New Housing for Finch Family

[hailee]

I have a pair of breeding finches, the male is CFW and the female gray, they have a new clutch of 5 adorable one week old babies in the nest right now. I purchased a new large flight cage to accomodate the new babies and am wondering when can I move the family into the new cage. I also want to know if I need to separate the pair from the babies when I move them, or is it possible for them to be one big happy family in the new flight cage, which is what I would prefer!

Thank you!

[DanteD716]

If you want one big happy family (if possible for zebras) make susre there are NO nests! (that is if you plan on keeping the babies with the parents) Also, once they fledge you can move them. Welcome to the forum!

[hailee]

Thanks for the help Dante! May I remove the nest once they fledge then?

[DanteD716]

Yes, for sure!! It prevents chicks from returning, and prevents the mom from nesting again. They get nasty towards the chicks when they start to nest again.

[PrettyBird]

If you have a nest it will create fighting especially if one of the babies is a male, and the rest females. The dad and son will fight to try and get females.

Also note that just because you take out a nest doest stop the zebras from mating. The father will mate with his daughters, and son will mate with his mom or sisters.
They will make nests in food dishes, and if there is none, they will lay eggs on the floor.

Just something to think about.

[DanteD716]

That is a good reason to remove ALL eggs found and discard them, and use a shallow food dish if possible

[ac12]

Do not move them till they are weaned.
You might be able to move them after fledging, but the parents could still abandon the chicks. So wait till the chicks can eat on their own, after weaning, then move them.

I remove the nest the day all the chicks fledge and all are out of the nest. They will frantically search for the nest at lights out, but they will get over that in a couple days.

If you don't want mating, the only reliable solution that I know of is, once they are weaned, separate them into 2 cages; 1 for the males and the 2nd for the females. The hens will still lay eggs, but the eggs will not be fertile. And I would stack the cages, so they cannot see each other. That eliminates the visual mating trigger of seeing the other sex, and reduces the stress of wanting to get into the other cage to mate.

However you can still have aggression in each of the same-sex cages. Zebras can be quite nasty to each other.

[hailee]

Thanks for the help everyone!

[nelloyello11]

Another factor in whether or not they can all be housed together, is the size of the cage.
As for when to move them. Wait until you have seen each baby eat and drink on it's own. Then wait another week, especially if you decide you are separating babies from parents. When you move them, put food and water in a few locations, so that everyone can find them easily, as the young ones will still be "learning" how to do it on their own. Once they are accustomed and recognize the dishes as a food source, you could remove some of the dishes.