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My Zebra finches laid eggs, and two hatched. Help?!

LyricalDream

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A few months ago my mother wanted to get some little birds to replace her lovebirds. She decided on zebra finches since they're supposed to be super easy. We went to Petco (or Petsmart, whichever) and asked the saleslady about them. She set us up with a cage, nest, feeders, food, and a pretty male. She stressed that finches don't do well without a friend, and males hate each other, so we ended up picking up a female a few weeks later. I should have known better.
The pair that I have are fairly young, I think. My female died a few months ago (cat attack...) so I got another one in December(ish?) The petstore told us they had found nine eggs in the cage that morning, and there was only one other female, so it was probably her eggs too. So she's laid not too long ago. They suggested a calcium supplement for the female just to help her out since she'd had eggs.
About the 18th or so I was cleaning their cage and found out she'd laid more eggs in her nest. (I didn't even know he was building one. He's fast, and the cage is high up so I don't always see in) I wasn't too worried, as that's happened before but non have hatched. I give them a while and then take them out. Today was the day I was going to start removing them, buuuttt....
Two days ago I was in the room using the computer when I noticed both were very agitated. Very. So I went to go look, and she sat on the nest while he stood guard outside. He'd puff up and look adorable. A quick check confirmed my fears. I have a baby! I scratched my head, did a quick Google search, and discovered you just leave the parents be. So I've tried to (But a baby is neat, I've never seen one before. I admit to checking on them more than I should....)
Yesterday the mother was on the floor, which isn't unusual (he did 90 percent of the egg sitting) but that night when I checked on them again they'd had another baby and tossed it out of the nest. It died. :( This morning they have a third baby, which they haven't tossed yet.
Now I'm super worried and have a few questions - clearly I'm out of my depth here...

1) Are they going to toss the new baby? Is there anything I can do for it? Could it be that the second baby was sick?
2) What the heck do I do with the final egg? (She had five - one broke) Do I leave it until the baby leaves the nest if it doesn't hatch? I know messing with them too much can make them abandon their nest.
3) What should I be feeding them? They're on a seed diet at the moment with a calcium supplement. I assume this isn't a good time to start messing with their food?
4) How can I keep this from happening again? Or at least too soon so she doesn't overwork herself? They've been together less than two months!
5) The petstore lady was very sure that finches can't be housed together. Does this mean when the babies are old enough I need to put them in a new cage? It's not a very large cage (18x22 I think) and I know it couldn't support four birds.

Help? I have no idea what to do and I feel very stupid for not seeing this coming. I've had finches off and on for over a year and non of the eggs hatched before so I just kind of assumed they never would. I don't want the babies - or parents! - to suffer because I was clueless. It's not their fault they did what comes naturally to them.
 

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finchly

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Ahhh so much misinformation from your pet store!

First, you can mess with them to some extent. Take pictures. Clean the nest. I line the nest box with paper towel and lift it out with the mess on top, replace it and they fix it right back to their liking.

You can put 2 males or better yet 2 females together. Two males so fine usually— they are zebras so a little unpredictable— but with no hens around that’d be fine. But now you’re having more...

Why did you give them a nest? If you don’t want babies don’t provide a nest. Leave the egg until it hatches or doesn’t. Zebs don’t toss babies that often but maybe it’s because they’re really young or else something was wrong with the birds.

I would stop breeding and get them on a better diet, and also just let them grow up! Did they look like adults when you brought them? Full coloration and so on?

For diet, you want pellets, dry egg food, fresh vegetables and only a little seed. No need for fruit with finches.

Cage wise, I put 2 birds in a 30x18x18 and 4-8 in a flight cage. Zebra finches can be kept best as a pair OR a group of 6+. If you have 3-5 they fight and you will constantly rearrange cages.

Was that everything??
 

LyricalDream

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Honestly... I only got them a nest because the saleslady said they needed one. (Yes, I'm one of the people who went to the store, went "ohh pretty" and bought it. I'm learning now)
That does help, thank you! they've kept the second baby in the nest so far.
I know they should be on pellets, is it hard to convince them to change? My cockatiel literally starved himself because he wouldn't eat pellets. My vet put him back on seeds. I'm more than happy to switch my finches over, I just never had luck with it in the past.
They look like they were adults when I bought them. The lady said the female came from the breeder a week ago. He's got cute little white wings.
How do I know the egg doesn't hatch? Just leave it until the babies leave the nest? Won't it rot?

I may have bought these guys on impulse, but now I'm committed. I'm going to make sure they have the best life I'm able. I'm not in the middle of a move anymore so I have all the time in the world to devote to my animals.
 

finchly

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I may have bought these guys on impulse, but now I'm committed. I'm going to make sure they have the best life I'm able. I'm not in the middle of a move anymore so I have all the time in the world to devote to my animals
Awesome! I’m actually away on my anniversary trip but I’ll keep checking in. Yes the egg will ruin but that’s ok. You can give it about 5 days past the baby’s hatch date and toss it if you like.

Maybe they’ll keep this one baby!

Ok pellets.theyre zebras :rofl: usually they’ll eat anything. You can tr6 moistening Just a tiny bit with warm water. You could cook a sweet potato and mix a teaspoon of pellet with a tablespoon of potato. Or, this is where egg food comes in handy. They love dry egg food so try mixing that with your pellets.

I’ve actually been removing most food from the cages in the a.m., put in chopped veggies, wait a couple hours, remove that and put in pellets. Late in the evening they finally get a little seed. It’s working well. But I think repetition is key here, don’t offer the pellets one time only but keep offering each day at the same time.
 

LyricalDream

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Happy anniversary! :)

I'm glad zebras are easier than Cockatiels. Mine is horribly fussy since "The Banana Incident" (He's a neglected rescue. Hand fed him with tweezers, worked up to my fingers. He'd eat anything until I offered a banana. Now he is very, VERY leery)

Baby 1 is about 3 days old now, so I'm excited! I'm hopeful they'll feed it. I'm worried sick about the poor things. My cats are triggered by the finches being more active and the cold weather. I'm guarding the poor finches better than Fort Knox. (They're in a closet I open in the morning and close at night - bi fold doors. I just close it when I'm not in the room to keep them alive) I know you're supposed to give them space... But I wanna check on them every 20 minutes because they're adorable! My self restraint is inhuman at this point.

It's safe to try mixing up their food with the baby? I don't want to stress them as they're NOT used to handling/humans being around. If it is I'll pick some up with my next paycheck and get them started! They seem pretty happy, but from what I can tell Zebras are clueless no matter WHAT you do.

So far they've kept Baby 1 and Baby 2. I have no idea what I'm going to do if they survive. I don't have space for them, but I'm kind of emotionally attached. When I found the dead baby I was so sad.

Do you by chance know if there's a time when you can go from "What if the mother doesn't feed it, what if it's sick, what if it falls, what if" and go "I'll make it!"?

Thank you for helping, btw! And not cussing me out for being a 'bad' owner. From what I can tell people get pretty angry about impulse buys. I've rescued more cats than I can count (Current count is nine... Sigh) so although it started out bad I intend to make it right.
 

finchly

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Oh my goodness! You aren’t a bad owner at all! We get to make mistakes once in awhil you know. And frankly the salesperson kind of messed you up.
Happy anniversary
Thank you! :)

Definitely easier than tiels! We were going to move to a condo so we gave our tiels away, and got them back 14 months ago. They’re now stand offish and suspicious. They were so friendly before.

I suspect you’d be ok changing food, even with the babies. In fact better nutrition will be good for them all.

For me, the baby seems healthy once most of his feathers are in.
 

LyricalDream

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Wonderful! I'll keep an eye on the babies and switch their diet. I'm stunned, but so excited! They're so freaking cute. Thank you so much for your help! I'm sure the finches appreciate it too.
 

finchly

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You aren’t using the stringy material from the pet store as nesting material, are you? If so... warning warning.... babies can get that around their legs and become injured.

Dry grass clippings will work IF you are sure it has no pesticides or ferilizers. A little bag of hay from the pet store is ok too. I just put a little box of paper shred in the cage and let them decorate their nest to their heart’s content. :)
 

LyricalDream

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It's just paper shredding I used for my guinea pig bedding. No strings, I find that stuff horrible. I think that should be okay?

Today we've got a missing egg! The 5th egg is magical. It vanishes for days at a time. (I should know, I count them all the time) I don't see a dead baby, nor do I see a baby in the nest. I'm hoping it's just buried under fluff.

The babies are peeping today! :) At least one. It's making my finches panic. They've no idea what to do. I hope she figures it out quick.
 

finchly

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Soo darling. New parents. :heart:

You’re going to have so much fun. And yes your guinea pig bedding should be fine.
 

LyricalDream

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One more question! The parents have figured out how to feed the babies - which are LOUD peepers. Is it normal for the male finch to do 90 percent of the raising? He keeps shoving the female out of the nest so HE can feed the babies. She just jumps around peeping herself. Male finches are able to barf right to feed the babies, right? The female doesn't have some special milk or whatever?
 

faislaq

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I'm glad zebras are easier than Cockatiels. Mine is horribly fussy since "The Banana Incident"
:coffeescreen: OMG I laughed so hard before I even read what the heck "The Banana Incident" was! :toofunny: Oh Lord. Here I was eagerly reading this thread about baby finches and that line just surprised me.
 

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One more question! The parents have figured out how to feed the babies - which are LOUD peepers. Is it normal for the male finch to do 90 percent of the raising? He keeps shoving the female out of the nest so HE can feed the babies. She just jumps around peeping herself. Male finches are able to barf right to feed the babies, right? The female doesn't have some special milk or whatever?
Actually they have a better chance of surviving if the male does most of the care. Something like 80%
 

faislaq

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Actually they have a better chance of surviving if the male does most of the care. Something like 80%
That's neat. Any idea why?
 

LyricalDream

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:coffeescreen: OMG I laughed so hard before I even read what the heck "The Banana Incident" was! :toofunny: Oh Lord. Here I was eagerly reading this thread about baby finches and that line just surprised me.
Haha, we joke about it ourselves. He doesn't find it very funny though! He touched it with his tongue, freaked out and rubbed his tongue all over his rope perch. He now won't accept treats from your hand. (Unless.... It's chips. I have no idea how but he developed a liking for cheetos and Doritos.... I keep them away the best I can but he's sneaky.)


I'm glad to know the dad feeding them is normal. He's done all the sitting, feeding, caring. She just hangs out. The babies are very, very active today. :)
 

Serin

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I have raised zebra finches in the past.

I had a pair of skilled parents who knew what to do immediately. They laid and hatched two consecutive clutches of six chicks each.

The mother did all feeding for the first day, then the male contributed, increasing his role so that by age 3 weeks when the chicks left the nest he was feeding exclusively and mother was laying a second batch.

The second clutch, the female continued feeding longer as she was not laying eggs again, but the male was the only one feeding by the time the chicks weaned at five weeks.

Finches do not need a pellet diet, though they can eat pellets as part of their main dry diet (don't take out seed entirely.). However, they cannot eat just seed. They require boiled egg at least twice a week if fed seed and daily if raising babies. This is what provides the nutrition the chicks need to develop! Babies fed only seed will come out small and weak, though they will usually survive. Finches should be fed some dark green vegetables every day, be it romaine, spinach, rappini, dandelion, mustard etc and can also have sweet corn as an occasional treat.
 

finchly

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Finches will be healthier if they eat pellets in addition to the other foods mentioned.

Dry egg food can replace boiled egg in the diet if desired. Some feel that boiled egg isn’t good for birds that are sitting in eggs or raising young.

Hope this helps
 
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