Question about Nests for pairs of breeding society finches

[hfinney]

Hello. I am very new to finches. I have a male and two females, and he has mated with both girls many times over the last few weeks. I currently have one hen sitting on four eggs, and I can only assume they are all four hers since she is the only one sitting on the eggs during the day. However, the male is still mating with my other female. So I have a few questions.

They all three currently sleep in the one nest with the eggs in it. If my second female begins to lay more eggs, is it going to be too crowded with all those eggs (and hopefully babies) and two females trying to incubate their eggs?

Should I get a second nest to see if the second female will lay eggs in it instead?

If I get a second nest, will this cause the first hen to give up sitting on her eggs and move to the new one instead (to be with the other two birds if they move into it)? She seems fairly satisfied to be alone in her nest with her eggs, but I don't want to do anything to cause her to abandon them.

Any advice is helpful for this newbie! Thank you!

[lovezebs]

hfinney

I would attempt tp place another nest in there if you're concerned aboyt overcrowding, although they will probably still all crowd into the first nest . If the second nest causes any issues, it can always be removed.

[hfinney]

Thank you! I'm adding a second nest now. We'll see what they do!

[Fraza]

hfinney good luck but I think that they will be fine and won’t be overcrowded search society’s online and u see about 10 in one nest

[Icearstorm]

hfinney

If the nest is large enough for your birds to comfortably sit beside each other, there should be enough room, even if they all continue to share the same nest.

It doesn't necessarily mean that the broody female was the one that laid the eggs. I have a female that shared incubation duties equally with the other birds, even when none of the eggs were hers.

Five of my societies (3 adult females, an adult male, and a juvenile male) were successful at raising nine hatchlings together in a 5" x 5" nest box, so communal breeding is possible. Just watch out for murderous birds; one of my females killed and ate a clutch from my other birds, and had to be removed.

My societies usually stop at eight eggs, even if there are multiple birds laying. Once the clutch is completed, you can substitute some of the real eggs with fake ones if you think that there are too many.