white round dots.
   The female is similar, though not quite as colorful as the male, The sides of her head, throat, crop and upper breast are gray, and the sides of her body are mouse gray. A male's beak is a reddish orange and the female's is usually lighter.
   Today, with selective breeding, you can find Zebra Finches in a variety of colors and patterns that include pied, fawn and white.

Distribution:    Zebra Finches are naturally wild in over 90% of Australia.

Care and Feeding:    Fresh food and water must be provided daily. A good finch seed mix will provide their everyday need of grass seeds and millets and is readily available at a pet store. In a treat cup you can occasionally offer supplements of bread moistened with milk, oranges, diced hard boiled eggs, even seed moistened with cod liver oil and powdered with yeast to provide a high fat protein and vitamin D. Some green foods you can offer sparingly include lettuce, spinach, and celery tops. Finch treats of seed with honey, fruits and vegetables are fun for your bird too, as well as nutritious!
   Grit with charcoal is essential to aid in digestion and it contains valuable minerals and trace elements. Grit should be provided in a special cup or sprinkled over the bottom of the cage floor. Provide a cuttlebone because the calcium it provides will give your bird a firm beak, strong eggshells when breeding, and will prevent egg binding. The lime in the cuttlebone also aids in digestion.
   Give your Zebra Finch a bath daily or as often as possible. A bath dish that is 1" deep with a 1/2" of water, or a clip on bath house is also very important as they love to bathe.
   Their nails will occasionally need to be trimmed, but be careful never to clip into the vein as the bird can quickly bleed to death.  Bird nail trimmers and styptic powder to stop the bleeding are available at pet shops.

Zebra Finches With Albino Coloration Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

Housing:    Zebra Finches have a great need for movement. A cage with horizontal space for flight is better than a vertical cage, 28" (70 cm) long and 20" (50 cm) high is ideal. Place the cage where it is well ventilated though free from drafts, and against a wall at eye level. It should have good light but be away from doors and windows where direct exposure to sunlight can make it overly warm.
   Provide two or three good softwood perches about 3/8" to 3/4" in diameter. Tree branches of a similar size also make good perches and will help to wear the claws down naturally. Provide separate dishes for food, water, treats, and grit. Place paper on the cage bottom that can be sprinkled with grit, or use a grit paper. Zebra Finches prefer a closed place to sleep at night. Hollow coconuts or enclosed wicker nests work nicely.
   Zebra Finches also do very well in aviaries or bird rooms. The screening should be 3/8" square mesh. Dishes for food, water, grit and bathing water must be included along with perches and nests. Zebra Finches will roost in nest boxes even when they are not breeding. Plants that are not poisonous, such as fruit trees, privet, forsythia, and honeysuckle bushes will make the space more enjoyable for the finches.

Maintenance:   Although finches require very little time, a clean environment as well as fresh food and water daily is a must to prevent disease and illness. The basic cage care includes daily cleaning of the water and food dishes. Every two to three days change the paper on the bottom of the cage and sprinkle it with about 1/8" of fresh grit. Weekly wash and dry the entire cage, including the perches.

Social Behaviors:    Zebra Finches will come to know you and trust you, but they will not become intimate. Because Zebra Finches naturally live in flocks they are very social and should be kept in pairs, not singly. However if you keep several pairs, they will pluck each other if they are overcrowded. If you wish to mix bird types, they are best kept with other finches from the Estrildidae family with similar requirements.

Handling/Training:    Finches are simply enjoyed for their antics and play rather than training. When you need to handle your finch to examine it or clip it's nails, place your palm on it's back and wrap your fingers around the bird with your thumb and forefinger on either side of it's head. Finches rarely bite, and even if they do, they do not have a harmful or dangerous bite.

Activities:   Zebra Finches are active, flittering around and twittering most of the day with a few short quiet periods. They love to bathe and then preen themselves and others.

Breeding/Reproduction:    Zebra Finches breed readily, even in small cages. They will display mating behaviors all year long, such as selecting nesting sites, collecting materials, and courting.The size of a breeding cage should be at least one square foot of floor space per bird. Nest boxes should be about 4"x 4"x 4" (10 x 10 x 10 cm). Provide two nest boxes per pair of birds mounted as high as possible and separated from the next two pair of boxes. Also provide lots of soft nesting materials. The male does most of the nest building.
   Breeders must be at least 9 months old to prevent eggbinding and immature parents. They can be bred as single pairs or with three or more pairs and no odd birds without a mate. Two pairs will fight for dominance.
   The female will lay a clutch of 4 to 6 eggs. The male and female will alternate sitting on the eggs and they will hatch in 12 to 14 days. Both parents will feed the hatchlings. At this time provide fresh sprouts daily, and soft foods such as bread soaked in milk, hard boiled egg, or grated carrot. Banding should be done on the 12th day.
   The young leave the nest about 4 weeks after they hatch and in 5 to 6 weeks will be on their own.

Potential Problems:    Zebra Finches are very hardy birds and almost all illnesses can be traced to improper diet, dirty cages, and drafts. A balanced diet and plenty of exercise will prevent most illnesses. Know your birds and watch for real drastic changes as indications of illness.
   Some signs of illness to be aware of are droppings that are not black and white, feathers that are ruffled, lack of appetite, wheezing, and acting feeble and run down.
   Some of the common illnesses and injuries your finch could contract are broken wings or legs, cuts and open wounds, overgrown beaks and nails, ingrown feathers, feather picking, confinement cramps in the legs from a cage that is too small, weight loss, heat stroke, shock, concussion, egg binding, diarrhea, mites, colds, baldness, scaly legs, sore eyes, tumors, constipation, and diarrhea.
   First you can try and isolate the bird in a hospital cage where you cover all but the front of the cage and add a light bulb or heating pad to keep the interior of the cage at a constant temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove all perches and put food and water dishes on the floor. If you don't see improvements within a few hours, take the bird to an avian veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment.

Availability:
   Zebra Finches are readily available in the pet industry in their normal or "wild" coloration as well as other colors of pied, fawn and white. Because they have bred so easily in captivity, they are very inexpensive little birds.

Author: Clarice Brough, CAS

Lastest Comments on Zebra Finch View all 101 comments on Zebra Finch Add Your Comment

Star Cruz - 2012-02-01 how can you tame (train)or gain its trust a zebra finch so they don't fly away from you? Click For Replies (1) Charlie Roche - 2012-02-02 I don't know that you can but you can help him want to stay by you longer. Have him on you - or very close to you when you are eating your meals and give him tidbits or let him eat off your plate. He can have a little piece of sandwich or a little piece of chicken etc. When you aren't eating meals then have a few cheerios in your pocket. They are curious little birds and like to look around. They do like pet - on the top of the head and sides of the face and seemed to like curling up in my sweater sleeve or laying on my chest. I'd start with mealtimes. Reply

Star Cruz - 2012-01-27 my female finch is laying on the nest all afternoon me and my sister do not know if she die if still alive Click For Replies (4) Star Cruz - 2012-01-27 ok and my sister keep poked her back! Charlie Roche - 2012-01-27 Watch to see if she is breathing or gentky touch her chest to see if breathing. Sometimes they barely move while incubating. Star Cruz - 2012-01-27 hi it is her sister the male goes in the nest with the female is that a bad thing. Charlie Roche - 2012-01-27 Male finches also help with incubating the eggs and feeding so it is normal for the male to go in the nest. They do not care if the third finch is the sister they believe they are protecting the nest. You can put a few cheerios or pellets or little millet in the nest if you are still concerned if the female is alive. If she has died she would feel col to your touch by now. I hope she is justsitting tight and fine but if she has died you will have to remove her and hopefully the male will take over all parenting responsibilities Reply

Star Cruz - 2012-01-20 now i have another one: How do u grow more feathers, is it a food thing or something? And how many day does the egg hatch? Click For Replies (1) Clarice Brough - 2012-01-20 It's a fairly common problem, these finches will sometimes pluck each other. The best solution is to separate them until the feathers grow back, which they generally will. On hatching eggs, there is information about gestation and hatch times in the article above. Reply

Star Cruz - 2012-01-18 Me and my sister have two finches, one male and one female, but when I got to see them again the females back almost had no feathers! I don't know if the male is doing it or she's going to die? Please tell me. Click For Replies (2) Charlie Roche - 2012-01-18 I would guess the male is doing it. Many times the male will get a little over amourous in his intentions and pluck or pull the feathers on the females neck and back wanting to breed. She just isn't ready yet. If her behavior is good and she is eating and pooping normally, I'd say you have an overly amorous male right now. Star Cruz - 2012-01-19 Thank you so much and today when i got home their was an egg in their nest! Reply

nv - 2012-01-07 Hi. I have a pair of finches and i just want to know that how much food they required daily. I mean can we explain it in weight? Click For Replies (1) Charlie Roche - 2012-01-07 I don't believe there is really any way to figure out or know the answer to that question. Fruit provides nutrition but so much of it is water but the weight is there. A piece of chicken will weigh very little but quite filling. There is the food they will eat, the food they will drop and the food they will just throw or get in a food fight with. I never have my birds bowls empty. Reply

Shereen - 2011-12-13 I have 2 pairs of zebra finch in one cage. the 2 males used to fight a lot. till the stronger of them takes the leadership of the cage. Just 2 days ago the weak male start losing feather at the area of neck, I thought this was due to the fight with the other male. yesterday at night, the weak male have lost a lot of his feather around the neck and up till the ears, and down till the chest and belly. the all birds male and females start picking him so much that he bleeds. I have separated him in another cage. I want to know why does he lose feather, Is he ill?? or this is a normal in a bird's life time, that it might change its feather?? if he is ill is is some unknown disease? should I feed him with special diet?? I have asked at the birdshop they said, he just needs calcium.. I have been feeding him well boiled eggs shell since 2 weeks!!! Kindly, advice. Click For Replies (3) Alex - 2011-12-16 Hi I'm going to reply on your question, My name is Alex. I'm 12 and I have bred zebra and gouldian finches over 30 times , when this happens the group of finches are rejecting him because he has lost leadership , when this happens you must buy a new cage and put him in there. If you keep him with the other finches in a period of time the male will kill him. If you have any questions or concerns email me at Alex651999@aol.com Thanks Shereen - 2011-12-17 Thanks alot Alex. I have already moved him to another cage. and he is getting well, I believe he will gain new feathers with time.I really appreciate your reply. Jenny - 2012-01-02 Yes, I agree with the above comment. When there are two males in the same cage, they are more likely to fight. The dominant one bites and chases the weaker male and if the owner does not separate them, the weaker male may eventually die. I personally witnessed this when the older parents breeded one female and male offspring. Once the offspring grew up, the male fought with the father. Pretty quickly, the intensity increased a lot and the father lost a lot of feathers -- most likely they were bitten off by the son. Unfortunately, by the time I realized this and attempted to separate the males, it was too late and the older male died. Even when you only have one pair consisting of one male and one female, you should be careful. Although zebra finches are social, they may still fight a lot. From my observations, the male tends to be more dominant but sometimes the female can do some damage to the male. If fighting is bad, I would recommend separating the female from the male too for some time. Reply

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