My Boo laid an egg

Well it has finally happened. Boo (zebra) laid an egg. They don't have nests so it's in the food dish. Piper (male zebra) wouldn't shoo out of the dish when I went to feed the birds this morning and when he finally left I saw why!

I was told to leave it in for a few days or she'll just replace it, but won't they be protective over the food dish?! There are other food dishes in the cage but I am still worried.

I knew I would have trouble disposing of eggs! I said I would just take them out....but it's so cute!

If I put in nests for everyone and let them raise babies, will they be territorial with the nest and babies? Will it cause trouble? There are 3 pairs of finches, a pair of doves, and a male canary in the cage. I would take the babies back to the breeder (she said she would take them) because there wouldn't be enough room in the cgae for all of them. Of course, I say that now but we may get some interesting varieties....

If I do put in nests for everyone, does the canary need a nest as well?

 

Hi jamiya i did not think it would be long before the finch's started laying eggs now that one has started you can be sure the rest will follow suit.

If you give them nests you will have to keep a close eye on them to make sure there is no fighting but aslong as there is one nest for each pair there should be no problems.

With this egg once they have a nest you maybe able to place it in the nest without any problems also since the male is incubating the egg chaces are its fertile.

If you are not wanting this egg to hatch you can shake it this will addle the egg or you can boil it allow to cool and give back to the pair.
If this egg was laid today you will get another tomorrow as finches lay 1 egg a day.

Canaries usually dont use nests they use a nest cup i have added a link to show you what i mean.

If you do give them all nests i hope all goes well..

http://www.birds2grow.com/prod-nests.html

Here is a couple of links for diamond doves nest boxes which are basically the same as the canary..

http://www.zebrafinch.com/DiamondDove/Dove.html

http://www.freenet.tlh.fl.us/~helenw/bird02b.htm

Mike

 

Thanks, Mike! I haven't decided what to do yet. I'll wait until I get home and see what the situation is.

 

Oh dear. Now there are two eggs. I don't know what to do!!

I guess I should wait until she is done and then boil them. Or replace them with duds. Maybe that will get her to stop laying? I mean, I could let her raise a clutch but at some point I can't let her just keep raising babies like a little baby machine. :|

 

Once they start to incubate the eggs properly which is usually after the 2nd or 3rd egg has been laid if fertile the embyos will start to form.

You could try moving the dish to a different place in the cage see if that puts her off but with finch's they will lay eggs anywhere they feel comftable even if there is a spot on the cage floor they like they will lay there eggs.

if you decide on a nest box a little wicker one is ideal for them even though look small finch's can successfully raise a clutch of 6chicks in one.

My finch's have decided they want to start again and even lai one on the cage floor so i have given them there nest back placed the egg in the nest and they seem quite happy.

Mike

 

I can't decide if I should give them a nest and then replace the eggs with duds (or boil them), or just move them over to another dish so they aren't in the way of the eating birds, or let them raise the babies!!

If I put in nests am I just encouraging them to keep laying?

 

The problem with finch's even without a nest they will just keep on laying eggs i have tried false eggs but you need to replace each egg that is laid with a dud egg and just let them sit on them.

You can not give all the false eggs at once as they will just go and find another place to nest.
What i did with mine after there eggs hatched was waited till the chicks left the nest and i removed the nest box because they have to sit on the floor with the babies to feed them this keeps there minds of breeding well until the babies are 12weeks old that is or eating for themselves.

Mike

 

Have you ever had your societies lay eggs? I hear they are pretty prolific birds, too, and I worry that if they have a nest they will start laying. I am fairly sure one is a female, and I know the other is a male.

I bought three nests and two more food dishes. I will decide in the morning which way I will go with them. If I put nests in, should they be far apart from each other so they each have their own territory?

Are you saying that if I boil an egg on the same day she laid it that I won't actually be killing the baby because the embryo hasn't formed yet? I suppose I could also consider boiling some of them and letting just one or two hatch? I am very worried about overcrowding in the cage and I really don't have a good place to put a second cage except in a bedroom where I would have to purchase all new stuff like lights, etc.

And I didn't read about breeding because I wasn't planning on doing it! I guess I need to go get my books out again.

 

With society finch's they just usually take over from other finch's if they are not looking after there chicks well enough.

The day the eggs are laid they have not started to develop until about the 2nd -3rd egg when the pair will start to incubate properly.

Nests need to be all kept at the same height but a few inches apart they usually pick there own site and thats where they will stay.

Leaving one egg that is fertile and allowing them to hatch it will be fine you can do the same with the others if they start to lay eggs or you can boil them and place back in the nest.

Mike

 

LOL. I'm such a ninny. There were still only two eggs this morning. I put nests in for all of the birds and put Boo's eggs in the nest closest to where she laid them. Then I broke one moving it! I didn't mean to!! Then I reconsidered and took the nests out and moved Boo's egg to a new dish near where the food dish used to be. I moved the food dish down to a lower perch. I was worried with nests the societies would start laying as well. I don't want to encourage it. But the egg is still fertile as far as I know. I guess I will see if Boo still sits on it. If she does, she certainly can't raise it in a dish, so I guess I will either replace it or put the nests back in. LOL!!

 

Hahaha!! *insane laughter* So then I decided I should put nesting material in the dish instead of food, so I took it out and put in nesting material and the egg. Piper (male zebra) found it and got all excited and started carrying bits of stuff around. So then I panicked again and thought I was just encouraging the little dude. So once again I took the nesting stuff out and replaced it with food and put the egg back in.

Well, after all that I'll see if Boo finds it and sits on it. If she does, then I will put the nests back in. If she lays more in the original dish (which is in a new place now), I'll move them to the new dish. And if she still doesn't sit on them, that will be that.

Errrr, right?

 

Oh you have had a day of it.
I find it really funny seeing the males running and flying around with nesting material in there beaks, Its the males that builds the nests the females lay the eggs mind you my female pulls bits of nesting material out if its not in the place where she wants it lol.

Thats the thing with finch eggs they are very fragile and easily broken.
Hopefully she will only sit on this egg and not lay anymore and just raise the one baby.

Good luck keep us updated of how they doing..

Mike

 

Will she actually hatch it and raise it in a dish? Or will the baby not survive if I don't give her a nest? I am going to see if she is sitting on it when I get home. I don't know if it is the first or second egg she laid and if it has been disturbed too much or gotten too cold to be viable. I can't find anyone here who sells the fake eggs, unless I can find something suitable at a craft store. I may candle it and see if it is fertile and if not, boil it. If it is, I may go ahead and put the nests back in.

It WAS quite a morning. I was almost an hour late for work. The last step of the process was when I dumped the food out of the new dish (again) and refilled it with pellet food (that they don't really like) so that the canary would quit bothering it.

 

If the pair have been off the egg for longer than 10minutes the egg may not be viable if when you get home they are not sat on the egg you can remove it and they will forget they had it.

If the egg is viable she will hatch the chick the suvival will be slim due to it being an open space and chicks chill very quickly only time will tell.

Hopefully you moving the food dish will put them off from nesting, what you could do is everytime they pick a dish to nest in move the dish somewhere else usually its enough to put them off.

Mike

 

They always sleep in that dish at night as well. I'll be interested to see where they sleep tonight. I ran across an article today while I was surfing the web and it said to always put the food dishes low or on the bottom of the cage if you want to discourage egg-laying. Since birds prefer to roost up high, sometimes it will prevent them from nesting in the bowls.

I still feel bad that they don't have beds to sleep in. The canary sometimes manages to sit on the tiny grit cup to sleep - I don't know how he fits! The societies buddy up to the doves and all four sleep on a perch at the top of the cage where the heat lamp is aimed. The doves are rarely on the floor of the cage, which they are supposed to prefer. I guess nobody told them.

The nuns sleep in the bushes and the zebras sleep in the food dish. Silly birdies!

 

Congrats jamiya! Birds are too neat

Jamiya!
I only wanted to raise one clutch of zebra finches, but my first baby didn't make it since the parents were too eager to start another family. So this time around they raised 4 healthy babies. (I took the nest out to keep them from laying...and found out even that won't stop them!) Needless to say they are sitting on another 6 eggs. I've got friends and family that are just dying to get one, but I've become attatched to them all. I know everyone very well and I know the babies will go to good homes, I won't let anyone get just one finch. They may have 1 or both of my parakeet babies (which I've got 2 hens sitting on eggs) I just think finches need to be together. Whatever your decision is, I'm sure you've got reasons for them. It's quite a shock when you do your daily routine and a little bitty egg appears! They are very fun to watch hatch, and then grow up. The trouble is getting the parents to stop! After this clutch is out of the nest, the parents will be put in all male or all female cages. :mrgreen: I'm so mean. My mom on the otherhand is having an awful time raising her canaries. They are laying, but none of the eggs are fertile. So she called the breeder she got most of her birds from and she said it's most likely due to too many feathers around the vent. Well...anyways I guess I've blabbed on enough...so again, Congrats! And I want to let you know your red factor canary is beautiful!!
-Mandi

 

Well, Boo seems to have abandoned her egg. She and Piper were sleeping in the same food dish they always have (in its new location) last night when I covered the cage, but no new eggs this morning. Apparently she is going to wait a while to lay more.

 

Since she has abandoned the egg its safe to remove it and see how things go chances are she may not feel safe enough to raise a family and puts her off for awhile.

Mike

 

I feel bad for the poor little egg. I did take it out this morning. I popped it in the fridge thinking maybe I could use it as a dud if she lays another one. I feel like a murderer.

 

You don't have to feel like that chances are if it was fertile the embryo would have died anyway.
It would not have had a heart beat for another few days so you have not killed anything.

Mike