getting comfortable with a new nest

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:54 pm

The straw nest that I had in the cage seem(to me) to be to small the two birds were sitting on top of one another in the straw nest an I was always finding eggs on the floor or the cage. The last one I found was on the back of the water dish. while at the petland store I asked the worker what nest did they have besides the straw ones and she showed me wooded box nest that were big (to me) so yesterday I made the milk carton nest.
my question is there anything i can do to get the birds comfortable with the nest? The female is still laying eggs there is one cracked on the bottom of the cage now. I put the old nesting material they had in the old nest in the new nest to see if that would draw them in and i move the cage to a more secluded area. I even made them homemade food (toast, lettuce, carrot and the egg is boiling as I type.

thanks for your help

sorry i forgot to say i have two zebra finches

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:57 pm

here is a pic of the cage the nest is in teh upper left corner

the have a seed dish and a raw food dish on the right
the water is on the left you can see the swing, the cutter bone and the bell toy.

is this s good set up ?

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:35 am

The nest looks really small to me?? Normally, when you switch their nests, they may not take it right away. I would offer them more nesting material so they can rebuild. What are the dimensions of that nest?

grandmaandmesoaps · Post by **grandmaandmesoaps** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:14 am

I have two Society finches who have three wooden nest boxes to pick from, but they are trying to make a nest in their seed holder. I have found string and one egg. I took the string out of the seed holder and put it just inside of one nest, but they still sleep in the seed holder. I have not seen them actually go into a next box yet. The flight cage is 4 ft wide, 5 ft high and 3 ft wide, so it is large.

When my Zebra's made their first nest they made it on top of the wicker nest so the eggs kept falling off. I placed the whole thing inside of the wicker nest hoping that they would get the point, but they didn't. Finally I had to cut part of the top off the wicker nest so that they would see their eggs. It worked and they raised all three chicks successfully.

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:26 am

EmilyHurd wrote:The nest looks really small to me?? Normally, when you switch their nests, they may not take it right away. I would offer them more nesting material so they can rebuild. What are the dimensions of that nest?

i used this site http://www.efinch.com/milknest1.htm design with a Orange juice container

i will pick up nest material today
thanks moe

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:52 pm

i found another egg on the floor, so since sat there have been four eggs

how many eggs do you usually get in a clutch

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:29 pm

ok since i notice my finches sitting on top of the nest i made for them i decided to take the top off. knowing my finches as i do (they tore the top off the other nest) i dont think they like being closed in. maybe that because the very first nest i gave them was just the top less one like this

so now i will see how this works out they have more space there are two flaps giving them lite coverage on the top.
as im typing this i can hear the male sing his song so maybe their happy with that

moe

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:18 pm

well tonight i watch my hen try to build a nest in the seed dish
so i took both the seed dish and the egg food dish out of the cage and cut some more cotton yarn and hung it on the side of the cage. guess what happen? shhe started jumping around and biting at the cage then she went over and started pulling on the string while the male went and checked out the nest. then she went over and went in the nest. the male stayed outside the nest for a while then he finally went in. so now they are jumping in and out of the cage and singing a lot wish me egg luck

moe

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:36 am

Good luck!

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:30 pm

im glad to report that i just checked the nest and i found an egg

bad part is it was cracked. but at least i know they are matting again and she is laying.

i will keep you posted

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 5:01 pm

well i check the nest this morning and i found a egg intact sitting there

only one for now

what is a regular size clutch?

thank for the help and good wishes
moe

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:49 am

what type of finches do you have again?

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 6:07 am

i have zebra finches and the broke the egg the next day

moe moe2 · Post by **moe moe2** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:44 am

what does it mean the they start removing the nesting material from the nest?

i notices they took out a lot of the string and thrown them on the floor of the cage

i took so new shredded paper and put it in the nest and they arranged it to their liking

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getting comfortable with a new nest

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