Finch Breeding

[Kako2009]

Hi everyone,

I am posting today for my mom, she owns 2 finches and now they have laid eggs. What sort of information can be provided? I mean how do we know if the eggs will yield chicks? I candled 4 out of 5 (because sadly I dropped one) and one had a small black spot in it and the other had red veins. The other 2 were void of any action.

Should the finches be sitting on the eggs all day everyday?
How often should they be given the opportunity to breed? What do you do with the chicks once they fledge? Should my mom get a separate cage for the babies?

Any information would be gladly accepted.

[christie99]

1. What kind of finches are these?
2. What kind of nesting site do you have for them?
3. You can candle the eggs after 5 days of incubation. At this time you will see blood veins of a developing chick. Even if an egg seems to be a dud, let it stay in the nest. If it doesn't hatch, it will provide support and warmth for chicks that have hatched.
4. Yes, the birds should be sitting. You can't force them to sit, let nature take it's course. If these are young birds, they may not raise a clutch sucessfully.
5. Do not allow birds to lay and/or raise chicks more than 2-3 times a year. Otherwise the hen will loose too many nutrients causing her to become ill, or possibly eggbound leading to death.
6. Finch chicks usually fledge about 4 weeks after hatching. This will happen on its own and once all the chicks have left the nest during the day, remove it. Leaving it up will cause the hen to lay eggs again.
7. Yes, once the chicks are fully weaned (about 2 months old) they should be moved to their own cages. Seperate them by sex. Parent birds have no problem mating with their offspring, and siblings will do the same. To keep from inbreeding, seperating them by sex into different cages will help keep the flock healthy.

[Kako2009]

They are zebra finches.

Right now it is just a basket in the lower part of the cage. After speaking with someone at the Bird Show this weekend, she has now bought a nesting box and placed it high in the cage and bought some nesting material.

How do you stop them from breeding? These are probably the 8th eggs she has laid in a matter of weeks. Should the male and female be in separate cages? My mother has had zebra finches before, male and female pairs and has never had eggs.

[poohbear]

[QUOTE=Kako2009;1533876]They are zebra finches.

How do you stop them from breeding? QUOTE]

A shotgun

These little devils will breed anywhere...even in a seed pot if no nest box is available.The only way to stop breeding is to seperate sexes.