Nesting in the Food Dish

[Icearstorm]

My three society finches are making a nest in their food dish... What can I do about this?
They nested in a coconut fiber dish last time, but after six weeks or so, they gave up incubating the clay eggs I substituted in. A week later, they started breeding behavior once more, this time deciding to nest in the food dish; they would sit in it even when it was filled with moist eggfood. Although I do not want them to breed, I do not think removing all possible nesting sites would work, considering that one of them layed an egg on the cage floor and the food dish is needed to keep the food out of the sand. I cannot separate them either, as there is no room for another flight (this one is 4x1.5x4.5 feet).

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

These wee rascalls will find a way, lol.

I would continue removing the eggs on a daily basis. Just make sure, that you supplement with lots of cuttle bone and crushed egg shells, to make sure that they have enough calcium.

Good luck.

[Sally]

Icearstorm

Completely agree with lovezebs. The only way to stop it for sure is to have a male only or female only flight. With a female only flight, you still find the occasional egg, as hens can lay eggs even without the presence of a male.

[Icearstorm]

Thank you! I have cuttlebone and have seen them eating it when it was in their old cage. I'm not sure if they have figured out where it is in the new flight, but I dust their eggfood with a calcium and D3 supplement, so they should be fine. My main concern is them getting their food dirty by sitting in it or not eating the food once they have buried it under nest lining... Perhaps I ought to make a cover for the food dish so they can only get their heads in it to eat (though they might continue to stuff bedding into it)?

[Sheather]

Maybe take away this dish and feed fresh food on a shallow plate on the cage floor? I use floor dishes to feed my birds.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm and Sheather

I have actually started doing the same quite some time ago. This way everyone gathers around the feeding dishes on the bottom, and there are no fights over the seed cups. Also, they have better acces to all the seeds, rather than just the top layer.

[Tish]

I have the same problem my birds will stuff their self in the oyster shell dish and sleep, or lay eggs in it. I'am not overly worried just take the dish out often and clean it. Then they do it all over again. Silly society finches.

[Shannylee]

Icearstorm, I have a canary nesting in a food dish too and I had to put a nest in for my male zebras + male society because they would bed down in the seed cups every night.

[Icearstorm]

Sheather lovezebs

Right now I have a hopper feeder for seed, which works well, and the applesauce container for eggfood and veggies, which is the one they're trying to nest in. I think I might have to remove some perching spots before I try a feeding plate because they are pooping practically everywhere except for the one spot I keep their water.

Tish Shannylee

It's quite funny to watch them. They go to the food dish and take turns sitting or standing in it during the day (the male sometimes even sings while he is lying down) and then go to their old nest to sleep, since the three of them can't possibly fit in the newly chosen nest site. When I had the old (small-ish) cage, they would sit in the food cup until one day they decided they decided to get in the coconut fiber nest that was in there all along... And now they would rather be in a small, hard plastic container... They are rather odd.

[Shannylee]

Icearstorm, LOL! I have 12 societies but "stay tuned". I have 2 nests full of 6 eggs each. Oy! Thankfully, I have a local bird store and he will take my excess birds in trade for store credit.

[Icearstorm]

Shannylee

I've never heard of stores doing that, but I suppose it makes sense. Unfortunately my birds are all from the same clutch and don't have any trait that I think would justify inbreeding, but I'll keep that in mind if I get some unrelated birds.