FINCHforum

I'm curious to know if anyone else has had birds who don't seem to know how to make a nest.

My GS's have been flying around the cage with white cotton nesting material for a week now but don't know what to do with it.

I have a canary cup nest in the cage which they constantly hop in and out of but they don't leave any of the nesting material in it.

I've seen them mate a couple of times although I'm not sure if they know what they were doing there either but with no nest, I suppose it doesn't matter. Even if they do make an egg, it won't survive with no nest.

I have a green singer pair as well. What I did was put some nesting material in the nest to get it started. I have some cotton fiber in it.
I also have cotton fiber, raffia, and coco fiber in a bunch and attached that to the cage so they can pick at it and take what they want.
The male has already made a cup shape in the nest with the cotton I put in, and he only used a few raffia and coco fiber stands and put them in the nest on top of it.

I noticed the female wasnt too fond of the cotton fiber that the male would bring, cause she would just pull it out of the nest. Guess her way of telling him that she didnt like it! haha
so him putting the coco fiber on top was his contribution and looks like she approves.
Ive also seen mine mate at least once.
Maybe if you get the nest started for them they will go from there.
Good luck

I actually did put pieces of the cotton batting in the nest but they keep taking it away. Clearly they don't like it but yet they fly around with it in their mouths all day long so I'm not sure what to think.

Both my GS pairs did the same with their nests. They'd take out anything I added to help start the nest lining. I finally cut a piece of paper plate to fit the bottom and part way up the side of the canary nest and laid torn up paper towels and cotton fiber in small amounts on top of the paper plate bottom. This way, they could not pull out what I placed inside. After that approach, both pairs laid and incubated successfully.

Don't worry they know how to build a nest!
One of my hens built a nest and laid an egg in 15 mins.
When she is ready to lay, she will build a nest.
Not all birds build a nest and then wait to lay.

I had a issue, when my GS hen didn't like the place I put a nest. It was in a far corner of the cage. She wanted it to be closer to the light. When I moved it, she started to build a nest right away.

Here is my green singers first egg laid this morning!
She didn't have any material in there yesterday!

Congrats Jerry! That's very exciting. I hope mine learns how to do it. She's still flying all around the cage with the fluff in her mouth. Once in a while she'll even drop it in the nest but then she takes it back out on her next fly by.

Try putting different material in the nest - mine seem to like burlap cut into 2" lengths of string. I have to basically make the nest for them and they readjust it to fit the hen and her eggs. Good luck.

traceyincanada wrote:Congrats Jerry! That's very exciting. I hope mine learns how to do it. She's still flying all around the cage with the fluff in her mouth. Once in a while she'll even drop it in the nest but then she takes it back out on her next fly by.

Thank you!

Have you seen yours mate yet?
How many hours of light per day do they get?
My male has been treading the hen
about three to four times a day.

When she is ready to lay she will sit.

Hi Jerry,

Yes I saw them mate a couple of times last week. Then hen seemed to co-operate the first 2 or 3 times then when he tried again the next day, she booted him off.

Today I noticed that he has a few feathers missing on his sides (right below the wings). I watch them all the time and have not seen any plucking so I'm not sure what that is all about.

Meanwhile they both seem to love flying around with the cotton in their mouths. I'll try giving them something else and see what happens.

Tracey

Try ' Burlap '
Igot mine at Michael's craft stores
It comes I a roll that is about 8 inches wide and 20 ft long
I think it's in the wreath section?.
My wife got it for me last year.
It lasts a good long time.
Just cut it in to strips that are two inch wide x 3 inch long and take it apart and make a ball and hang it in the cage.
Or put some in the nest and see what they do?
Good luck!