FINCHforum

I'm new to keeping birds. A shame I didn't start earlier....

I have 4 female zebra finches. They have since paired off and every few weeks like clockwork I notice they have eggs in their bamboo houses. I realize the eggs are infertile and will never hatch.
I notice that they take turns sitting on their eggs. I imagine they think they're going to hatch.

What I'm wondering about is... how long should I let them "delude" themselves?
Should I wait a certain period of time before disposing of the eggs?

At first, everything is fine and calm. As the days go by, they start to 'defend their territory'. They start bickering and fighting (nothing major but noticeable behavior compared to an empty nest without eggs)...After a day or two of them pecking at one another, I dispose of the eggs and everything calms down.

I don't want to 'drain' them of all their energy. I notice after the eggs are gone - sure enough - a couple days later - there's a new batch. If I take them out too early, (to save our sanity), am I stressing their bodies?

I hear you can buy "fake" eggs - tiny ceramic white eggs - that prevents them from laying their own...or is this an urban legend? Maybe this will quiet them down some?

What should I do? Let things be? Wait a while? please help...

Alex in Canada

I'm still pretty new to this too, so I'll look to see answers from others as well. One option is to remove the nests altogether. They can be perfectly happy and healthy with perches. While they will still lay eggs in food bowls and on the bottom of the cage, they will not have the same instinct to sit on them and build nests that need defending.

(This is a recent lesson learned for me as I just accidentally doubled by bird population. Nest are coming out as soon as babies completely fledge!)

And welcome to the forum, by the way! You'll find a ton of great information from very knowledgable people here.

AlexinCanada

Welcome fellow Canadian.

Take out the nests, bamboo houses etc.
Yoy will still get occasional eggs here and there , but not as many, and you can just toss them out, as soon as they appear.

To help your girls maintain their calcium levels ( to make up for the loss of calcium through egg laying) offer cuttle bone (available in all pet shops), and the crushed shells from boiled eggs (which are high in Calcium, and birds eat them like potato chips). Hard boiled eggs, by the way, are an important addition to any bird diet, along with different kind of greens.

I would also add some fake plants into your cage/flight, to get these girls interested in something else other than laying eggs. They love to play with these things. Swings, are also a favorite toy, to keep them busy.

Again, welcome to the Forum, and if you have any other questions, you're in the right place.

Enjoy your birdlings.

Elana

Welcome to the forum! You've already gotten some great advice. I realize that new finch owners love to see their pets sleeping in a nest at night, but nests really mean breeding to finches. There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you'll find many articles on finch care.

Thank you.

Nice to be set straight by people in the know...

Much appreciated!
Alex in Canada

AlexinCanada

Good luck with your girls, and I hope everything works out for the best.

Elana

I agree with moving the nest, but i always feel bad... (@MiaCarter knows what I'm talking about) so another thing you can do is put in a shelf covered in papertowel so they have somewhere comfy to sleep...and they don't have to be perched. BUT they sleep on perches in the wild, so it's not BAD for them... I just know mine really like to sleep on a flat serface now... I feel if i took that away they'd be like "you want me to sleep WHERE?" hahahah but they are feisty adaptable little birds. Just another quick FYI, my Charlotte was becoming a CRONIC eggg layer, and I tried the plastic eggs, they do work... sort of. After a while, I would start finding One plastic egg kicked out the nest, and a real egg in, the next day same thing, like once she saw her eggs next to the fakes, she knew the difference.... So just be ware of that, but they did work for a while...she sat tight on 5 plastice eggs for a good 12-13 days.... of course then i felt aweful cuz i'm like she's sitting and she's not going to get anything out of it!!!! LOL, i might be too much of a push over for this hobby..... Anyway, good luck to you, and with your girls!

My two boys generally sleep on perches (what ever is the highest in the cage). I;ve provided nests but only one of them uses them. Generally the others just poop on everything!

Kind Regards

Zebrafincher