Breeding Java Finches

[Babs _Owner]

Icearstorm

Hahahaha! I think MOST male finches look bored while the hens are broody on eggs. Can't upset or startle the Mrs.

[Icearstorm]

First egg! Odd that it took this long...

[wildbird]

If your male Java is bored, put a swing in, especially the ones with beads or tiny crystals along the sides. Then add a thin bird safe leather strip to each end of the swing at the bottom. My Java hen loves it! She also loves a hollow plastic tiny ball shaped toy I put on the floor. They like oat sprays too.

[Icearstorm]

wildbird

That's a good idea; I might have to try that. Oddly enough, my societies like oats more than my Java finches.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

Any more egg babies?

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs

Not yet. She's been spending most of her time in the box for the last few days, though.

[Icearstorm]

Still only one egg. Here's the current setup:

[Icearstorm]

Now there are no eggs...

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

What on earth ? What happened???

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs

I'm not exactly sure, but I imagine they must have eaten it. The cuttlebone somehow made its way into the nest box, as well, despite being tied to the cage bars.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

I'm sorry that it didn't work out this time around .

Hopefully things will turn out better next time.

I would add extra calcium to their diet if I were you... just a thought.

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs

I currently have the cuttlebone and a gravity feeder of ground oyster shell, plus the calcium supplements I occasionally put on the soft food. Maybe Birb is just old? That would explain why I only saw evidence of two eggs.

I can't seem to figure out what seed they're eating; I replaced the pure millet with a mix after they tossed most of it. They seemed to be eating more of the mix for a day, and then started tossing most of it out, as well. Perhaps I ought to put the seed in a dish so I determine what they are actually eating.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

Any sign of any new eggs?

Regarding the seeds. I feed a mixture of Finch/Canary with some Budgie, to all of the kids, and they eat most of it just fine. When available, I add wild seeds, which I collect myself. Everyone enjoys spray millet on a fairly regular basis. Occasionally I will buy and add some German millet and Gold millet just for fun when they're available, along with Safflour seeds.

[Sally]

Icearstorm I was just looking at this article on Javas, and it mentioned that this species does better in an aviary rather than a cage. Of course, any species will do better in an aviary, they love the extra space, but I was wondering if it may be the size of your cage. It looks to be either 24x16x16 or 30x18x18. Perhaps if you could give them more space, that might help. This article also says they like a good parakeet mix.

http://www.finchinfo.com/birds/finches/ ... parrow.php

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs and Sally

I'm feeding them a parakeet/small bird mix, and it looks like they're mainly eating the canary seeds. I tried giving them oats again, and they ate a bit, though they didn't seem terribly interested. They also have black oil sunflower; they used to love it, but now ignore it.

There are still no eggs, though Birb acts like she is sitting tight. Unfortunately, this is the only other cage I can fit, and I think it's too risky to try breeding them in the flight with the societies and gouldians. If nothing happens in the next few weeks, I'll call it quits and put them in with the others without the nest box.