New To Finches

[Weebs]

I am brand new to Finches. A co-worker has a pair of Finches who had two babies. I think the babies are approx 6 weeks old. She was telling me about them one day and said that the Dad was beginning to be very mean to one (pecking it badly) and she really needed to figure out what to do with them.

I let her know I would take them both (one is/was white and the other a very beautiful grey). I spent a couple of weeks researching their needs and purchased supplies + cage and making sure my home was ready. I brought the cage to her Tuesday and she caught the babies and brought them to the office yesterday. They spent the day in the office and seemed perfectly fine - eating, sleeping and chirping away. I did notice that the white bird was super clingy to the grey one and the grey one would sometimes get upset at the white bird - kind of screaming at it with it's head lowered. It happened a few times and then they would go back to cuddling, as though nothing happened.

Long story short, I drove both home in my car after work. About a 15 minute ride home - cage covered in a thin blanket. About an hour after I got home, the white bird had a crazy burst of energy and was all over the cage... almost in a panic for a few seconds. Then he fell over on his side and couldn't get back up (he was trying very hard). Then he just died. I couldn't believe it! Did he just get too stressed out from the day and couldn't handle it anymore?

Now I have a baby grey (I suspect she's female) Finch who is all alone! I plan on getting her a female but I'm not sure if I should wait until she's a bit older (she's not flying just yet..... she hops around, looks healthy otherwise and sat on a very low perch for sleeping last night). I put a mirror in her cage hoping that would help with her being alone but it doesn't seem like she really notices he is gone nor does she really care about the mirror at all. She hasn't chirped much.... should I be concerned about that or is she just being quiet because her buddy is gone?

She's eating and drinking water normally. I put a few greens in her cage and I have her up on a high shelf - back of cage covered in towels to keep her stress levels in check.

Anything else I should do for this baby? I am terrified she's going to die on me like the other one!

[Weebs]

I caught a picture of her eating. She's so tiny! She fluffed up when she saw my cell phone so I just snapped one quick pic.

Should I remove this "bedding" stuff that the co-worker put in the cage? I'm not sure if it's safe or not.

[Babs _Owner]

Weebs

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new finches! And Happy Thanksgiving if you're in the US!

Yes I would remover the "bedding" and replace with newspaper. Babies especially may ingest something that could possible harm them as they explore.

Very cute little birdie!

[lovezebs]

Weebs
Hello and welcome to the Forum.

Looks like you have yourself a baby Zebra Finch (my guess would be a little girl).

Sorry to hear about your little white chick (not sure what could have happened there). There might have been something wrong with it from the start, and the stress of the move was just too much.

Are you sure that little lady gray is actually eating and drinking? Sometimes fledgling chicks will just roll the food around their mouth, not sure how to crack the seeds open. Are you sure the parents were no longer feeding these kids? I'm very surprised that she isn't flying yet at 6 weeks of age.

I'd offer spray millet, and a little bit of mashed hard boiled egg, just in case this little one is struggling with cracking the seeds.

I would get rid of this bedding whatever it is, and just place paper on the bottom of the cage, newspaper or some folded paper towels.

Baby looks too fluffed up to me. I would place a lamp with a 60 bulb over one corner of the cage, to offer some warmth, but make sure that there is also a shady spot, if she wants to get away from the heat source.

Let me know how she's doing.

[Weebs]

I am fairly sure she's eating but it was hard to tell with that bedding in there. She is certainly drinking water.

I have some very small finch pellets in there (I put those in today) along with the high quality seed mix and she's getting into it quite frequently. I'm going to get some egg in there for her too. Thank you for the suggestion.

She only puffs up like that when I get near the cage and she sees me. Otherwise, she's not puffy and hops around the cage fairly active. I put a mirror in there and she's taking to it... chattering with herself when she sees herself.

Stores are all closed here in the US for Thanksgiving, so I'll be out first thing tomorrow to see about getting her a day light.

I'll be getting another cage too, so I can get her a buddy at some point. Should I wait for her to be flying before getting her a cage mate? I'm almost thinking that just having another bird in another cage near hers would maybe help her start trying to fly and help her feel less stressed (?).

Bedding is gone! I dumped that stuff earlier today and lined the bottom with some paper towels. Thankfully, she does have a perch that I angled across the cage and she slept last night on the lowest part of it... perched all night.

Thank you for the replies and suggestions! Wish us luck.

[Weebs]

Update on baby: She's doing wonderful! She's started flying and inspecting different areas of the cage for the last few days and getting higher and higher up on the perches. I added some food dishes up high with a mix of pellets and seed and she's loving it.

She's been very chirpy at herself in the mirror so I think it's time to get a 2nd female finch in the same room as her. We are planning on going this weekend to get a small cage with another finch to start the introductions. She's super sweet so going with another female will be the right move.

Her favorite time of the day is the early morning, right before the sun rises. I have a LARGE tree outside that houses TONS of birds that wake up right before dawn and sing like crazy. She just LOVES when I get up early and open the window for her to hear them. She will sit on the perl closest to the window and chirp along with them. It's soooo cute to hear her "talking" to them.

[lovezebs]

Weebs

Wonderful news!

I think a little friend for her is a good idea, just have to make sure that you do careful introductions, seeing as Zebras can be quite territorial of their cages.

Good luck

[Weebs]

An update on the baby + more questions!

We searched high and low for another very young female to house with the baby. We finally found one and started the introductions by purchasing a 2nd small cage and putting the two cages next to one another.

WOW - they were super excited to meet one another. We kept them apart for a couple of days but they were so into one another that it was killing me to wait any longer to get them together in the same cage.

We put the cages door to door and opened both doors (after completely changing the decor of both cages to make everything neutral) and pairing them up was a total success. They took to one another right away and have been living side by side in the large cage perfectly.

Unfortunately, I was expecting to have two females - but the original baby bird turned into a beautiful singing male! So now I have a m/f pair of Zebra finches that are completely paired up and completely love one another. They are so awesome to watch and listen to that I can totally tell the difference between the two just by their chirping/singing.

The problem... I do no want to breed them at all. I caught them the other day making some new noises I had not heard before. When I looked up at them, they were 100% humping! The male was on top of the female and she was completely enjoying it. They were making these very cute cooing sounds. It was so personal that I had to look away!! LOL

After lots of reading up on Zebra finches, I know they are too young to start laying eggs but I don't want this to become an issue. Not sure what to do from here, as there is nothing in the literature I've read on exactly what I should do. I purchased a nest and nesting material (I have NOT put them in the cage) and I'm going to purchase a bunch of dummy eggs.... just in case she starts dropping eggs somewhere in the cage.

What should I do from here to prevent them from breeding? Again, there is no nest in the cage and I'm not planning on putting one in - but got one just in case she does start dropping eggs... do I put the nest in at that time with dummy eggs so she stops? I'm worried because they are so young AND they get along wonderfully. Any advice here would be highly appreciated.

[lovezebs]

Weebs

Congratulations on a happy pair

The only way to stop Zebras from breeding, is to seperate them (which will make for two unhappy birdlings). You can't stop them from 'breeding', lol.

You can however practice 'birth control', by not providing a nest, and by removing any eggs that show up around the cage. Also I would throw in a foraging box, to keep them entertained and get their minds off the obvious

Do they have a swing, and a bunch of greenery around the cage to play with?

Another thing you could try, is to shorten their daylight hours to natural daylight. Once it gets dark outside either turn off the lights, or cover the cage. The longer the light hours are, the more amorous they become, lol.

Good luck.

P.M. Make sure you offer crushed egg shells, for calcium.

[Shannylee]

Weebs, now you know why they were super excited to meet each other. LOL! I agree with Elana. You can also get some "dummy" eggs and replace the ones she lays with the fakes. It will keep her from laying more for a little while.

[Weebs]

lovezebs Thank You! They are so much fun to watch and listen to.

I do have a swing for them that they play with often - more so the hen than the male. They have lots of silk plants that are surrounding the cage and snake in and out of the cage. They do keep busy playing with those for sure. They also have many high and low perches (sticks and regular perches and this really cool twisty perch I put in there last week that they are really loving). I have a mirror perch that I got for the baby but took out when I put the two of them together. I wonder if they'd enjoy that in there too. I may try that sometime this week.

They have a foraging box and I try to give them their bath every day. I found with these Zerbas that they LOVE taking a bath first thing in the morning and if I don't give them their tub, they bathe in their water dishes!

[Weebs]

Weebs, now you know why they were super excited to meet each other. LOL! I agree with Elana. You can also get some "dummy" eggs and replace the ones she lays with the fakes. It will keep her from laying more for a little while.

Dummy eggs have been ordered and are on the way. Let's hope I won't need to use them, but I can't imagine separating this pair to keep them from breeding. We've already been looking into getting bigger cage as soon as we move into a larger place this year. So, I might end up letting them breed in another year or two.