Second clutch issues.

[AEinarr]

One of my pairs that are breeding have had their second clutch. They had no issues with the first clutch, 4 eggs, all hatched and fledged when they were supposed to, no losses. Their second clutch has all hatched, 4 eggs but sadly one baby did not make it. Now the other three are out of the nest but aren't fledged??? Another pair I have, theirs have fledged but these ones are very clearly not ready. Why are they out of the nest? Could the parents have pushed them out? What can cause this if they did? Any suggestions on what to do?

Here they are with their first clutch fledgelings

[Sally]

When you say the babies are out of the nest but not fledged, are they quite young still (unfeathered) or are they older (close to fully feathered)? Parents can accidentally knock one baby out of the nest, but all of them tells me that the parents likely tossed if the babies are quite young still. They simply don't accidentally knock all the babies out of the nest. Does it look like the babies have been fed, or are they quite thin? Knowing how old these babies are would make it easier to try to figure out what is going on. If the babies are quite young, you can always try to put them back in the nest, but you may be faced with hand feeding them. If they are not feathered, you would need a brooder of some sort to keep them warm. If they are fully feathered, they can keep each other warm if you put them in a nest or box so they keep their heat in.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care, including one on hand feeding.

[AEinarr]

Sally The one I found dead on the floor of the cage had virtually no feathers. The other three who were also on the ground have most but not all of their feathers and few on the wings, virtually no tail feathers.

[AEinarr]

UPDATE!:

I've noticed the hen is missing her back feathers?? Is the male doing this? If so, what for?

[lovezebs]

AEinarr

First clutch looks fine.

As to second clutch, I would put them all back in the nest. Sometimes when chicks are almost ready to fledge, if something startles them, they might pop out before they're ready.

I would keep a very close eye on the situation, to make sure that parents are continuing to feed.

[Sally]

The male is probably plucking the hen to add to the nest as nesting material. Zebras are particularly bad about this. If he keeps it up, you may find that you have to isolate the male for a time. The hen can still feed the babies by herself. Did you put the babies back in the nest? And did they stay? Parents feeding?

[AEinarr]

lovezebs Sally
The feathers have collected on my floor and on the floor of the cage, I don't see any in the nest, Is he just being a bully? I put the babies back in the nest and the male pushed them out again. I didnt see them feeding the chicks at all, I removed the male and put the babies back in the nest again and the hen began feeding them.

[lovezebs]

AEinarr

That's good news.

At times you get males, that get overly enthusiastic about breeding, but not so much about rearing their own kids.

I think it was the best solution to remove him. This way Mom, can grow her feathers back and raise her chicks.

[AEinarr]

Hi again everyone, here to give a very sad update. Even though the first clutch were great and all hatched and lived happily, the second clutch has all passed.
The mother is growing her feathers back and I won't be breeding that pair again as I don't want a repeat of this.
The hen got worse when I removed the male and started plucking her own feathers from her side, so he went back in. Though both parents continued to feed the babies and the vet said that he did not see anything wrong with them so I have no clue of the cause. Thank you again for all your wonderful advice, I do appreciate the help!
I hope everyone is having a great new year!

[debbie276]

So sorry for your loss I too would separate this pair and reassess your situation.
Good luck

[cindy]

I noticed the cage...how big is it and are you housing the first clutch in with the parents when they had the second clutch?

Also a coconut might be to small for a large clutch of zebras. They may be fledging or popping out to either being knocked out of a small space or it is to warm and crowded.

You may want to try an open faced plastic nest box or an open face wooden nest box and possibly a bigger cage.

If you found the young on the floor with no feathers, it may have passed and the parent (s) plucked the body for feathers for nesting material. If dad is plucking mom he is looking for nesting material.

If you removed the 1st clutch of young from the parents and want to keep the pair together in the future, do not give them a nest unless you plan to breed, supply them with plenty of nesting material like coco fiber strands, timothy hay. Extra nesting material often keeps dad from plucking mom. Some zebras will pluck relentlessly and should be removed from your breeding program.

When you found the young passed away did they have food in their crops?

[AEinarr]

The cage in the photo was quite large. 26” L x 14” W x 22 ½” H with ½” wire spacing. First clutch was removed at 6 weeks of age when they were eating on their own. I don't have tons of options for cages where I am and these were one of the largest cages with 1/2" bar spacing around. I'm looking for a online retailer who sells the 4 pack breeder with stand, cages 30 L x 18 W x 18 H
I was going to build custom but I decided not to as that was a large part of the investment and should anything happen where I cannot take care of them financially and I have to sell the resale value on custom units is quite low.
The only retailers I found online either do not ship to Canada or charge a fortune to ship residential.
I've followed everything to the letter from finch info. The coconut is large enough, it was meant for small parrots and the way they built their nest prevented any fallers. I provided plenty of clean nesting material. I change their water and food daily as I had switched to food and water silos instead of cups. I was told to avoid hay on the Finchinfo site so I provided coconut fibre, nesting puffs, shredded veggie ink newspaper.

[AEinarr]

I have since moved the parents to a cage without a nest. There was no reason the second clutch should have gone this way. First one went flawlessly. I kept everything clean, provided what they needed and kept them fed and watered. I provided adequate lighting, temperature and humidity.

[AEinarr]

lovezebs This is unrelated but I love your little signature birds, how did you get them?

[lovezebs]

AEinarr

My little signature birds, were gifted to me by one of our wonderful forum members delray. I mentioned that I would love to have them, but didn't know how to get them there, so our Brian, did it for me (Thanks again Brian).

Sorry to hear about your babies. Sometimes these things happen .

The cage you mentioned, is really too small. Zebras, tend to go kinda crazy in cages that are not big enough. They start plucking, fighting, tossing, not feeding, and all sorts of nutty behaviours.

If you're looking for a nice sized flight, Amazon.ca , has a good sale on, check it out..... The F040, is a good sized flight.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/s//ref=mw_dp ... t+Products