New Parents.

ashy_roo · Post by **ashy_roo** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:26 pm

So today my roomate and I discovered something shocking, yet expected: two eggs in our Zebras' nest!
Though excited, I've ran into some problems:
1. The only thing we know about breeding is that read in forums, and websites. I don't know what precautions to take, diet to use, or how to care for the babies.
2. Once they hatch, I don't know if I'm supposed to give them certain foods, or if the seed will be fine for the mother to feed the babies.
3. Once they're weaned, I realized we'll most likely need to purchase another cage, as well as double the necessities.

I don't know what to do. I'm assuming we'll need to get rid of them, but don't know of anywhere to take them, or if someone online were to purchase, how to deliver.

So, I need some help. Advice would be great. Feel free to email me if you'd like.

Post by **Hilary** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:02 pm

Congrats! You'll get plenty of advice, but here's my two cents' worth.

1. Don't worry about it. Make sure you give the parents (they ARE a male and female, right? Females can lay eggs without males...) a good diet (good quality seed, veggies, fresh water) - taking care of chicks is hard work, and it helps to have them as healthy as possible. They'll really appreciate eggfood. They'll take care of the chicks when they hatch - you're job is not to peek into the nest too much.

2. Don't worry about it. Keep feeding seed, veggies and eggfood. (Seed alone will keep them alive but doesn't provide a good diet alone.)

3. Don't worry about it. A second cage is a great idea, and I would take away the nest (and not put one in the second cage) until you're ready for chicks again.

For rehoming the chicks you don't want to keep, you have all kinds of options. You can check with friends and see if any want some birds. You can advertise on Craig's list or something similar if you're in the US. You can check with any local petshops.... Finches are happiest when they're with others, so I wouldn't send one off by himself unless he's joining a finch family. If you give away/sell pairs, I'd recommend making sure they're the same sex to prevent accidental breeding (not everybody is careful about that kind of thing).

Of course, if you don't want to deal with chicks you can always just pull the nest and toss the eggs. I personally find chicks to be the best part of birdkeeping!!

Good luck, and have fun!

ashy_roo · Post by **ashy_roo** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:34 pm

Thanks so much!! What kind of veggies can they eat, and what exactly is "egg food"??

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:51 pm

http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/safe_toxi ... _foods.php

http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/egg_mixes ... _foods.php

Post by **Hilary** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:41 pm

Crystal's links have great information for you. My zebs will eat almost anything I give them, so hopefully you won't have any problems getting them to eat new foods. Favorites are slices of cucumber, romaine leaves and chopped up kale. When I'm in a hurry I just give mashed egg mixed with a dried eggfood mix.

ashy_roo · Post by **ashy_roo** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 5:07 pm

Okay, now there's a new problem:
I don't think she's going to incubate the eggs.

2 days ago, she layed her 4th egg, and yesterday, she was sitting in the nest all day; she's obviously stopping at four. But, today, she hasn't been in the nest at all.

Is she too immature? If she fails to incubate, how long should I wait before removing the eggs??

Also, around day 3, we bought some food from the petstore, that the manager said would help when feeding the babies, and give her some calcium. Could this have made her stop, or would that have nothing to do with it??

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:23 pm

what food is it? someone might be able to better tell you if we know what it is. Is the other bird sitting on the nest at all?

ashy_roo · Post by **ashy_roo** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:49 pm

We're giving them this stuff called "Miner-A-Grit", it's a mineral supplement made from oyster shells, and this 'egg food' stuff, it looks like bread crums, that the pet store manager said would be easy for them to feed the chicks when the time came.
Neither of them are really incubating. They'll go in and out of the nest from time to time-it looks like they're trying to alternate. However, more time is spent out of the nest than in.
It's been about three days now, and I'm wondering if the time has past, and I should just empty the eggs, or if I should try incubating them myself?
I really don't think they were ready-not to mention she only laid four.

Post by **Hilary** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:18 pm

The store steered you in the right direction. The oyster shell is a good supplement for calcium - just leave a little in the cage in an extra dish for them to pick through when they want. The dried eggfood can be mixed with fresh egg or served by itself, again in a separate dish. Be sure to continue to give them their seed as well (or pellets if you use pellets). If they're young, they may just be too immature and will probably do better next time. If they're in and out of the nest a lot the eggs probably won't develop, but you can check them about a week after she started doing some sitting by holding a flashlight up to the eggs. If you see veins they're developing. If you see egg yolk they aren't. You can then toss the eggs and give the birds a chance to try again (if you do actually want chicks).

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:11 am

is the store bought egg food an egg food biscuit or just egg? I know I bought the egg food biscuit, I mix it in with my seed just in case the birds run out of eggs while I'm at work. After reading the ingredients I don't think it's as nutritious as real eggs. I thought it was the dried egg, but I was mistaken

At least the birds seem to find it yummy though.

ashy_roo · Post by **ashy_roo** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:22 pm

So, uhm, I think I'm just going to toss the eggs.
Yeahhh...I tried candling one of them, but not as soon as I gently picked it up (I was trying to be as careful as possible, so 1) I wouldn't break it, and 2) I wouldn't scare the birds...) Well, the egg broke. Good things came from this though:
-Obviously she wasn't getting enough calcium, because the egg was extremely fragile
-There was yolk all over my hand. They didn't even get a chance to develop. This makes me feel a lot better about the situation.

Oh, and the egg food, looks like a crumpled up bisquit. The guy gave us some in bulk, so I'm not sure of the ingredients. I think it's a german company, though, because the box he showed us was all in german. ??

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:44 pm

hi ashy
the egg food could be ce-de,or verse-large,or quiko any of those is fine for rearing youngsters

ken

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:01 pm

Sounds like your hen would benefit from some Calciboost.

My birds eat the commercial eggfood better if I mix in some fresh scrambled & mashed up egg.

Carmen · Post by **Carmen** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:59 am

Eggs are easily broken. Next time you could take the egg out with a samll spoon.

I'm providing my birds with a commercial eggfood. That's a mixture of biscuit, extra proteins and vitamins. I never give mashed egg, but mix the eggfood with a little bit of water. Not too much that it is becoming a porridge, just some drops per teaspoon eggfood.
Dry eggfood isn't good for your chicks health, because it's taking all them moist out of them. My birds don't like dry eggfood.
Sometimes you see from those hard crums of biscuit in the eggfood, and my birds never eat those, so I pull the eggfood through the kitchen machine, so it's becoming sort of powder.
Hope you can do something with this information.