Lo and behold, a society egg!

[emmab]

I had long suspected that I had a male/female pair of society finches, but that suspicion was 100% confirmed this morning when I spotted a single egg in their grass hut. I'm not particularly surprised, as they've been bringing nesting material in there for about a week now. It's just the two of them in their large flight cage right now, but we may add more finches in the future (perhaps waxbills). Female is eating well, loves her mix of Roudybush and Lafeber pellet (I lucked out and ended up with pellet-loving finches). I usually add egg (hardboiled, eggshells included) to their chop a few times a week, but I'll definitely be increasing it now.

Here's the thing: though our finches are clearly ready to be parents...I am not ready for finch babies at this moment in time.

How do we ensure they remain healthy and happy? I've read up on decoy eggs, would appreciate any insight and advice!



Dash (left, male) and Ruby (right, female):

 

[Shezbug]

@Zara

 

[finchly]

Get the dummy eggs. Each day as they lay an egg, trade it out for a dummy. That way they enjoy sitting on fake eggs. You can also boil their eggs and give them back but there's the problem of bacteria, I really think dummy eggs are the best way to go.

You can sometimes get them out of breeding season by lowering the light hours, reducing rich foods, and so on. Your diet for them is great but rich, right now, stimulating hormones.

 

[emmab]

Get the dummy eggs. Each day as they lay an egg, trade it out for a dummy. That way they enjoy sitting on fake eggs. You can also boil their eggs and give them back but there's the problem of bacteria, I really think dummy eggs are the best way to go.

You can sometimes get them out of breeding season by lowering the light hours, reducing rich foods, and so on. Your diet for them is great but rich, right now, stimulating hormones.

Thanks for the insight! We've been swapping out the eggs every other day and the birds don't seem to have noticed.