SOCIETY FINCHES NOT LAYING EGGS

[Birdpoppy]

I purchased four society finches from Pet Smart along with the nest with four eggs in it last August. The eggs hatched and they tried raising the young after they hatched, but all of them died. Now I have noticed that the finches are not laying eggs at all. Could I have all males or could something else be wrong? I am not sure what has happened. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[lovezebs]

Hello,

If you purchased birds with eggs in the nest, then Iogic dictates, that at least one of them is a female...

Only males sing. Females chirp, sounding like crickets.

Have you observed any puffing up and singing in any of your birds? Have you heard anything that sounds like crickets, when you spend time with your birds?

Is your cage/flight, large enough to give them room to fly and exercise as finches need to do to remain happy and healthy (which is what you need them to be, to breed for you). Do you have appropriate nests for them?

Now tell me about their diet...

Finches (and that includes Societies) need:
A good quality Finch Seed Mix, fresh daily
Spray millet
Fresh greens and veggies at least twice a week, but better everyday in small amounts
Hard boiled eggs, either grated or put through a garlic press at least every second day
Cuttlebone, oystershell grit, and crushed egg shells from the hardboiled eggs
Mineral grit
Iodine block
And some good quality Vit every second day or so

Clean water, both for drinking and bathing every day

Let me explain all of these items, and why our Finches need them.

A good quality seed mix, and spray millet, are self explanatory. These are seed eating birds, and the better quality of seeds you offer, the healthier they will be.

Fresh greens and veggies, such as kale, spinach, corn, grated carrots, romaine lettuce, beet greens, broccoli, red Swiss chard, etc, offer many different vitamins and nutrients, and are important for them, as they are for us.

Hard boiled eggs, are an extremely important source of protein for caged birds, seeing as they can't hunt for bugs as birds would in nature. Eggs, also contain many essential Vitamins and nutrients (including Vit D2, which is very important for their ability to absorb Calcium from which they make the egg shells of the eggs which they lay).

Cuttlebone, oystershell grit, and crushed egg shells, are the sources from where they get this much needed Calcium. No Calcium = no eggs, or females who become egg bound and die.

Mineral block and iodine block, are important for offering those minerals which are essential to good health and not available through their daily foos sources.

Good quality bird Vitamins, cover the things we may have missed through the diet which we offer our birds.

Clean fresh water, needs no explanation.
Birds, like people and all other creatures, need fresh clean water to live both for drinking and for bathing to keep themselves clean.

So please check off this list and let's find out what's missing in their diet.

If all these needs are being met, then the only thing I can think of is that perhaps they are too old to breed or that somehow you actually did end up with four males, and that it was another bird in the store who laid those eggs.

Please let us know how things are coming along.