FINCHforum

About a month ago I got four new societies, (I already had two). I was chuffed because one definately turned out to be a boy as he sings and dances constantly.

Two of the females have been sitting on eggs in the same nest, I couldnt see how many as they never got off them when I went into the aviary. This morning I went in and they did fly off and so I had a peep. Ten babies! It looked like a pink heap with multiple beaks sticking out. I know that not all of them will survrive but my worry is, how are they all going to fit in the nesting box as they get bigger? And are two females going to be able to feed that lot? The box isnt that big, I suppose four-five inches square.

My little boy society certainly has been busy, Im going to have to watch him!
Help!!!!!

dont be surprised if they all survive, societies truly are great parents.
sounds like you will be mixing eggfood for them on a regular basis though

I had five society in a small bambo nest. Once they started being pushed out and one was hanging out by its leg I pulled the nest out and put them all in a bigger basket. Now they are being fed by the mom and my silver zebra finch. All is well and they are full and getting bigger.

Aren't Societies wonderful? You can get away with just about anything with them. Once they have grown some more, and are overflowing the nest, you can try moving them to a larger nest, as hfentj has done. The parents will usually keep right on caring for them.

Thanks for that folks, that's reassuring. I was wondering if it would hurt to move them. Will let you know how it goes. Still can't believe every single egg hatched!

Wow - from 6 to 16 birds in one go! I have a young pair (first time parents) who just raised 6 chicks by themselves. Sometimes all the chicks fit, and sometimes one would be on the bottom. They actually had 3 so I slipped in an abandoned gouldian chick, then next time I looked all 5 of their eggs had hatched. I now have 5 society fledglings, one gouldian fledgling, and two very tired young parents.....

Well that was a disaster. I moved them into a bigger nesting box as they were suffocating each other and getting near to falling out the other box. My male diamond dove then decided he could fit in with them and kept sitting on the babies, this put mum off feeding them. Obviously I have removed him and his mate temporarily but so far two babies have died and when I went out this morning, one baby is gashed across the face and looks as if it may have lost an eye. I expect that one will die too. God knows what happened there, no sign of any vermin, Im assuming one of the other birds has attacked it although that has never ever happened before.

I'm not breeding next year, Ive had one problem after the other and really havn't enjoyed my aviary this year. My nerves are shot!

Sorry to hear about your disasters, hope things get better for you and your birds.

Don't get despondent Ruth...these things happen.The diamond dove just saw a handy nest space...a bigger box with a smaller entrance would have been wiser.Stick with it...when you keep a group of birds together they will unfortunately interfere with each others nests.The injured chick has probably been cut by the larger birds claws.

That little guy could live quite successfully (and happily) with one eye (if the other is damaged). Don't let this get you down. Just mark it to experience and move on. Keep your chin up - things like this happen to most who breed sooner or later. Best wishes for the remaining chicks. Keep us posted.

one of my painted finch males has only one good eye. it certainly has not had any adverse effect on him. still manages to court his hen and raise clutches of young each season

Thank you folks! I love you lot, you always make me feel better.

Poohbear- a bigger nest box with a smaller entrance...duh!!!!!. Why didnt I think about that? Man alive, Im thick!

I agree with you about birds interfering with others nests, Im hoping to start working on my husband for another aviary, (he doesn't know it yet!). It would be nice to be able to split up birds when I need to.

I have had another look at the one who got cut, his eyes are still intact thank goodness, think it was just covered in blood when I looked before and he's still with us so perhaps not as bad as I first thought, looked bad because of the blood.

I have seven left, two have fledged, Im still going to lay off the breeding next year, aviary is getting too full anyway.

Thank you all again for the advice.

ruth
Have you ever heard of Lazio a gouldian that never had eyes its a good story to read if you hadn't seen it before here is the link http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8aart/id13.html

B CAMP wrote:ruth
Have you ever heard of Lazio a gouldian that never had eyes its a good story to read if you hadn't seen it before here is the link http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8aart/id13.html

Yes that's a very good story I read quite a while ago. Have a box of tissues nearby.

I will read Lazio's story soon, I am a bit emotional at the moment as my daughter moved out at the weekend!

One thing I have noticed with my baby bengies,(only 6 left now,found another one dead on the floor yesterday morning), is that 3 of them have dried blood on the top part of their beaks. The one that died yesterday had a little chunk taken out of the top of it's beak too. What could cause this? I thought one of the other birds was attacking them, poohbear suggested the bigger birds claws but they all have the cuts in exactly the same place. Odd. Do you think they could be being fed a bit too roughly?