And we have problems! :(

[rainefeather19128]

In Zebra Finches-
one of my offspring hens laid an egg and the only fathers have to be either of the two brothers.it has a bit of brown smear on the end...i hope everything is ok.the two brothers have now been moved to a seperate cage.i'm pretty certain i know which brother it was too.
-how bad is it if she breeds to her brother?
-what to make of the egg?(get rid of it and any others or se what becomes of it?)
-will she be ok?

one hen has a bald patch on her chest.she is loosing feathers almost easily.i don't think it was from fighting.i don't see any bugs on perches or her.
-what is it like when they go through their first molt?
-what is this?

[Maegen Sue Persing]

She might be plucking down for the nest, which is normal. Hens can also lay eggs without being fertile. If you want to not have it hatch if it is fertile, just boil the egg for a few minutes and put it back in the nest after it cools. It wont hatch and she will grow tired of it and quit laying eggs for now. I suggest you seperate them if you do not want them to breed.

[rainefeather19128]

what if the baby turns out fine though?i just killed it for no reason then.if i keep it from breeding it should be fine....what is the odds of a birth defect?what if it is a livable birth defect?

[Lori~D]

Finches breed like bunnies - It will probably be just fine even if it is inbred. I woud just leave her alone for now and separate them - she can take care of it just fine but if you leave them in there will be more. Chances are if these are young birds its not even fertile and in about 25 days it can "mysteriously" just disappear , lol, if you take it out now she will just lay more.

[rainefeather19128]

just for notes-the one with the plucked feathers is not the nesting one.
thanks lori :)

[rainefeather19128]

she still seems to be laying eggs(2 so far),should i let her lay the entire clutch and then take them?she is very inexperienced and is not sitting tight at all.the eggs are cool to the touch.are these eggs dead already?

[CanaryLover]

Try going down to my question on "Can a Father Canary mate with one of his Offspring?" Nixity gives the perfect answer and answered all my questions about inbreeding. Hope this helps, I know it did me.

[nixity]

Originally Posted by rainefeather19128

she still seems to be laying eggs(2 so far),should i let her lay the entire clutch and then take them?she is very inexperienced and is not sitting tight at all.the eggs are cool to the touch.are these eggs dead already?

They will not start to sit tight until the full clutch is laid. So she shouldn't be incubating if there are only 2 eggs.
Also, sometimes removing their mate ceases the urge to breed - though I don't know about Zebs, and I'm not sure if the nest is still there if it will help.
Depending on how old she is (less than 8-9 months?) I wouldn't let her continue to lay. It is just too taxing on their bodies at any younger than that.. certainly wouldn't allow her to try to raise a clutch if she is younger than 8 mos.

[rainefeather19128]

she is about 4 months.i removed the males and the eggs and she seems to be doing fine now.no mates and no eggs. :)