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Zebra finch keep sitting on dead eggs

S_Sophia_S

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Samavia Sophia Saleem
Hey every one..

Loving the snow effect on this website, such a cozy wintery christmassy vibe :heart:

Sooo, my zebra finch couple have laid arround 18 eggs the past year and recently my female finch "munni" started incubating few eggs. Although, the eggs are emty, like.. dead basically. She and her partner sits on them for hours and act like they are living eggs, they will do it for weeks. My question is.. is it normal? And why aren't they baring fruits? Why do the eggs not live and hatch... Aaargh I am losing my mind! What can I do to help my tiny little friends? :zf1::sad3::sad9:
 

Shezbug

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fashionfobie

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It is hard to predict with zebras. They may sit them for a normal incubation period and abandon them. They may also continue to sit and lay more eggs. I don't think there is a single solution and each hen has her own ideas.

I think your first line of support should be ensuring they have calcium grit available all the time. Ensure it is the correct kind of grit it must be water soluble calcium, like shell (it will say in the packaging). I would also make sure they have access to some meal a few times a week so they can support themselves during egg laying. The finch meal should only be a supplement, continue to also offer their normal seed.

Do your best to remove other possible nest sites and when/if they abandon their current nests remove those too.
 

S_Sophia_S

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the eat good and also fly freely. i will buy shell.. but i have tried.. is there anyone else can help?
 

finchly

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Yes, perfectly normal. Eventuallly they get tired of them and abandon. You can keep them from laying quite so many by:
Removing the nest
Rearranging the cage
Moving the food/water dishes
Lowering the light level (fewer hours per day)

I can’t say why they aren’t viable. Are they very young birds? Do they have a healthy diet? Do they allow the eggs to get cold sometimes? Or it could be one of the parents isn’t fertile. Have you ever cut open an egg, to see if it was a dead in shell rather than a clear egg?
 

S_Sophia_S

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Yes, I have tried to cut the eggs and the yolt is just dried out. Yes, they get a lot of nutriotion through vitamin powder, seeds, greens and food. They have a room of their own where they fly freely around and get fresh air and sun. It is so wierd that they do what they do. My other birds have breed perfectly with no issue, even my java finch laid 6 eggs last year - all of them hatched and 8 eggs this year - all of them also hatched. It's just the zebra finch pair that act the way they do.. They were born march 2019, so I guess they should be "adults" now :)
 

finchly

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Then I would guess one of them is not fertile.
 

fashionfobie

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Oh! I think I miss understood you are trying to breed them?

Some birds are I infertile just like people. She may have an oviduct problem. How old are they? How many males do you have? Do you know if they have paired up? For some reason I read your question as -I have two female zebras who are laying eggs and won't stop. I didn't realise they are part of a larger colony that includes males.
 
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