FINCHforum

I have two female society finches in a cage together. They are mother and daughter. I am concerned because they are laying eggs every day, more like chickens than finches. They don't have a nest and no males with them. I give them egg and shells which they both eat. I have only started the egg since they began laying so frequently. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now. Should I be concerned?

You really don't want them to constantly be laying eggs if you don't want them to go to nest. If you cut back on any high protein foods it may stop them or at least slow them down a bit. Be sure to offer multiple calcium sources such as cuttlebone, oyster shells and/or egg shells.

I feel for you. I have an Owl hen that has laid close to 25 eggs in the last month or so. I can't get her to stop. There is no nest now, but when there was, she demonstrated no interest in sitting on them; she just continued to lay.

I stopped feeding egg food several weeks ago, but I have a LOT of calcium sources in there so she doesn't get depleted - cuttlebone, oyster shells, freshly ground egg shell, and a liquid calcium supplement in their drinking water.

She doesn't seem affected at all - she is active, energetic, bathes, preens, eats/drinks well, and looks very healthy. She just happens to be an egg machine.

My next step will be to provide a nest with several fake eggs to see if that will get her to stop laying.

Keep the calcium supplemented and she should be OK. Good luck with her!

Damon

Be sure that your birds are getting natural sunlight or full spectrum lighting along with the calcium sources. Otherwise all the calcium that you provide will be relatively useless. Calcivet or Calciboost (formulated for birds), that also contains useable D3 and magnesium would be a better choice if not exposed to the lighting. Bob

Thanks for all of your help. I live at the beach in sunny North Carolina and they are in front of a window. Part of the cage is in the shade so they can choose to get sun or not, so I think they are good there. Next I will go with artificial eggs in a nest to see if that works. They seem healthy and happy. Just want to keep them that way. This is the best forum! Someone always has such great suggestions.

I understand that window glass filters out the D3 from the sunlight.
You want direct sun.

Two society finches in a single cage is never good. Sometimes they lay eggs in competition. Buy two males and separate each male-female pair in separate cages. Provide them nest and nesting material...you will get chicks . Then sell them or gift them.

I didn,t know that glass filtered vit D. What can you do if you can,t put them outside? Should some kind of light be used? I don,t want any more babies right now so may put another female in the cage. That would be three. Maybe they would do better. I put vitamins in the water a few times a week. Boy it isn't as easy as you would think raising these little guys! I love the challenge though. Well worth it.

beachbird My Lucy is an egg laying fool! I have had so many posts about her and her egg issues. She too is in a cage with her daughter Lina, who is also now laying eggs. For a while there was literally an egg a day, and the two in one day. Debbie recommended cutting back the protein for a while and going strictly on seed for a week. Which I did, and it worked a little. Now I have maybe two or three eggs per week total, and they get the protein twice a week

I grind up egg shells and they get that everyday, they LOVE it. They also have constant access to oyster shells and cuttlefish bone 24/7

I have all my birds in front of opened window with the screens, I read that the screen allows some of the sun in and they get Vit D that way.

Good luck! And I agree, this is much trickier then I thought, and I also agree, well worth it!!

beachbird wrote: I didn,t know that glass filtered vit D. What can you do if you can,t put them outside? Should some kind of light be used? I don,t want any more babies right now so may put another female in the cage. That would be three. Maybe they would do better. I put vitamins in the water a few times a week. Boy it isn't as easy as you would think raising these little guys! I love the challenge though. Well worth it.

Hard boiled eggs have the vitamin D along with other vitamins and minerals. The egg shells can be fed for calcium too.
Of course if you don't want them to have a high protein diet eggs wouldn't be helpful.

If you use just the egg yolk, you cut out more than half the protein in an egg, as more protein lies in the egg white than the yolk. However, the vitamin D and the majority of the other nutrients reside mostly in the yolk So perhaps that could be a compromise between too much protein and still letting them have the important nutrients. Has anyone tried this?

nutritional chart for eggs, whole, the white, the yolk:
http://www.incredibleegg.org/health-and ... ient-chart

Thanks for all of your help. We are presently building a screened in porch which I think my finches and I will love. Hopefully they can get vitamin D from the sun too. They didn't lay any eggs yesterday Maybe we are on the right track.

Wonderful news!

Nice!! Wish I had a porch to screen! Pics pleeeeeaaaassse

One of my female gouldian has been constantly laying eggs for last 10 days. She has laid 10 eggs so far but for some reason they (male/female pair) do not like to sit on their eggs. 10th egg was laid today. The pair is in their own breeding cage and there is no disturbance of any kind. They raised a successful clutch of 4 chicks about 7 months ago. So after long rest I put them in a breeding cage about 25 days ago. Should I put those eggs under societies or wait? Also I do not know how to stop her laying more eggs. She is still very healthy and active. Any suggestions?