FINCHforum

First successful clutch ever. Which is... suspicious, considering all of my birds were consistently producing duds for the longest time. They've all pretty much paired off so the fact that I have two hideously adorable babies suggests that my two zebra pairs (Isis & Osiris and Bast & Sobek) pulled a temporary wife-swap and got busy.

The one on the left is Anubis and the one on the right is Ra. I'm assuming they're between 5 to 10 days old cause I have no idea when they actually hatched. Wasn't aware they existed until 2 days ago and only snapped this pic today.

What age is it safe for me to start handling them without needing to worry about Bast and Sobek potentially abandoning them? They're not exactly tame and I don't want to disturb the nest too much if I can avoid it -but I do want the chicks to be tame and people-friendly.

JustAlex09

There really is no 'safe' age to start handling finch chicks (keep in mind that these are not hookbills to become very tame).

If you handle chicks, you have to understand that you are taking a chance of parents abandoning at which case you will have to handfeed (which is not fun).

If this is their first clutch, I would leave them to it and let them raise their babies.

so your zebra's laid infertile eggs for awhile?? mine are doing the same and I was actually starting to think there was something wrong with my male considering he's a normal gray mutation! but this is good to hear

I handle mine after three weeks time when they have the majority of they're feathers and have u been adding extra nutricential food in for the parent to give the Chicks

Any well done

Here's an update on the baby birbs.

_{I have no idea how old they are. Any guesses?}

Congrats! They are looking good!

JustAlex09

I would say around 7-8 days old.

Another update on the babies. They're growing so fast.



I risked taking out Anubis and Ra. There was an unhatched egg in the nest that I didn't want to crack open and get everywhere, so I pulled the babies out, took out the egg and snapped a pic. Bast was watching me the entire time. After I put them back in Bast hopped in to feed them, so at least I know she won't abandon them if I handle them.



Bast (in the back) is the mother. Osiris is the possible two-timer (he already has a mate).



This is Sobek. He is Bast's mate. He is also smaller than Bast.

I don't know what color mutation Osiris is, though I'm assuming he's either saddleback or pied.

JustAlex09

Beautiful babies, congratulations!

They are so precious at this age, no panic, no fear, just cuteness .

What beautiful little ones

JustAlex09 They are so pretty!

JustAlex09 They are so pretty!

Update on Anubis and Ra.

This pic is about a week old. Anubis is a near carbon-copy of Bast in terms of color while Ra is solid white with a few flecks of light grey on her back.

I have yet to hear Anubis make any noise and Ra makes a valiant effort at sounding like her flock mates but fails and just sort of... gurgles. It's hilariously adorable.

Really nice fledglings really like the white one wish I could have him