Star Finches Out of Nest

[bmohan28]

Hi All,

This is my first post in finch forum and i'd have to say there is lot of usual information that has helped me with my finches.Thanks to all experienced people and happy to be a part of this community.

My query for today: My Star finch eggs hatched couple of days ago(Cant see them but heard noise and saw the parent moving in and out ). Today is the 2 or 3rd day from hatching and since after noon i noticed that both the parents are out for more than an hour. They seems to be flying and jumping across the cage for quite sometime and they seem hesitant to enter the nest.

I keep them in a separate breeding cages so no disturbances from other birds. I haven't done nest check or disturbed them much.

Is it normal for parent to be out for 1 or 2 in the early days after hatching? My big concern with this particular pair is that they are first day parents so i am getting nervous on observing even a small change with their behavior.

One thing to consider is that it was raining for the past 2 days and it bright and shiny today not sure if the temperature change has given them some time to be spent outside the nest.

Before i get too nervous and start messing with their nest i thought i will take some advice from some of the experienced people.

[lovezebs]

bmohan28

Welcome to the Forum.

Although I have Star Finches, they haven't bred for me yet.

Ususally in most species, parents would be keeping the chicks warm (especially if the weather is cold and rainy). The fact that they are not, sets off alarms in my mind.

Personally, if they are out of the nest for such prolonged periods, I would do a quick nest check, when they are out (to see what's going on in there). Usually, I would advise to stay out of nests, but in this case, it sounds a little out of the ordinary.

Can you check the nest quickly with a flash light (without disturbing things too much)?

[bmohan28]

Thanks for the suggestion. I cant just use a flash light to check on them due to their positioning. Both the parent were out at least 4-5 hours so i had to do something.

I took the nest out to see what going on and found 4 chicks well feed and healthy. So i decided to give the parents more time and check what they do. So i attached the nest back to it original location.

After another 40 minutes my hen went inside the nest and stayed there for the rest of the night.

I was happy for two reason.

1) Most people said that if you disturb the nest of star finches they will surely abandon.In my case i removed the nest complete out the cage checked the chicks and then placed it back on but still my bird happily accepted them even though they were first time parent.

2) I understood my bird better. I saw that both parent would jump on the nest peep their head and then come back out. I thought initially might be chicks are dead or might they have some disturbances due to which they don't enter. But with this pair it was completely wrong they were just check the young once so very periodically to make sure they don't need anything.

How i knew this was when i picked the nest out all the little once were well feed and sleeping they just moved a little bit due to my disturbances.

Well i decided that i should never disturb them again until the young once are out.(Just to adjust the nest and clean it).

These little bird seems to teach us a lot everyday . Lots to learn from them as well

[Sally]

Congrats on the babies! I agree that it is odd for parents to leave the nest so much when the babies are only a few days old, but they seem to be doing OK when you checked them. The fact that the hen went back in the nest after you had removed it is a good sign. Sometimes, Stars can be quick to abandon if their nest is disturbed.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care, especially the Star finch. If you put your general location in your profile, it is easier to answer questions later on.

[bmohan28]

Thanks Sally. I cant agree more with you i have been a silent member reading all the threads and understanding behaviors. For all the information and knowledge shared on this forum i have been successful in breeding Javas, Society, Long tail and Star Finches.

Planning to get more different specifies as well. As always i will relay on this forum for more help and advice.

Also i updated my location as you suggested.

Thanks.

[debbie276]

Glad everything turned out well!
welcome to the forum and best of luck

[Jen]

Welcome to the form and congrats on the new babies. Hope to see photos of your birds when they are a little older!

[bmohan28]

Thanks All. I will share the photos in a week or two.

[bmohan28]

Hi All,

Its been sometime i've updated this thread. My Place (Chennai - India) Has been hit by cyclones back to back.

My Birds tried their best to save their new hatchlings, but it was way too much of an ask after moving the entire cage inside the house etc.

The chicks died after 10 days from hatching.

After moving inside the house and setting up a warm environment i have my Javas, Long tail, Society, Star finches on eggs once again. This time around i am not planning to not may movements until all the chicks are old enough.

Java has 6 chicks , Society has 2, Star eggs and long tail eggs are expected to hatch tomorrow.

Javas chicks are already 20 days old and society chick are around 12th day. Expecting the chicks to fledge soon.

Weather is still not improved more rains expected. Doing my best to keep birds and new born safe.

Will post pics after sometime.

[bmohan28]

I have one more questions on Javas. My Java new born seems to be cramped for space in the nest box.

However i find that the coco fibre inside the nest seems to take some space.

Is it ok to remove the Coco fibre and free up space ? Will that result in parents not feeding or abandoning the chicks?

Already had one chick fall out of the box and i had to put it back.

[Jen]

bmohan28
I'm so sorry to hear about your Star babies. That is so disappointing to get them to 10 days and then lose them, but I'm happy to hear you and all your birds came through the cyclones okay.

I have never breed Javas so I'm not sure how they will react to you changing up their nest. Hopefully someone with more experience will give you their opinion. Best of luck with them and let us know how this turns out.

[Babs _Owner]

bmohan28

Sorry for the loss of the babies It seems, however, that you have set up a nice cozy indoor place for them out of the aweful weather.

If your stars are comfortable enough to breed for you once again after the move, that is very exciting and a good job on your part.

I dont own javas, but I dont think it would hurt to carefully remove a bit of the coco fibre to free up some space. Seems the babies are big enough to keep the parents attentive.

[Rox]

Sorry that you lost the chicks. It's one of the problems we face when keeping birds outside. Thankfully though, you are able to bring them indoors.

Regarding your Java's, I have had the same problem with gouldian's filling up the nest box with too much nesting material. What I usually do is pull up the whole lot (chicks and nesting material) and remove nesting material from the bottom. I then put chicks and remaining nest back into the box. This way the area on top where the chicks are looks less disturbed for the parents.

However, I do not know how well your Java's will take the disturbance. You need to decide if the risk is worth it. If they were my birds, I would probably try it to prevent more chicks being dragged out of the nest when the parent exit. Choose a time when both parents are already off of the nest.

[bmohan28]

Thanks All. I put the chick that got pushed out back to the nest box and it seems like they didn't push him back after that.

However i remove the entire box out from the cage and check the status of the chick and feel that it is crowded already, but after i put the next box back to its place they seems to go inside and continue with their feeding .

So i think the parents wont mind me pulling some of the coco fibre out to free up some space.

Its been 20 days since they hatched so might be in a weeks time i expect them to fledge. Will try to remove some coco fibre tomorrow and see how they react.

Also has anyone observed chick abandoning done by Javas? I see this is most common to the light sitter like star , long tails.

Update: 2 long tail chicks have hatched hopefully the other eggs will hatch in a day or 2.

[bmohan28]

Update:

Pics of my Java chicks . I just let 2 of the chicks out so that the other 4 in the box can be feed by the parents apparently it is too crowded in there i saw the parents had a hard time getting in and feeding everyone. So i decided to let 2 of the well grown once out and leave the rest inside. After some time i put them back to the nest to let the chick decide when they would like to fledge.

My Star finches seems to be giving some problem with one chick dead and the remaining 2 chicks not getting fed by the parent. I observed them for quite some time the parents seems to peep inside the nest and then come back to playing / feeding.

After a long time i decided that they would feed the remaining 2. So i took the chicks out and placed them in my long tail finches next that had 3-4 chicks already.


They didn't push the chicks so far so i am assuming that they have accepted them.

keeping my fingers crossed.