I want to get finches, but i can't decide between Zebra and Society?

Question

I want to breed them, and then have their offspring in a small outdoor aviary. But i want to know, I heard that the Zebras can be a bit aggressive, but they can be sexed by their feather coloring. I like the coloring and the look of the Societies but they are more difficult to sex, yet easier to breed. Which ones should i get?

Answer 1

I myself breed societies, I had zebras and found them to be quite aggressive.
if your only issue is sexing, you can do what I do..
I keep mine is smaller cages untill i hear them sing, I purchased some plastic leg bands (blue and pink) from the NFSS and when i hear them sing I band them with a blue band and transfer to the larger aviary, after a few weeks the one which do not sing are most likely females and i band them with the pink and relase into the larger aviary as well.
societies are very social, hence the name.
you can have MANY birds housed together with no issues, zebras will get aggressive around breeding time :)
Hope that helps bit
Nicole

Answer 2

Zebras aren't as vicious as some finches (they can be kept in mixed aviaries after all) but they can be quite territorial.
Any bird near its nest is chased around and growled at until it moves on. I've never had a zebra finch actually attack and injure another though, but I know it happens to some people.

Zebra finches are very fun to breed, especially when you are trying to get less common mutations. I love getting pied babies because no two look the same.

Zebra finches are super easy to breed, they are like rabbits. If you don't give them a nestbox/basket, they will try to use their food dish or anywhere else possible. It's more a matter of trying to get them to stop breeding so that they don't exhaust themselves! They are also fantastic parents, I've never had a chick die and I've had a pair successfully raise 6 babies and it was their first clutch.

Societies can be quite difficult to sex, yes. However they are incredibly friendly birds and fantastic parents. Besides sexing, the only downside to them is that they are sometimes -too- friendly and will all heap into a nest and crush the eggs.

Honestly I have never kept societies but would love to some day. I reccomend zebras, without a doubt.

Answer 3

I can attest to the potential aggressiveness of zebras. Mine (a male and two females) chased each other viciously and had to be separated.