First Birds!

[Icearstorm]

I finally got some birds a few weeks ago: 4 society finches- one male and three females, all about five months old. The male and two of the females are from the same brood and used to pick on the other female, but they seem fine with her now and all sleep in the same nest together. I don't want them to breed, so I have given the finches clay eggs; the two siblings laid four eggs each and have been taking care of the fake ones for the last three weeks or so... When will they get tired of these?
They are in a cage that is about 1.5x1.5x2.5 feet, but will soon be in one that is about 1.5x4x5 feet. They have mixed seed in a hopper feeder; this works extremely well, only having to be refilled once a week and protecting the seed from poop. They also have a modified hummingbird feeder that they drink water from and bathe in. It has not gotten pooped in for three days now, while their open water dish used to get absolutely filthy (I still put it in for about half an hour a day so it's easier for them to bathe)... Now I just need to find a way to keep their perishable food from getting pooped in.
As far as nutrition goes, they always have water, cuttlebone, millet, milo, wheat, and sunflower available, though they prefer the millet to any of the other seed. I may get a smaller finch seed mix for them to eat, rather than the wild bird seed mix. They get greens almost every day (every day when I have it), egg every 3-4 days normally or every 2 days when moulting/breeding, and a phosphorous-free reptile multivitamin dust once or twice a week (they quite seem to like it), as well as any other healthy food they seem to like. The only vegetables they eat on a regular basis are lettuce, spinach, shredded broccoli and cabbage, and beets. Are there any other fresh foods they will eat?
Is there any safe way to induce moulting? I have adjusted their photoperiod to mimic fall, when many birds moult, but they haven't grown in more than a few tail feathers. They all had broken tail feathers when I got them. The male's wing feathers were (and still are) so broken that he can't fly more than about a foot before falling to the ground; I would really like to fix this so he can fly again. I don't have any small flight feathers on hand, so imping some into his leftover wing feathers isn't going to work. I have also heard of pulling out feathers or feeding beef thyroid to get new feathers to grow in. Neither of these methods sound good, though; pulling feathers is probably quite painful (especially since flight feathers are anchored to the bone) and could potentially damage the feather follicles, while an overdose of beef thyroid can cause birds to lose most their feathers in a very short time frame, leaving them cold and uncomfortable.
I am also considering selling two of the birds to make room for more (either the two siblings or the male and the unrelated female). Would this make them depressed or could they handle it?
Any advice would be appreciated!

[Stuart whiting]

Hi mate,

Firstly welcome to the forum,

Personally I wouldn't of bought birds in such poor condition but as you've now got these birds yer best bet is just to wait and naturally let the birds moult out themselves,

I really wouldn't try to force the moult apon the birds as this inetivily can cause you more problems in the long run as this is normally done by applying heat but the birds can go into a soft moult and also become stuck in the moult which is not good eaither.

Under no circumstances try to pull any of the broken quill feathers as again this will be disastrous as you've already mentioned.

I can't stress enough about just letting the birds moult naturally,
The birds may take another few more weeks / months before they moult but they'll do this when they feel comfortable,

If there having trouble in flying around the cage place all food and water where they can easily get to them, even may mean placing them in a smallish cage so they can't fly so much and damage themselves

Reading through the daily diet of yer birds it seems everything is pretty much ok,

Hope yer birds condition themselves in time

[Icearstorm]

Thank you! As far as finches that have been for sale in my area, there are no professional zebra, silverbill, or society finch breeders; only pet stores ($15-$100/finch) and the occasional person trying to get rid of excess birds. I got mine from the latter for $6/bird and they seemed to be in as good of condition as the pet store birds. Fortunately, they don't seem to have any other health problems and are quite active and lively. (One of them does get the top of its beak overgrown, but it's probably genetic and easily correctable with some nail clippers). I guess I'll just wait a few months for them to grow back those feathers...
Everything in the cage is easily accessible by hopping; the male only tries to fly when something startles him (fortunately he doesn't get scared too often). As for the others, they have full wings and fly quite well; it's just that their broken/missing tail feathers look ugly.

[vinay]

You seem to be doing fine with your diet and your overall care .

I just feel that if your birds are related and are in no condition to breed, you needn't provide them with a nest. Finches can do perfectly fine without nests. Nests can and will induce breeding behaviour in your birds. Breeding is stressful on even healthy birds. Your birds could easily contract stress induced diseases and your females could get egg-bound etc.

You could always put the nest back in once you're satisfied with their feather condition and general health !

Either ways , good luck !

[Sally]

I agree with the others that it is harder to start with birds that aren't in condition already, but if you just take time with it, they will molt out naturally and then should be in better feather. Is the new cage longer horizontally than tall? That will give them more flying room, which will exercise those muscles, and that male should get better with flying. Giving them a daily bath will also help with feather condition.

I also agree that it is far easier to avoid egg laying altogether by not supplying a nest or any nesting material. You don't want siblings to breed, and they will in a heartbeat.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care.

[Icearstorm]

I have been considering removing the nest for a while now, but it was the only way to get them from sitting in their food dish... Perhaps I should get a smaller dish or clip the food to the side of their cage? The new cage is going to be a bit like a small aviary, with several live (and of course nontoxic) plants in the bottom. I'm guessing I shouldn't add the plants until the birds are in better condition, lest the birds try to nest in them. I know they will breed if I let them; I have caught the male mating with both his siblings (though not the unrelated female)... They seem to think the clay eggs are their own, and haven't bred since I replaced their eggs with the 8 fake ones.
The current cage is twice as tall as it is wide, but I should only have it for another week or so. The new cage is less than a foot taller than it is wide (48" long, 55" tall), but I plan to put the food and water lower down so they have to fly more.
I am familiar with http://www.finchinfo.com and have used it a few times to decide what birds I should get. (I eventually narrowed it down to silverbills, society finches, and spice finches, and perhaps zebras.)

P.S.This colour feature is really fun to use : )