Egg sitting for Zebras?

saragoescrazy · Post by **saragoescrazy** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 1:38 pm

I have three zebra finches... two females and one male, they've been sitting on the nest everyday for the last 5 days, taking turns at it... when I looked a few days ago there was an egg. Now I look in there and I cannot see one, but they're still sitting. They have a past of eating the eggs... but would they still be sitting on the nest if the egg was eaten by them?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 9:34 pm

It could be that the hens are laying more eggs than you think, which are being eaten before you get a chance to see them. Are you providing them with crushed chicken egg shell and/or a cuttlebone?

saragoescrazy · Post by **saragoescrazy** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:46 pm

Yeah there's a cuttlebone in their cage full time which I see them all chewing on a lot... sometimes I'll boil and egg and put in the cage as well and I notice my quails are more prone to eat that than any of the other birds...

Marianne · Post by **Marianne** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:21 am

Hi, I'm not sure which type of nest you have (covered, open, etc), but you may not be seeing the eggs, or they COULD be under a layer of nesting material. I have a pair that I thought only had three eggs, but it turned out there were SIX. (Some were buried, but all but one hatched).

I couldn't believe it when I discovered the other eggs, as I checked the nest several times a day and for days only saw the three.

Good luck!

saragoescrazy · Post by **saragoescrazy** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:33 am

That's the nest I'm using, it's hard and everytime they're out of it I try to check and see if I see anything but I see nothing in the nest... although they're still sitting in it most of the time... the only time none of them we're was when I put them next to an open door and they we're all sunbathing instead of sitting on the egg, if there is one, and then went straight back to it when they got brought back in... I just hope the egg or eggs are still in there!

Post by **Hilary** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:21 pm

Warning - they probably won't get serious about laying and incubating eggs if you move the cage around. That's wonderful if they can get fresh air and sun, but if you think they've started laying again I wouldn't recommend moving the cage. Good luck!

Hilary