Emmy

Welcome to the forum Shaunf, I'm sure you will get lots of help from the members here Emmy

Thanks Clare I've been watching the cage , but not going close up to it and so far he hasnt looked near the nest, just hope he goes onto it and feeds them though -- he was making such a good job of this before. Just keeping my fingers crossed Emmy

Thanks Dave Just not sure how/why she died - he has been a bit of a bully to her in the past. Up until lately he has been taking his turn sitting in the nest so maybe as you said when they call to be fed he may go to them. Emmy

10 minutes ago I found the OB hen dead on the cage floor- . The hen was OK about 30minutes ago when I was checking the cages. so far I havent seen the cock bird going anywhere near the nest with the 3 young. I dont have any other birds that have young to use if he doesnt feed them. How long do you think I could leave them without intervening to see if the cock bird will feed them. Its obvious they'll need fed before tomorrow morning. Emmy

Hi Clare The parent birds are starting to leave the chicks alone in the nest for short periods of time now but every day I see a difference in them. The parent birds are not objecting to me handling the chicks. Looking at one today the thought that went through my head was looking at the top part of its leg it could have been mistaken for a baby turkey (lol) but Maybe its just 'puppy fat' Emmy

Chicks now 11 days old. http://postimage.org/image/rx4kb3bk7/ http://postimage.org/image/v11wm1553/ Emmy

Lucky you- to be able to let them out like that. If I let any of mine out I guess my chihuahua (although he is old and is ill at the moment) would be thinking he was getting a new toy- ---there would be very little bird left if he caught it (Lol) Emmy

I'm having the same problem with one of my CFW but when one of my photographs was enlarged the cfw seems to be showing signs of beginnings of cheek patches and some colour on its flank. When I enlarged your photograph there does seem to be a sign of some different colour forming next to the tear mark. (photographs of my problem CFW on this post:-- (CFW male/female?) Seems we're both going to finishe up with 'boys' (lol) but guess we will both need to be patient. Is there any sign of colour just under her wings? (You will see what I mean if you see the photographs I posted) Emmy .

Thanks Sam I'll post photographs of them when they are older and it may be easier to tell then Emmy

Many thanks everyone, guess its going to be another waiting game. If I can catch a female from the aviary I'll see if that works. Odd you should say that Trevor the first thing that came to my mind was--'I should send a pm to Trevor he would NEVER make a mistake about pairing up birds (lol) I'm not going to remind the others what happened I'll leave that up to you (lol) (ps Maybe you should remind the others who are reading this post just what you actually did (lol lol lol)) Emmy

Thanks Trevor I'll do that when the chicks have fledged - then I'll put the male pied and the 'ob' hen in a cage with the separator in so they can see each other and it will give the hen a rest for 2/3 weeks before removing the separator. Be interesting to see what happens. Emmy

These are 2 photos of the same bird the 2nd one I have cropped and darkened it a little. This is the 'hen' CFW I was going to pair with Woopsie but having a close look at it tonight I noticed some speckled feathers just below the wings. but as far as I can see no orange cheek patches. The 2 normal males (siblings) have had their orange cheek patches for a while now. Have I made another mistake and is this a he and not a she. Be grateful for any ideas I've looked at the photos for so long my eyes are beginning to play tricks on me. ps I like the new emicons Emmy

The grey/white pieds were the first pieds I have had/ same with the orange breasted. For many years what I always had were normals until at the end of 2011 when I bought a CFW male /Fawn female. I dont intend ever to show them-- just would be interested to see what I would get from that pairing--But it will be a while yet --the pieds have laid 5 eggs but it looks like only 1 is fertile and I've got my doubts about that one developing they are forever coming off the nest-they are not good at incubating the eggs. Just thinking that OB male is a really good dad and if I paired him to the pied hen he may show her how to raise a few chicks. Just cant make up my mind whether I should remove the eggs and let them start over again I will be good when those three start to colour up, but I'm just so pleased they are doing so well. Emmy

Finally managed to get the young out from the nest to have their first proper photograph taken. http://postimage.org/image/wjtajx1cl/ Emmy

Thanks Trevor Great! guess that would give me more colours That prediction sounds good- even better - more variety but that would mean I'd need another pair of unrelated OB and also another pair of unrelated Pieds or it would mean very close inbreeding. because all the Normal split OB pieds would be brothers and sisters. Pity Emmy

http://postimage.org/image/qz5grj4sl/ This is a photo of my two pied zebra finches Later I'm thinking of pairing them up with the orange breasted pair but not sure what I could expect or if it would be wise to do this. Emmy

I will keep you all updated as the chicks get a bit bigger. The parents are definately looking after them. The dad is very possesive I went to 'budge' him off the nest this morning just to make sure they were still feeding the chicks and he pecked me and sat still he wasnt the least bit frightened or nervous so I had to wait until hen was on nest before I could check. Only get a few seconds to check before 'bully boy' is back on the nest. I'll not be surprised if one day I find a notice next to nest saying -'Private property KEEP OUT!' re if the parents are split for BB I've no idea I was very lucky to be given them as a gift and I truly appreciated that. I reckon I'll not be parting with those chicks - the chicks are actually quite big to be only hatched out 5 days ago definately much larger than any other chicks I've had. What would be the outcome if I was to pair him up with a pied hen ? I'll post a photo of her soon. Emmy

Many thanks Gibby and Paul will post some more photos when the chicks are a bit older. Emmy

http://postimage.org/image/5wi232r2z/ This is another photo of the hen she seems to have orangy coloured feathers on the tummy \nd at the tail Emmy If she is a black breasted normal hen what colours should I expect the chicks to be?

Maybe its time to separate Fidget from the parents. Or you could tie some string to the cage ---when this happens with mine I cut 4or 5- 10cm lengths of sting and keeping them together fold them in half and loop it through the spars on the cage, which will give you 8/10 5cms lengths of string for him to peck at that it would help take his attention away from 'Jill' Emmy

Thanks Marie That's the first pair of Orange breasted finches I've had. Cant wait to find out what the young will be like. Emmy

Some photos of my OB finches taken today dad, mum and the 3 chicks that hatched out 18th-20th January. http://postimage.org/image/4nhlhm58t/ http://postimage.org/image/9zhry2pdj/ http://postimage.org/image/h2yu569kn/ Emmy

Is Fidget not just chirping? If she/he gets orange cheek patches 'she' will be a 'he' -- if no orange cheek patches appear then Fidget will be a female. It may take a bit longer for her/him to show any 'cheek' colour- This happened with my fawn zebra finch - first it was a he -then it was a she- finally what confirmed it was a male was the orange cheek patches and the orange speckled feathers below the wings. mmy

Re your other post- The picture of Fidget is lovely. It is freezing here too but although we've had some snow its been nothing like what you are having down south. But the forecast isnt so good for tomorrow. Just hope the weather man is wrong. Emmy

Guess I'll need to leave that suggestion to some of the experts. I have paired up a CFW female with a normal male before and the chicks were normal males and CFW females - usually more females than males. Just now I have a pair (normal male/CFW female)sitting on 4 eggs. I'm always hoping that I'll get a CFW male but I guess that wont happen. Emmy