I have chicks. I knew the Javas had eggs but since it is their first clutch, I didn't really have any hopes. In early March I found an egg in their food dish. I didn't expect them to be breeding due to their young age. On a whim, I put the Java egg in the Society finch nest with the other eggs they had. The next day, there was another egg in the food dish. I put that one in the Society nest as well and then put a nest box in for the Javas. I also changed out the food dish to a clear one. I figured if it was different enough she wouldn't feel safe laying in it and then be forced to use the box. It worked. The next week they had 6 eggs. The female has been in the box almost constantly since then.
A week ago I found a chick at the bottom of the Society cage. I picked it up thinking it was dead, but it started to move, so I put it back in the nest. The next day there was another chick, so I put it back as well. Newly hatched finch chicks look a lot alike, so I wasn't really concerned what it was at the time. I was away for the weekend and my friend who was feeding the birds for me said I should check the nests since their behavior had changed. I checked the Society nest and there was one chick, and one dead chick. I pulled the nest out, removed the other eggs and the dead chick and put it back. The live one is a Java. I also put some Gouldian eggs in there as well. They went right back to sitting and feeding, so hopefully the chick has a good chance of surviving. I checked the Java nest as well, and there are 3 chicks in there. They tossed one egg, and the other two don't look fertile, so I'm going to leave them there for now. I'm not sure how they would take to having the nest disturbed that much. They don't seem to mind me cracking the lid and taking a quick picture with my phone, but I'm not going to go digging around in there either. All things considered, I've had better luck with a young pair of Javas than I had with 12 pairs of Gouldians. Let's see how these chicks do with both breeds.
A week ago I found a chick at the bottom of the Society cage. I picked it up thinking it was dead, but it started to move, so I put it back in the nest. The next day there was another chick, so I put it back as well. Newly hatched finch chicks look a lot alike, so I wasn't really concerned what it was at the time. I was away for the weekend and my friend who was feeding the birds for me said I should check the nests since their behavior had changed. I checked the Society nest and there was one chick, and one dead chick. I pulled the nest out, removed the other eggs and the dead chick and put it back. The live one is a Java. I also put some Gouldian eggs in there as well. They went right back to sitting and feeding, so hopefully the chick has a good chance of surviving. I checked the Java nest as well, and there are 3 chicks in there. They tossed one egg, and the other two don't look fertile, so I'm going to leave them there for now. I'm not sure how they would take to having the nest disturbed that much. They don't seem to mind me cracking the lid and taking a quick picture with my phone, but I'm not going to go digging around in there either. All things considered, I've had better luck with a young pair of Javas than I had with 12 pairs of Gouldians. Let's see how these chicks do with both breeds.
