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Zebra Finches won't feed young

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  • 02-11-2006 10:30am
    #1
    prospect
    Registered Users Posts: 4,791 ✭✭✭


    Folks,

    Apologies for the long post.

    I have 2 Zebra Finches since last christmas.
    Early in the summer the hen layed 6 or so eggs, but seemingly none were fertile.
    I got rid of them and she immediately layed again. This time two hatched. The first one she threw out of the nest, and I replaced it. But she wouldn't feed them and they died after a day ana a half.

    This has been going on on a 3 (ish) week cycle since then. The most recent was three young died, and I threw them out on tuesday. This morning, she is sitting on another egg!

    I have been feeding them a mix of regular feed and the one with the dried egg. Also when the eggs hadched I have been including cool mashed boiled egg and a mix of white bread and milk. They are ina quiet area, and our house is quiet enough (just me and the wife), so there is nothing disturbing them.

    But for the life of me I cannot figure out whe she wont feed them. She sits in the nest with them, etc, but they always die after a day or so.


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    #2
    Nala
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,959 ✭✭✭Nala


    I had two zebra finches and they used to mate and lay eggs like anything but I always removed the eggs- when I got time to be able to breed them I put a nest in and put them on a diet with lots of protein & calcium to make their eggs strong- the female laid 6 eggs and they went to full term (12-14 days) but never hatched. I had checked them a couple of times (shine a flashlight on them- never touch them as the oil in your skin can smother the egg) and the chicks had visibly gotten bigger over that period but they just never hatched. Not long after the male started attacking the female, I have read up on this and apparently if breeding is unsuccessful the pair can get fed up with each other so watch out for this. I basically found my female lying panting on the floor of the cage one day and within 2 minutes I saw the male go down and attack her- he was also stopping her getting to the food.


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    #3
    Arcadian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 498 ✭✭Arcadian


    Why are you giving them bread and milk:confused: The chicks are probably starving to death rather than not being fed.


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    #4
    prospect
    Registered Users Posts: 4,791 ✭✭✭prospect


    Arcadian wrote:
    Why are you giving them bread and milk:confused: The chicks are probably starving to death rather than not being fed.

    I had asked around and it was suggested to me that soft foods would encourage the birds to feed the young? Desperate times & desperate measures.... :confused:

    Thanks for the tip Nala.
    I was removing the eggs initially, but like you, when I was ready I left them be. The first lot did not hatch, but each time since, about 2 or 3 of the 6 have hatched.


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