FINCHforum

I have a pair (I hope so, since I've never heard a male sing) of Owl Finches that I've bought from a breeder. They were born in May this year. I was cleaning their cage and checked the nest where they sleep every night and found five freshly laid eggs. The nest was very dirty so I had to clean it, but they are back and sleeping in it right now. I actually was giving them boiled egg only ones a day and they were cleaning the bowl.
I concern that they are too young to breed. Should I remove the nest, or should I let them go with it?

6 months is a little young. I would wait until they are a year or more. Are they related?

I didn't intend on breeding them this year.
I asked for unrelated pair, but I can't be 100% sure. But it took the breeder a while to select a pair. All her birds are closed banded and she had some records (I got date of birth for the one finch and the month of birth for the other) and one of the owls also has a split band.

Owls are very precocious, mature quite early. I was in the bird room today, and heard a very soft, tiny Owl song. Peeked around the corner, and here sat a little juvenile, barely two months old, practicing his song--so sweet. Too bad I didn't have colored plastic bands on them, so I could ID the one that was singing.

The man who got me started on Owls told me they should be at least 9 months old before being allowed to breed. My babies all try to have clutches before 9 months, and sometimes I have to separate them to get them to wait.

Some of my male Owls are not good about singing, so it is hard for me to sex them. Today, I happened to have an empty cage above one that held 4 Owls. I know one is a hen, but which one? I needed to catch a male, so I caught up one I was pretty sure was a male, placed him in the cage above so he was out of sight of the others but could hear them, and within minutes, he was singing. I've tried putting them in a separate cage but where they could see each other, and they didn't seem to be as willing to sing.

Sally,
I separated the owls with a divider, so they couldn't see each other and neither of them was singing. I may have two females.