Breeding Pair

[Julie]

Hi everyone , I have a pair of society finches that have a clutch of eggs,now they may be related being that I bought them together at the same store.Is there a chance that the babies can still be normal ?

[Crystal]

It's possible to get fairly normal young when inbreeding, especially if the birds are not very closely related. To be honest, many (if not most) finches in captivity are probably inbred to a certain degree--which is what can be expected when only a limited number of animals are taken from the wild and used to establish all of the domesticly-kept breeding populations. It is still not a good practice to breed birds you know are closely related, however.

If your pair is [closely] related, you can probably expect hatchability of the eggs to be lower, the lifespan of the chicks to be shorter, the possibility of deformed or "stunted" young, the possibility of young which are more prone to disease, and other congenital defects. The more inbred the babies, the greater the risk.

[Julie]

Thanks Crystal,I'm not sure if they are related but after the chicks are weaned I'm going to pair the female with one of my other society males thats not related(I don't want to take a change) but thank you so much for your help .