Egg eater?

[Icearstorm]

It's been about 16 days since my society finches layed 8 eggs; I checked the nest box today to find a broken egg with a hardly developed embryo inside, as well as two clear ones and a dark one with a hole in its side. I left the dark one just in case it was pipping, but doubt it will (the hole was not on the air pocket). Then I found a hatchling deposited on the opposite side of the cage. It did not look eaten or murdered, just dead. The other 3 eggs are gone. I checked the nest several days after they started nesting as well as two days ago, and they handled it well, returning within a couple of minutes. When I checked two days ago, there were only seven eggs, but the rest looked fine. The eggs themselves look normal, with a slight sheen and no swirls or streaks indicating a lack of calcium.
About a week ago I noticed one of the chocolate hens ripping out other birds' feathers and eating them. She hasn't done this since. I provided ground oyster shell every day and boiled egg for a few hours every other day throughout this time, except for the last five days since I was out of town. Today I added dry eggfood that is relatively nonperishable so they can have protein for when I leave again, and they took to it quickly. The only dietary inadequacy may be the lack of vegetables; it's only been in the last day that I've been able to get some broccoli for them.
Could my gouldians have done this? I doubt it, but it's always worth asking. The male seemed extremely interested in the nestbox until I added another one.

I most likely will be gone for the next few days, so I apologize in advance for not responding in a timely manner.

[Icearstorm]

EDIT
I'm not leaving and should therefore be able to answer within a day or so.

[Icearstorm]

One of my fawn pied society finches (I call her Whitehead the Vengeful) was hissing and attacking me while I performed a nest check. Once I got her off, I saw an apricot-colored naked baby in there. I suppose it's a good thing I left the last egg in the nest

[lem2bert]

Icearstorm

That is too funny, thinking about having to battle a sweet little society hissing and attacking you just so you can check her nest.
I hope the little one does well, good luck and looking forward to updates on one single little baby

[Icearstorm]

lem2bert
Yes, she's very sweet with the other society finches, but pretty mean to me . In the case of escapees, I can usually catch my other finches and return them to the cage without much trouble, but she flies around chirping frantically and then screams and bites me when I go to put her back with her friends. And I'm only trying to help...
As for the baby, it looks healthy. I hope it's a chocolate self, but at this point, any baby is good. I guess I can only wait and see if its six parents (I don't know which are the biological ones) raise it well.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

I wouldn't mess with the nests too much if I were you.

The parents need to be able to raise the babies without a lot of human interference.

If your birds are eating their eggs, and eating feathers, they are lacking in protein.
I would offer hard boiled eggs, instead of dry egg food.

Also crushed egg shells for calcium, and greens and veggies.

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs
Now that I know the egg has hatched and won't rot, I plan to keep the nest checks to a minimum; after all, I should know that the baby is alive in a few days from its begging calls.
I am often gone for most the day, and can't always put in or remove boiled egg in a timely manner. I offer hard-boiled eggs when I have the time, but they didn't seem nearly as interested, and it seems to dry up or go bad fairly quickly. Perhaps I should grate it? Or maybe this egg bread recipe would have more protein than a store-brand dry eggfood. I am using Quiko classic eggfood at the moment.
They have cuttlebone and a ground oyster shell mix available all the time, and they eat the mix frequently (but why does it smell like licorice?). They have broccoli at the moment (the only green I have seen my gouldians eat), but will also eat spinach and occasionally ferns or beets. They don't seem to like anything orange or sweet, though.

[Icearstorm]

They killed the baby.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

WHAT???

What happened?

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs
I'm not sure. This time it was dropped in the middle of the cage with its wings and legs chewed off... Maybe one of the males is the culprit? I was sitting in the room for most of the morning, so whatever happened was pretty quiet.

[paul-inAZ]

Maybe one of the males is the culprit?

Are you colony breeding these? If so you might have better luck if the breeding pair had privacy of their own cage next time.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

That is just too sad . Poor little baby.

Are you seriously trying to breed a particular pair, or are these eggs just kinda happening?

If you are trying to breed a particular pair, I would personally remove them to another cage, offer them a nest, nesting materials and nutritious food, and let them have a go, without any nest checks or interuptions from other birds. That way they don't have to worry about protecting their nest or their eggs/infants from any intruders, and they can concentrate solely on breeding, incubating, hatching, and raising their young.

Some birds will invade other bird's nests, eat eggs, toss eggs, pull out young, injure babies, and even kill them. Some parents, if they feel stressed or threatened, will destroy their own eggs, abandon their nest, stop feeding, or maim and toss their own babies.

[Icearstorm]

paul-inAZ lovezebs
I am colony breeding, and have been looking to do so. I only have room for one cage, which is about 4'x1.5'x4.75' high. I can now be sure the gouldians didn't invade, as they stayed away from the nest box. All of the society finches get along fine and sleep in the same nest box, which is large enough to comfortably hold them all (it's a little tight, but no one has to sit on top of anyone else). I don't know the age or breeding experience of the chocolates, but it was the white females' first try at about a year old. There is a chance that one of them pulled out the baby, and another one ate part of the baby thinking it was food (I sometimes serve moist food on the ground around that spot). The eggs took a bit longer to hatch than seemed normal, and the last one seemed to be pipping a bit weird... Nothing aside from the nest checks seems to cause them to stress, so I suppose I'll stop those (it's going to take some self-control, though ) and see what happens from there.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

Good luck.

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs
Thank you!