FINCHforum

Hey everyone! Just thought I would update everyone on my birds! My bronze are being VERY tight sitters, they wont even let me look in the nest because they huddle over the eggs and just stare at me, and I have tried tapping the side of the nest and the just sit tighter. They are being little turds! There eggs should hatch this week, I don't know the incubation period for there eggs. Fingers and Feathers crossed for them!

Moving on to my zebra pair! They were being dominated by the cuts but now both have been very protective of there nest as of last night and today because mother zebra has started sitting on 4 eggs I believe. This pair sat on there last clutch very good, hatched one baby but never fed it. So this is her third clutch and I am hoping they feed this time!

Hope everyone is doing great!

Well finally I got to peek and there were 6 eggs in there?! So either she has started laying again or she laid another one after I stopped checking when I noticed there were five. Either way, I wont peek anymore till this weekend. At least one of them popped right back in after I peeked.

Great news about the mannikins. What happened to your orange-cheeks?

I decided they were a bit to high energy for me at the moment and I could only keep them in to small of a cage for the time being and I felt really bad. So i took the back until I can get a bigger cage then I will get another pair!

Mannikin_luver wrote:I decided they were a bit to high energy for me at the moment and I could only keep them in to small of a cage for the time being and I felt really bad. So i took the back until I can get a bigger cage then I will get another pair!

That's very nice that you did that. And nice that the breeder/store would take them back. Best to let them go back if you aren't happy with the size of accommodations you can provide them. They are pretty flighty.

I looked at the bronze wings and was very tempted to get a pair, when I got back in to finches after years away from them. I wanted small birds, and they are very small. But I thought they were supposed to be pretty flight, too? And I wasn't sure if I'd be getting a true pair. So I went with the Goldbreasts. No doubt who is the boy and who is the girl with them! Your BWs sound like they aren't flighty at all! Good luck with them. Hope they take care of and raise some nice babies for you.

Hi Franny! Nope my BW are very calm, I can stick my whole hand in the cage with them both in the nest so I can change food, water, etc and they simply either huddle down in the nest or both peek out and watch me!

If one is out of the nest when I go in the room, it will hop on top of the nest and watch me from behind the greenery, but I can walk up to the cage and talk to them and they wont fly around, they just watch me. They are one of my favorite birds HOWEVER I still can not tell which one is the male and the female, they look SO much alike. Also, if he sings you can't hear it over the male cut throat and the male zebra.

Well as long as they can tell which is which, I guess it doesn't matter. I do recall that when I first saw them in Petcetera, they would come right up to the front of the cage to stare at me, as I stared at them! So I guess they are pretty used to people, since all I've read about them says they are as common as sparrows and like to live near people.

Thanks Salam!

Yep Franny! They are good beginner mannikin to get! They are also very attentive to each other and are always making cute little noises when one enters the nest or when one leaves. I hope to add in the future a pair of black and white mannikins, a pair of chestnut breasted mannikins, and a pair of magpie mannikins!

Best wishes on all those little eggs.

Thank you!

Mannikin_luver wrote:I decided they were a bit to high energy for me at the moment and I could only keep them in to small of a cage for the time being and I felt really bad. So i took the back until I can get a bigger cage then I will get another pair!

That's a shame. I hear that alot with OC owners. Fortunately mine have an aviary, but in all honesty they move around the least. The like to sleep pushed against eachother in a hidden corner and I hardly ever see them. It sounds like your finding your niche with Mannikins though. That's great. I will always be a waxbill lover.

Oh! Don't get me wrong I love me some waxbills to and have full intentions of getting them again!

Domenic wrote:

Mannikin_luver wrote:I decided they were a bit to high energy for me at the moment and I could only keep them in to small of a cage for the time being and I felt really bad. So i took the back until I can get a bigger cage then I will get another pair!

That's a shame. I hear that alot with OC owners. Fortunately mine have an aviary, but in all honesty they move around the least. The like to sleep pushed against eachother in a hidden corner and I hardly ever see them. It sounds like your finding your niche with Mannikins though. That's great. I will always be a waxbill lover.

Same here, my OCs are very docile and not as active as the CBs or Lavenders, and especially not as fast and actiive as the European Goldfinch. But I also have a big space for all of them...

Well I removed the bronze wings eggs since it has been 4 days past due for there eggs to hatch, every one was clear

I suppose this was due being there first clutch, so I hope there next clutch is fertile and no spooks this time! I felt bad for removing there eggs but I gave them some fresh boiled/mashed egg to say I am sorry!

However my zebra finches are sitting very well this time, both of them!