Unexpected Star Finch babies

Rae2 · Post by **Rae2** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:13 pm

Okay.. little history.
I have the single HQ flight cage. I have two societies in this cage, both I believe to be female. Lots of eggs laid, but no babies. Never have seen any sign of male behavior. Get along well, but no courtship, just friendship.

Approx. 2 months ago, I took in my moms pair of star finches. male and female. They lay eggs all the time, but will not sit on them long enough to incubate the babies.

Put all birds together in this cage. They get alone well, pretty much ignore each other. The stars and societies don't really interact much at all.

Have two nest boxes in cage. One came with the stars, the other was the societies.

Within a couple weeks, the societies took over both nest boxes. There is usually a society, in both boxes much of the time.

This morning, all birds were out of nests, I took a peek... they are at least two babies hatched!! This is in the stars nest. I believe them to be star babies. With the societies taking over!

Little nervous here.. how should I handle this? Will the stars be okay in the cage with them till the babies fledge? So far, they are both being very quiet and unactive. Just sitting calmly. The societies are taking turns on the babies. So sweet.

I have that corner of the cage covered, trying to keep away and let them be parents...

Wow!! I have babies!!

So nervous! So excited!

Post by **Sally** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:30 am

Stars are notoriously poor parents--willing to build nests and lay eggs, but sometimes they either won't incubate, or they abandon the new hatchlings. They probably don't care that the Societies have taken over. If they are not reacting now, they probably will be fine. Just watch the new babies to make sure that someone is feeding them--you should see their little crops bulging with food. Since the Societies are feeding young, you need to make sure they have high-protein food, lots of eggfood. Societies are such good fosters, and they don't have to be a male/female pair to raise other finches babies, you can do it with male/male or female/female pairs. Star babies need to be fed longer than Society babies, but your Societies will most likely feed them for as long as it takes. Congrats! I love Stars!

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:58 am

Sally is right in everything she said... stars and societies will do fine together (for the most part) some stars tend to be more aggressive, but most of the time they aren't. This same type of thing has happend to me in my mixed aviary. At the time, I had about 10 finches in there including two societies, male and female, and two stars, both female. Then I had a couple other species. Anyway, societies and stars can make a fertile hybrid. Are you sure that both your societies are female? Either way, the babies could easily be just star finch babies (like Sally said, stars are great at mating, building nests, and laying eggs. A lot of the time they never incubate.) or the babies could be half star/half society. The male star could have mated with the female society.

Society finch babies are bald, and star finch babies hatch with a few small feathers, and hybirds of these species will hatch with a few feathers as well.

Anyway.... good luck with them, and I'm sure that the societies will be great parents to these babies, as they seem to already be. They incubated them, helped them hatch, so they will raise them. Like Sally said, just make sure their llittle crops are filled.

Rae2 · Post by **Rae2** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:13 pm

I am pretty sure both societies are female. I have never seen any type of male behavior in either. Never seen them breed. The stars pretty much ignore them, I am sure they is no mating going on between the two types.

I got a look at one of the babies this morning, it is bald with the top of its head being darker.. tonight both societies are in the nest, will this be ok? Can't see the crop, leaving them alone pretty much, don't want to upset them. Do have egg food out for them.

I am so hopefull this will turn out ok! Little nervous yet.
Haven't heard any noises from the babies. How soon before I should hear them?

Very confident these are star babies that the societies hatched. There are more eggs in the nest. It is possible more will hatch.

I so hope they fledge and are healthy.
I am so excited to have a chance to see these babies grow!

Post by **Hilary** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:23 pm

So where is our update on the chicks? Inquiring minds want to know.....

Rae2 · Post by **Rae2** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:49 pm

Ok... update time!!!

Happy to report all is well. Very hard to see into nest, there is at least one, not more than two. Doing great! Tomorrow will be two weeks.

The baby (or more?) is getting feathered. Active, I can hear noise coming from nest. Trying to avoid nest checks.

The stars (parents) are peeping quietly like they are talking to baby. A sound I have never heard them do before. Although they show little interest in nest.

The societies are being great foster parents.

How long until they fledge? I am very new at this, my first finch babies.
Anxious to see how all will get along when this happens. Will they stay with their foster parents, or go to the stars?

Going to be interesting... so far harmony in cage. Societies stay together, stars keep to themselves.. what will this little one do? Poor little guy is going to be a little confused!

Post by **Sally** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:14 am

They will fledge at about 3 weeks. They take longer to wean than Society babies, but the Society parents should be good about feeding them as long as it takes. I think the foster parents will be the ones to continue feeding, rather than the Stars, since they have shown no real interest in the babies so far. When my Societies fostered Stars last year, they also had babies of their own at the same time. The Society babies weaned much sooner than the Stars, but the fosters kept right on feeding those Star babies until they were weaned too. It will be interesting to see how they all act once those babies leave the nest.

Rae2 · Post by **Rae2** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:42 pm

Happy update!!
This morning I have one baby star out of the nest!!! I believe it to be 19 days today. Will that be alright? Right now it is on the floor of the cage. Has been on a perch a couple times, but only for very short time, then back down to floor. Should he be back in nest for a couple more days? When he first came out, lots of excitement in cage. The stars were just active, flying around not really looking at baby.
The societies were worried I could tell! They ignored the stars, were totally focused on the baby. After about an hour, things are quiet. Stars are calmly sitting together. baby is on floor, societies take turns flying down to it, then jump on perch, like they are saying, 'its all right, come on up, get your wings son!' Haven't seen them feeding. Right now he is a little vocal. I am sure begging for a meal! Hopefully they will continue to feed him. How long before he no longer needs them to feed him?

Oh, and it appears just one lone baby. He looks great!!! Fully feathered. He is obviously a full star, like I thought he would be.

So.... the baby has fledged!!!

Post by **Sally** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:54 pm

Congrats!! Star babies take a long time to wean, at least three weeks, and can take up to a month. The Societies will probaby continue to feed it as long as necessary. Also, Star babies normally don't return to the nest at night once they have fledged, but the Star babies I fostered with Societies last year piled back in the nest with their 'parents' every night till I separated them! The Star babies raised by Star parents never returned to the nest once fledged.

Post by **Hilary** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:29 pm

That's wonderful - congratulations!!