My Finches

[BirdBoy88]

I have Zebra finches

i got about 5 pairs and one of the pairs i have the male and female
always wants to have babies so i let them try 3 times and all 3 times they have had eggs and babies but the female keeps killing the babies and i don't no why



Female

Male in the nest with new batch of eggs

The Eggs

2 out of the 3 eggs have babies in them and there going to hatch next week so this time i'm going to hand feed the babies

it wont be that hard cuz i have pigeons and i hand feed there babies all the time

 

[hcammack]

be careful because finches are alot more sensative then pigons. I used to breed them and Doves.

Henry

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

The eggs are so tiny!, how do you tell the finch is a female?

 

[mudhen]

A lifetime ago I had a pair of zebra finches that successfuly hatched four babies. I was so jazzed I bought a bigger cage and set it up for all of them.
The next day while filling feeders, I didn't close the door all the way, didn't realize it swung open by itself, and when I turned back, it was in time to see a line of five finches on the wing with the last one hopping out of the cage and all of them in single file flying right out the open front door.....

Sold the cage.
Never got birds again... until the chickens. And they can't fly!!!

 

[BirdBoy88]

Oh i know i've seen baby finches right after they've hatched an there tiny but i have everything i need to feed them so it should go well hopefully


and as you can see in the pics the female is mostly grey an has a orange beek


and the male you see he has 2 brown patches on his cheeks an the males sing

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

Quote:
Thanks that helps

 

[markbirds]

Hello, one thing i have learned over they last 25 years of breeding finches is that you do not worry about the nests. All i do is feed, clean, water and make sure they are safe. I do not disturb them for any reason and i do not let anyone other then who lives in my house to go out and see the birds. So it is not that the female is killing them, she could just have to many interruptions going on. With all my birds I can not afford to let strangers no matter how interested they are in looking at my set ups, come in and disrupt them just by being a face the birds have not seen.

 

[sonjab314]

With prior finch experience, a lot of it also depends on how old they are. Thay may be old enough to breed but may not have the concept of being a parent yet. If the same thing happens this time, I'd take the nest away from them for a few months and let them rest. The only time I had babies thrown out was when the parents were tired of sitting. This may also be the issue since they've laid three clutches already (I'm assuming in the past 6 months). Hope this helps you some.

 

[markbirds]

That is very true sonjab... They should only have 3 clutches a year then get a 4 to 6 month rest. Also very true about their age, i sometimes forget about age with the way i breed them. I just have 3 aviaries and keep it to 75 pairs per avairy and once ayear i cull them out to get back down to that number. They breed and when there 6 months is up i pull the boxes. The babies that are still in the nest are put with others for fostering.