zebra finches brooding during a heatwave

[zebra finches brooding during a heatwave]

Hi,

There will be a heatwave in Paris soon and I have my couple of zebra finches that is brooding eggs.

It will probably be around 30°C in my flat and I` would like to know what I could do to increase their comfort.

Of course they will have fresh water and a bath every day but I won't be at home during the day.

I know they originally come from Australia but they won't find fresh spots in their cage.

 

Thank you for your advice,

 

Best,

 

Mégane

 

[Is my zebra finch obese ?]

Hi,

I bought a female and a male zebra finches 3 months ago (they had the little chick since then).

The female has always been more voluminous than the male (like a ball).

She eats and drinks well, she is not less active than the other zebra finches in the cage. Maybe she sleeps more during the day than the others.

Her neck seems a little big, could you tell me if she is fat or obese ?

(I feed them with a mix of seeds for zebra finches, sometimes I add vegetables. Maybe I give them millet too often ? sometimes I let a branch of millet in the cage until its gets completely eaten. When the parents were breeding, I gave them a lot of home-made preparation based on semolina and eggs)

 

Thank you for your help !

 

Mégane

[Hand-rear zebra finch]

Hi, 

 

I would like to hand-rear one future baby zebra finch to be able to interact with him when he will grow up.

But I am at work all the day long.

Is it possible to feed him the morning and the evening, and let the parents feeding him during the day ?

(If yes, I would buy a nest box with a little door behind in order to not disturb the parents when I take the little chick to feed him)

 

(Or should the chick stay in a separate cage and I must hand-rear him by myself until he grows up ?)

 

Best,

 

Mégane

[How to keep peace in an aviary ?]

Thank you Garry !

My aviary is definitely smaller than yours !!

I was also wondering if it is possible to have in a same aviary several zebra finches (that don't know each other) ,with number of males different from number of females, as long as there is no nest (no breeding stimulation), =as opposed to what I did, where I added some nests from the beginning and I removed them lately

 

Thank you !

 

 

[How to keep peace in an aviary ?]

Hi,

 

I started with a couple of zebra finches almost one year ago.

Since then, they had in total 5 chicks. Today they live all together in a single aviary. (The 3 first offsprings are already matures and the two last are still chicks)

I observed a first "accident" two days ago : it seemed that one mature offspring male was attacking (almost to death) the father (I isolated the attacker in a little cage)

Since then, the atmosphere is very tense in the aviary, everybody is chasing everybody.

 

 

One big error I probably made is that I kept two nests in the aviary (one for the parents and one for the first clutch of 3 chicks) until yesterday (Yesterday I removed the two nest to remove the territoriality but it is probably too late)

 

> My question is: how can a bring back peace in the aviary ?

> Is it an utopia to keep a whole family in a single aviary without fighting ?

 

Thank you !

 

Mégane

[Breeding optimisation]

Thank you !! I asked a new question about a potential mutant in another topic !

[Breeding optimisation]

Dear all,

I have a couple of zebra finches that just had a little chick (He went outside the nest 2 days ago).

I noticed that the parents already started to mate again. For now they seem to feed the chick without problem, but I am afraid they will abandon him at some point if they focus on their new eggs they will have soon.

> When should I remove the nest to prevent a new breeding without disturbing the little chick ?

> Also, can I increase the number of chick per clutch by increasing the size of the nest or something like that ?

 

Thank you !

 

Best,

 

Mégane

[Which dummy eggs for my zebra finch ?]

Hi,

 

I would like to use some dummy eggs for my zebra finch. I saw blue dummy eggs on internet, which is easy for me to distinguish from real eggs. 

I would like to know if my zebra finch is able to see that the color is not natural ? Should I buy white dummy eggs instead ?

 

Thank you for your help !

 

Mégane

[My male and female zebra finches are fighting]

Thank you !

After 3 days, my zebra finches eventually got along. 

 

[My male and female zebra finches are fighting]

Hi!
I had one single zebra finch female that stayed alone for 2 months because the male died. I added a new male yesterday and she seems to defend her territory. I had to remove the nest so they cannot fight for it. They seem to tolerate each other but if the male comes too close to the female, she pecks him.
I added different toys to occupy them.
Do you think they will get along at some point ? And start to breed ?
Thank you for your help !!!
 

[What is the sex of my zebra finch ?]

1 hour ago, Andyn said:

Your new bird looks to be a Fawn Pied hen and seems to be quite dominant. Apart from separation (which defeats the object of having two I guess) you could just let them get on with it but obviously keep an eye on them in case it gets too aggressive. They should settle down with each other once the pecking order is established.

The other thing is, if you buy males you will need two otherwise the two hens could start fighting over a single.

You could take the new hen back to wherever you bought her and tell them it is a hen and you wanted a Cock. Which should have reddish cheek patches, a thick chest bar and red & white speckling along it's flanks. Much the same as the bird in the following photo. This is a Black Breasted but you get the idea what it looks like

There are variations depending on the mutation of the bird and a Pied would have broken patches, chest & flanks. Avoid White as both sexes are same colour and you would need to see it singing to know it was a cock.

Don't be afraid to ask questions on here

Thank you very much for your help !

[What is the sex of my zebra finch ?]

Hi everyone ,

I got 1 zebra finch male and 1 zebra finch female two months ago. Unfortunately, the male died two weeks later. And the female stayed alone for 1 month and half.(she has been standing in front of its mirror for 1 month and half)

yesterday, I brought a new zebra finch (It is supposed to be a male). I never heard him singing and tonight they started to fight for the nest. (For now the new zebra finch won’t Let the othe come in the nest!

I have several questions:

1-what is the sex of the zebra on the pictures ?

2- how can I prevent the fighting ?

 

thank you a lot !!