Update on my Owl Finches

[LisaB53]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to thank you all for encouraging me to give the owl finches a try. I do really like these little cuties. At first I didn't get to spend much time observing them since right after I got them my dad had some health concerns that kept me pretty busy. But I have finally had some time to watch them. I didn't know what sex they were and I ended up naming them Tweet and Twitter. Since they came from the same clutch I was really hoping to get a same sex pair. This past week I noticed them in the nest a little more often and so this morning I checked the nest only to find an egg in there. I now think I probably have a m/f pair. The breeder told me if I found myself with a m/f pair to make sure I replace the eggs with dummy eggs. Can someone give me an idea of the average number of eggs these kids lay? My zebras would start to tear the nest apart after sitting on the dummy eggs for about two weeks. Then I would take the nest out clean it up good and then put it back in and start the process all over again. Will the owls sit approx. 2 weeks on the dummy eggs?

Thanks again for singing the praises of these cute little guys.

Lisa

[cindy]

If you have a sibling pair I suggest you don't set them up with a nest. Will the breeder swap you out an unrelated one for one of the related ones? If you place a nest in the cage and give them nesting material it will stimulate a the male and female to go into breeding mode, related or not.

You can remove the nest and give then a plastic black mesh (it looks like cage wire) formed in a cylinder and hung from the top of the cage for them to roost in.

here is an example:

[finchmix22]

I have my non breeding owls in cages without perches. They do fine, even though they love nests. The hens sleep in the seed cups without a nest. LOL,

[cindy]

Plants work great to if arranged in a way for them to roost in.

Sorry the picture is so large on the close up but I wanted to let you see the mesh size.

[MariusStegmann]

I would let them breed. Even in nature siblings would mate up. The chicks would stay together and later select one of the siblings to mate with. As long as you don't take the chicks and mate them up as well.

[cindy]

I am sorry but I have to disagree....yes one generation perhaps may not cause an issue, occasionally it happens but letting second generation siblings breed is asking for a host of health issues and possibly deformities. A good general rule of thumb is not to breed siblings to siblings.

here is an article on line breeding. Controlled line breeding like father to daughter, son to mother cousin to cousin can be done but ony one, sibling to sibling is frowned upon.

http://www.zebrafinchsociety.co.uk/inde ... &Itemid=64