FINCHforum

During a quick inspection of my nest, I came across a really weird sighting, I found one of my eggs but visibly showing a red smear, through the shell. It doesn't seem to be so bad, but I am wondering what it is...? Is it a sign of embryotic development in the egg? I noticed this yesterday, but today it is a little more apparent?

I also have my zebra finch cock finally sitting on the eggs, and taking the role of brooding them, but my hen won't even go in the nest? She will stay out, or just be actively going on perch to perch, and climbing up the cage walls, and platforms, and going through the floor foraging, but she won't brood them? Is it because she might still be laying some more eggs? Is this normal behavior during egg laying for her to be this way? She also seems a bit grumpy lately, and the male calls her to come in to take on the duty, but she seems to ignore his calls for her. She isn't usually like this.

I've also found the eggs to be scattered on the nest like this? Is this a bad sign? This is their first clutch. I made the mistake of giving them this kind of nesting material, and wish I went for something more wiry, and bendable that isn't harmful to them. It seems to get in the way a lot, and I wonder if that's why the eggs are all about the nest like that? Please let me know. Thanks! I'm a new birder.

Resist the temptation to actively DO something. Birds have been hard wired to raise young since time began. Even first timers intuitively know what to do.
Waiting and not interfering can be difficult.

They will roll eggs around so that may not mean much.
When she is finished laying she should start sitting.

mjstudios97, I have a cock society finch brooding a nest of 5 eggs. Mom is in there too but he sits longer than she does. Initially, the eggs were scattered throughout the nest but they are now all clustered together. The nest consists of 5 eggs and 4-5 societies. LOL! I would think that a red of any kind in an egg can't be anything but good!

The blood ring can indicate early embryonic death. See explanation in this article:

http://www.finchinfo.com/breeding/eggs.php

Only time will tell, you will have to wait until either this clutch is incubated/hatched or the parents give up on it.

oh...my bad. I'm learning that so many things can go wrong with eggs and chicks.

To put it into perspective, many things can and sometimes do go bad but in general it isn't all that common. Worth knowing about but I say that 99% of the things I could worry about never happen.
If one picked up a textbook on human obstetrics or pediatrics it would seem that nobody ever had a normal healthy baby. Thankfully things don't go wrong all that often.

You will be fine. If not this clutch then the next one.

paul-inAZ wrote: To put it into perspective, many things can and sometimes do go bad but in general it isn't all that common. Worth knowing about but I say that 99% of the things I could worry about never happen.
If one picked up a textbook on human obstetrics or pediatrics it would seem that nobody ever had a normal healthy baby. Thankfully things don't go wrong all that often.

You will be fine. If not this clutch then the next one.

So true.

paul-inAZ wrote: To put it into perspective, many things can and sometimes do go bad but in general it isn't all that common. Worth knowing about but I say that 99% of the things I could worry about never happen.
If one picked up a textbook on human obstetrics or pediatrics it would seem that nobody ever had a normal healthy baby. Thankfully things don't go wrong all that often.

You will be fine. If not this clutch then the next one.

Yep I have to agree on that note aswel, so very true, well said