FINCHforum

hello. can anyone tell me what colour zebra finch eggs are supposed to be? my zf's have laid 4 eggs, they all started off white but now one is a yellow colour, 2 are a greyish blue and one looks yellow sometimes but grey other times ( weird i know, depends on the light) this is my first time breeding zebra finches so any advice on any aspect of it would be greatly appreciated.btw i haven't picked up the eggs as i don't want to disturb them.
also its been a week since the 3rd egg was laid if that helps.

also the male isn't allowed in the nest at night, she pecks him ALOT if he dares go in the nest at night, is this normal?

thanks in advance.

As the chicks develope inside the eggs the yellow yolk changes to a grey (the chicks body).
Looks like you will have chicks soon...How long have the parents been setting?

I would say that the 2 that are greyish blue looking are fertile and what you see is the shadow of the baby, the one that is sometimes greyish may be the last egg laid so not quite as far along. If it has been just over a week, I would gander that the ones that are yellow are probably infertile. Just leave everything as is, I once removed 1 egg that was infertile from my zebras and she abandoned the nest. No harm can be done in just leaving it in there. Good Luck

thanks very muchly for your responses. thats cleared that up for me i've been trying to find out for the last day or so. This forum is full of info thanks for the quick response. i cant wait until they hatch, i'm real excited for them, the male is having alot of fun sitting on the eggs, lol probs more fun than the female to be honest, everytime i go in its him sat on the eggs!

thanks again for responses

With my zebras it is the male that does most of the incubating also.

glad to hear my male isnt just weird and other peoples zf sit on the eggs more than the female, lol.


oh btw are zf's good parents first time around? this is their first time and i would like to know the liklihood of them succeeding

Hello everyone
So my male and female keeping flying in and out of the nest. They are not sitting on the eggs at all now and keep buried them again? What should I do? Should I leave the nest alone or get rid of everything and let them start again??
Thx
Cra Cra

apachetear wrote: glad to hear my male isnt just weird and other peoples zf sit on the eggs more than the female, lol.


oh btw are zf's good parents first time around? this is their first time and i would like to know the liklihood of them succeeding

I'd say it depends on the zebra finches. Some zebra finches are great parents right from the start and then others abandon their babies and even chick toss.

Fingers crossed that your Zebs a great parents! Keep us posted!

I have 2 pairs of Zebs currently incubating too.

Cra Cra wrote: Hello everyone
So my male and female keeping flying in and out of the nest. They are not sitting on the eggs at all now and keep buried them again? What should I do? Should I leave the nest alone or get rid of everything and let them start again??
Thx
Cra Cra

How many eggs are there? And have they started to incubate? What kind of nest are you using? If they have abandoned the nest then remove the nest and eggs. Are you still supplying nest material? I usually just put the nest material in the nest and that's all the material I give my finches. If you do offer nest material best to remove it once the first egg has been laid - otherwise they build a nest over top of the eggs. Hope this is helpful!

Yes, they abandoned the nest. I found 2 eggs cracked on the bottom of the cage. I took out everything, washed the nest and put new nesting fluff back in. I hope that will be OK.

Cra Cra wrote: Yes, they abandoned the nest. I found 2 eggs cracked on the bottom of the cage. I took out everything, washed the nest and put new nesting fluff back in. I hope that will be OK.

Do you use hay as well? My Zebs love using hay because they can weave the walls etc. What kind of nest are you using? My Zebs all use nest boxes.

Cra Cra wrote: Yes, they abandoned the nest. I found 2 eggs cracked on the bottom of the cage. I took out everything, washed the nest and put new nesting fluff back in. I hope that will be OK.

If the eggs ended up cracked on the ground, then I would recommend a new nest. Eggs should not be able to roll out of the nest in any way as it means when the eggs hatch the baby Zebs will fall out of the nest. (Yes I have had this happen to me with both Zebs and canaries) Not nice to find dead baby birds on the ground. Some of the baby Zebs did survive but wouldn't recommend it. Not trying to be critiscing just trying to give some helpful advice so that you can successfully breed baby Zebs and get the joys of watching them grow up and mature into young adults! Baby Zebs really are just gorgeous precious wee things. You'll love having them for sure. Their fluffiness is really just irrisistable.