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Babies any day - nest question

Gracie83

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Hi, this is my first post. Thanks for reading! My finch pair has bred for the first time, and I believe we have five fertile eggs. Silly Mama laid her eggs in the food bowl and not in a nest. The eggs are on top of the pellets, and she hasn't been keeping a lot of nesting material in there. I have supplied tissue, dry leaves, and hair from my daughter's brush, but they keep putting it in, then taking it out over and over again - all on top of the eggs. The babies should start hatching in about four days, and I am worried they will be sitting on cold pellets with no nesting material. Should I carefully put some in under the eggs? I'm not sure which is worse, having no nest material or me bothering them. Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you.
 

finchly

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Please leave it as is. The hen will keep them warm enough — pellets are room temp, not cold. :)

AFter they hatch wait a few days before moving them, in fact if you don’t have to move them don’t. Handling the nest now or in the first few days could result in abandonment. You don’t want to handraise a bunch of finches, believe me!
 

Gracie83

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Thank you! I will leave the adorable little eggs alone. One more question - if they all hatch, what if there is not enough room for all of them in the food bowl as they grow? Just leave them alone and see what happens? I've read up on most breeding situations (rather obsessively, according to my family!), but I'm interested in your opinion. :)
 

saroj12

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Don’t use hair. It’s dangerous can get wrapped around leg and cut off circulation
 

finchly

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Please leave it as is. The hen will keep them warm enough — pellets are room temp, not cold. :)

AFter they hatch wait a few days before moving them, in fact if you don’t have to move them don’t. Handling the nest now or in the first few days could result in abandonment. You don’t want to handraise a bunch of finches, believe me!
You want the hen to be feeding well before you move them. As I said you don't want to do it in the first few days. About day 5 or later you can think about it. Birds are really good at squishing into a small nest, but if you are worried or if the feeder is up high where they could fall, you can move them. Do it with as little fuss as possible; first prepare the new nest -- I use paper shreds from the shredding machine. Put it in place. Then scoop up the babies and move them. Then leave them alone (stay away from the cage, and don't stare at it) so the hen can adjust to the new location.
 

finchly

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Oh - also put a box of paper shreds in the cage so the hen can rearrange the nest to her liking. Sometimes when you do this, they cover the babies all up! Like they're saying I will hide you from the stoopid hoomans.
 

Fergus Mom

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Just wanted to say welcome, and I hope that the eggs and flock will do well in the coming days! :greet14:
I'd be lost without the folks here in this forum! :heart:
 
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