I hand raised DevNull from the age of 7 days. Her eyes hadn't opened yet and when they did she saw only humans. The natural fear of humans and flightiness were not something she ever experienced. She was raised believing that humans were the parents and a natural part of the flock. My home is her world.

Honestly I expected her to revert to a more wild state shortly after she learned to fly and was weaned, but she never did. Instead of going wild, she started adapting and learning to live in the human world.

Flight
As most young newly flighted finches do, she raced around the house at what seemed like warp speed. Surprisingly she only hit a wall twice before learning to slow down on the sharp turns. Of course this is something a wild finch would also need to learn and not something I could possibly teach her.

Landings were a problem for DevNull at first too. There isn't much that resembles a perch in the house and she had no access to other finches or cages. Often she'd over shoot or smack into the person she was trying to land on. She simplified the landing by aiming for top of the head. Head landings were something we couldn't allow. Not only do finches poop all the time, but also when guests came over she really freaked some of them out. Punishment of any type doesn't work at all with a finch; we had to make the head an undesirable place to land. The easiest way was to shake the head as she landed so she couldn't hang on and would fly off again. It took about two weeks but she did learn that the head was a bad place to land.

Several rooms are off limits to DevNull. In her explorations she'd end up in the guestroom, the bathroom and in the spare room. All these places can be dangerous for her but we really didn't want to keep all the doors closed because of a wandering finch. Weeks of chasing her out of the rooms did the trick. She knows she's not allowed in those rooms unless carried in and held by someone the entire time. A few times since learning this that she was wandered into the no-fly zones. She's been very good about stopping and calling out for someone to come remove her from that room.

DevNull has never, nor will she ever be allowed outside. The possibility of losing her is too great. All traffic coming into and out of the house is watched very closely. Everyone is very mindful of DevNull, and when guests are here who don't know about DevNull, she is confined to my bedroom, which is also her main home.

Food
DevNull does eat birdseed like all other finches. Her cups for seed and water are always available to her but she also likes people food. I would always hold her on my lap or in my hand when she was a baby, often while eating dinner, or catching a quick snack between her feedings. Not surprisingly the first real food she ever ate was toast. That's right, she darted right over to me one breakfast, jumped on my plate, hopped across my eggs and started chowing down on my toast.

Standing on the food is very normal for a finch, but not something DevNull could keep doing. I can't count the times I had to push her off my plate before she started to stand next to the plate and eat only from the edge. Those of you who have parrots know that most parrots pick up on that rule fairly quickly. With finches it takes a bit longer.

She's very tuned in to the sound of the microwave beep. That's naturally where I warmed her hand feeding formula and she flies directly to the microwave every time is beeps. Once there she really expects to be fed and will cling to anyone who has food until the food is shared. DevNull now enjoys a rich diet of seeds, veggies, fruits, breads (love those doughnuts), pork, steak, anything Bar-B-Qed, Chinese takeout, eggs, chicken, and so much more. Being a bird she is kept away from toxic foods like chocolate of course.

Spunk
It was during all the fights over control of the plate that I realized DevNull remembers these events and holds a grudge. Yes a finch has attacked me. When something that small is darting around your head and growling at you, you know it's not happy. In some ways I find it very cute that this tiny finch would stand up and challenge my authority. I'm much larger than she is and she knows it.

I truly believe her spunk was inherited from her biological mother. Her mother (Xena) is the only finch in my aviary which would routinely attack me when I try to band her young.

Understanding
Communication with a finch on a level she can understand is tricky. I've learned to understand her body language and in turn she's learned that humans miss the more subtle movements. Therefore when she really wants something she must exaggerate her every movement and practically fly into my face to pull my attention towards her when I'm working. Most of the time she only wants her head rubbed but other times she wants food, fresh water, or a bath.

Exploring the floor (ground) is quite natural to a Zebra Finch. They are grassland birds after all, but this can be a real hazard around the house. We always watch out of DevNull when she's out picking up lint or chasing the occasional bug across the carpet. Chasing her up from the floor has proven ineffective, but she seems to know that we are concerned about her safety. She now beeps almost continuously while hopping around on the floor and when someone walks up to her she'll often give out a nice and loud alarm call. This is something she started doing on her own after months of being chased around the floor.

Lately, and after flying into a few people, she has also begun to call out just before she comes to a corner while flying through the house. The split second warning of her approach has helped us all from running into her. I still don't know why she doesn't simply fly a little higher to avoid hitting us.

While DevNull does not fear unknown objects she comes into contact with, she is reluctant to touch them unless a human does so first. After that, it's all hers, all the time. New people walking into the house are a different story. She flies right to the strangers shoulder to check them out, no cowering and hiding for this little finch. She won’t allow them to pet her but she'll stay at their side until someone or something else catches her eye. Even my Conure and Cockatiel aren't as social with new people.

I've tried to introduce DevNull to other finches. She's seen a few other zebras when they've stayed upstairs in the hospital cage for a few days. Most of the time she won’t look twice at them, but there have been a few males she's shown interest in. A little of her more typical finch behavior will emerge. She'll fan her tail and drive the males wild. However these behaviors doesn't mean she knows what to do with a male when they are standing beak to beak. I allowed her to hop into a small cage with a male once. After they stared at one another for about 30 seconds she calmly turned around and hopped back out to me.

Finch Stuff
There are some things DevNull does that are 100% finch. She eats, sleeps, and then eats more. Very typical for a finch and most any bird. She attempts to build a nest and will go through a few weeks of nesting and sitting behavior from time to time. She will still flirt and fan her tail to male Zebras she sees. She coos when nesting and lets out a harsh beep when upset. She lays eggs, sometimes in strange places.

All in all, DevNull has taught me more than I ever expected. She's become much more of a pet than a wild and flighty finch. She wants to be part of a flock and enjoys being close to people; being held and petted by people.

Learn more about Handraising a Finch.

Article © Myra Markley 2001