FINCHforum

I have had the worse months of non-productive finches. I am beginning to wonder if it is because I just have too many housed together. I have 3 societies, pair of owls, pair of RCCBs, pair of orange cheeks, 1 star finch 1 spice finch all together. I can't tell who is laying eggs and who isn't. My pair of RCCB;s were sitting on eggs I don't know how many but when I got up this morning there was one egg and it was a late egg death. The baby was fully formed never hatched but clearly was dead. Looked as though it had only died very recently. should I separate some of these guys? They all get along great but I am getting no babies.
Comments will be appredicated.
Thanks,
Jeanne

You don't mention cage size?

I don't know the exact size but it is very large from the floor almost to the ceiling of my apartment quite adequate for the ones I have together there is no fighting on anything like that.

Birds will always breed better if pairs are kept seperately..except certain species that colony breed in the wild.If you want eggs and chicks give your birds their own turf.

Yes,
I kinda thought that was what you guys would recommend. I guess if I keep them all together babies may be out of the question. They just all look and act really happy the way things are.
Thanks for responding.

The height doesn't really matter much when it comes to birds staking their territory. They all want to nest/roost in the highest perches. That's why the length and width is more important.

You have 11 birds, and according to the cage size calculator you need a cage that is about 7 feet long by 3 feet wide, in order to them to have enough room. Is your cage that big?

Cage Calculator:
http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/cage_s ... ulator.php

While they may use the vertical height a lot when foraging, etc., they still may feel a bit too crowded to feel confident enough in their territory to breed successfully. The other birds may be encroaching too close to their nests. This could cause them to not sit tight and eggs are not being incubated properly due to the disruption from the other birds.

While you might have a nice size cage for a non-breeding aviary, it could well be too small for successful breeding with so many species together.

Edited to add: Tee hee. Poohbear said it much better, and with less typing.

I have societies, owls, RCCBs, orange cheeks, gouldians, cubans, and B&W mannikins together in a 30 square foot space (3x10) and I've had success with the owls, RCCBs, gouldians, and cubans. I'm not sure if my OCs are a pair.

I have good luck both ways. Cage breeding and mixed aviary breeding. But I do find the harder to breed birds breed more sucessfully in a large mixed aviary.