finch eggs!!!!!

[mangotiki]

Well, a while ago we bought some finches...just for fun. :wink:
we tried for a pair of zebras and two pairs of society finches, just for fun. :wink: (I think we ended up with two boy zebras, 3 female and 1 male society)
then we put in some nests, just for fun. :wink:
and
when I looked in the nest today, just for fun. :whistle:
:eek: :happy: :eek:
there were two little teeny eggies!!!!! :omg:
I was soooo surprised!!!!
of course, my brother is completely confused :confused: as to why I am surprised....
but I am, I really am....
and very happy too :happy:
now does anyone know of a good finch discussion board?
not really sure what to do next...
and my girls want me to hand feed :eek: so they can have a little teeny bird that sits on their shoulders... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Any advice is welcome of course...gotta go figure out the details, incubation period etc. now.....

Traci :happy:

[mangotiki]

We ended up with three eggs, and all 4 society finches are sitting on them in this teeny little nest thingy. :rofl:
Today I had to remove the two zebra finches as they were having way too much fun playing tag with the societies, who were feeling quite harassed.
Well, that took a bit of doing, trying to catch those pesky zebras...so the societies all came out of the nest (before they wouldnt budge even with my finger poking some encouragement, at least one is always sitting guard!!!) and freaked out, poor things. but I took the opportunity to candle the little eggs, and only one is fertile...I am guessing it will hatch in about 5 days. I cant wait and no, I am NOT handfeeding!!!!

traci

[cam98]

I used to breed finches in South Africa i socialised with one of the chicks and it became tame :lol Ive no idea how long the incubation is but i suspect its about 14 days maybe.By the way the chicks are miniscule :) Like that // big. :lol

[BarbieH]

Um, handfeeding finches, from what I've heard, is very very difficult because of their size. I'll search around for you and see if there is a link somewhere to a good finch board. :)

Congrats on the eggies! Here's hoping these chicks hatch without complications ... I don't think you could take much more excitement in your house ...

[BarbieH]

Here's a link to several finch message boards. (Who knew?) http://www.nfss.org/Depts/Links/Links-12.html I don't know how many of them are active, but even if they aren't, you might could get some information from their existing messages. They look like mainly Yahoo lists, with one EZboard group that doesn't look like it's been active since the EZcrash in late May.

[mangotiki]

Have been doing the research, societies take 14 days to incubate...so i guess 5 days left, no idea exactly when the eggs were laid (those societies just wont move !!!)....I cannot believe how small they are!!! Cant wait, I hope it hatches, and definitely no handfeeding right now at least, if ever :eek: but we will try for socializing the finch. i have heard that if a finch is hand fed (say the parents refuse to feed it), then it reverts back really quickly to being wild...we might just have to wait til next time around to try to tame a little finch, there is definitely way too much going on here right now!!!!

Traci

[zlatushka]

woooohoooooo ittybittyeggies! :) :happy:

At least that is a bit of sunshine for your day :) Hope everything goes well, and your girls will soon have an ittybitty birdie to sit on their shoulders :lol

rachel

[Paulette]

How fun Traci.....don't they just make the cutiest little honking noises!
paulette

[cam98]

You dont need to handfeed a finch for it to be tame i only took the chick out once a day for a while and tried to teach it how to fly :lol in the end it turned out tame ;) .

[mangotiki]

So Cam, I have no idea what you look like, but I am imagining this fairly tallish guy holding this itty bitty bird in his large hands , saying "you can do it, just flap your wings...like this..." and demonstrating.... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Ummm, was the little guy having trouble learning this new skitt and did you successfully teach it to fly? :lol I guess it is true what they say...those who can't do, teach!!!
But thanks for the imput, do you think that we can just shoo away the adults and take the chick out for socialization without the parents abandoning? That would be cool.

Traci

[cam98]

This particular finch did have difficulties flying but it got there in the end ;) the parents of my finch werent bothered at all but im not sure its the same with other finches i dont think they ever saw me do it.If you can hold the chick without the parents seeing or disturbing them you have a way less chance of them abandoning the chick although they might smell your scent :whistle: on the chick.Good luck. :)

[mangotiki]

no chance of them not seeing...between the four of them someone is always in there and short of removing the nest and shaking them out they aint budgin'...
Cant wait to see the little guy though...hope he hatches.

traci

[Sparkette65]

so what is it now...3 more days? 4?
Please keep us updated, and I hope all goes well with the itty bitty eggies! You have been through so much with your birds, I just want something to go right for you so you can feel a little better!
I've been thinking about you and Nicky for the last few days, feeling ever so bad for you both. I just cant seem to get you guys off of my mind....(and it makes me nervous to set up a pair to nest also)
Take care,
Lori

[mangotiki]

Lori, a breeder here where I have purchased several birds (Rain, his daughter Melody and an unrelated Mellow) hardly ever loses chicks, and none recently...Yet she feeds only seed, millet and egg yolk to he parent birds, no veggies or rice pasta or birdy bread, and as far as I know the other birds are on a seed diet with occasional veggies. They dont appear to get too much outside cage time, though they have fairly large cages. She hand feeds all her babies. Her pairs lay back to back clutches and I am CERTAIN that they lay more than twice per year...She cares alot about her birds I know, the way she handles them and talks to them you can just see it. the cages are always totally spotless and her babies are friendly. She has had pairs lay back to back and more than 2X per year though this could be just circumstance as opposed to intentional.

So she has great success, and here I am running around like crazy trying to make sure everyone gets exercise and fresh food etc and the parents get soft nutritions food but look at my track record!!!! only 2/4, 1/5 and 3/4 babies have survived, and Angel is not acting quite right.
And Pop, who was so young, fostered and fed Roly and Poly like there was no tomorrow...and nothing could get her away from her nest. I think she will be an amazing mother.
So I alternate between feeling like a total failure, what a disaster,I need to stop doing this becasue it is not fair to the suffering babies, and then thinking I will surely have better luck next time. The last week I was thinking no more babies. This morning, when I feed the little guys and cuddle them, I think...my pairs all need a rest now...these guys are growing, I need more babies on the way...should I find another pair to buy so we can get more eggs? :rofl: :rofl: I must be crazy.
i dont think you should be afraid to have babies, it is an amazing experience, and you will love it. With any joy goes the potential for heartache, though.


Traci