Zebra finches having problems reproducing

[into_my_web]

I have four zebra finches, two boys and two girls, but only one female ever lays eggs. The finch will usually lay four eggs and then sit but some of the eggs always end up broken at the bottom of the cage and the ones that dont get broken always have a tiny hole in them.She will sit on the remaining eggs but obviously nothing is growing inside if they have a hole or crack. It shouldn't be a calcium issue because we I put calcium supplements and calcium chewy treats in their food.
Could it be because there is more than one couple in one cage?
Or is it something else?

 

[austinhart123]

im not too experienced with zebras, but i was told to NEVER house two pair together, either one pair, or three or more, but two pair will concentrate on eachother and fight, try seperating the pair, or adding another pair, try providing more nests because it could be that they are all going into the one nest to sleep and that is when the eggs get cracked. try different types of nests (maybe a canary nest would be better/give them more room) and make sure she has plenty of nesting materiels to buld an adequate nest. my zebras would lways get their eggs to hatch, but then not feed their babies and they would die, so i feel your frustration

 

[onthespot]

You could also try feeding them eggshells, crushed and dried out in the oven. I found that was the ticket for my parrot finches. I had a lot of trouble even using Calci-boost which is EXPENSIVE but once I started giving them plain ol' eggshells to munch on, they had good eggs. I also agree with austinhart. Split them up ASAP. Sounds like broody wars.

 

[Skyesrocket]

I have had good luck with putting dry eggshells into a blender for them. Also make sure they aren't over stuffing the nest with nesting material. They love nest building and sometimes get carried away with it and the eggs roll out.

Also put two nests in the cage. Then put a couple of eggs into each nest. One pair should tend each nest. This will keep the nest traffic down and the chance of eggs breaking.
Good Luck!

 

[pkw]

I used to have finches. I started out with 2 females and 1 male. I had a pretty big cage with 2 nests in it (the pet store I bought them from had these woven covered nests with an opening for the finches to go in. The females laid in one nest and usually had no more than 3 eggs in the nest before the whole finch family sat in one nest and then the other female started laying eggs in the other nest. I had 2 males and three females in there before I ended up selling them. I really liked them but trying to keep up with them and a newborn baby was a bit too much for me.