New finches/mating questions?

[Elliott G]

Ok, i just got 2 new zebra finches to breed, but i have no clue and i researched them but nothing, ok, my male and female zebras are siting the the nest together, is this where they mate or just raise the chicks like tiels, and i put some hay in the nest and the male took like half of it out and made it like completly flat is this also a sign of them mating?

[foxxybrownn]

Not too sure but through my experience...I rescued three zebras and with me the male did all of the work on the nest and the female just watched. Every now and again she would get in and test it but the male gathered the string, and other material and built the nest. Maybe someone else will come along with ALOT more knowledge than me but I hope that helped. By the by a week later my female laid four eggs and just yesterday the first hatchling hatch and there are still three eggs left. So...hang in there hope you get lucky!!!!!

[christie99]

I don't have much expierence with zebras either. My friend had a few pairs in high school, they would lay, but nothing fertile.

My expierence with both tiels and gouldian finches is that even though people say they only mate in the box, they can and will mate on the perches as well.

My guess is that your male is getting the nest to his liking and if all goes well you should have eggs soon. Remember that zebras are rather prolific and you will need to seperate the siblings into male and female cages away from parents to prevent inbreeding.

If you plan on having several family lines, I would invest in color coded split bands. They are easy to put on and will help identify who is related to who.

[Elliott G]

Thanks, to the both of you! And congrats on that little finch :)
And yeah i have expernce with cockatiels and some of parakeets, And so yeah, thats what i was thinking but they're so tiny compared to tiels and i didn't know if they have thesame traits and also i have the nest that they sit on and i think they mate up there, and they seem to be mating, chirping like machine guns :)