My Zebras Won't Stop Laying Eggs!!

[Claire+Charlie]

I got my first two zebra finches from PetSmart about three months ago. The employees told me they would lay about 2-3 clutches and then stop. My finches have just started laying their FIFTH clutch since I've gotten them!! I am worried for the female because I know it is not healthy to lay eggs that often. She hasn't shown any signs of being sick, though. Every time they lay a clutch I take the eggs out (I am not trying to breed). And after the 2nd or 3rd time, I took out their nest for weeks but they continued laying eggs so I put it back in because they seemed uncomfortable sleeping without it (sleeping in the oddest places where they were struggling to stay still). I don't know what to do and I will be devastated if this causes something to happen to my female. Any advice???

[dutch]

Claire+Charlie

Remove the nest

How big is their cage...post some pics

[lovezebs]

Claire+Charlie
Hi Claire and Charlie.
Zebra Finches and Society Finches, are the bunny rabbits of the bird world. They will breed and lay eggs and raise chicks endlessly, given half a chance.

Okay, now to your problem. Laying too many eggs can become a health issue for your female, because forming the eggs will deplete her body of calcium. Plus, there is always the possibility of egg binding which can be a life and death situation if not treated immediately.

That said, is there a solution?
Taking the nest out, was a very wise choice. These guys DO NOT need a nest for sleeping. They can and will sleep on a perch like any other bird.

Make sure that your girl has cuttle bone available to nibble on and also hard boiled egg shells. These are very important sources of calcium, which is absolutely necessary for her if she is laying so many eggs.


Next... I know that removing the eggs seems logical, however, the more you remove, the more she will lay, which becomes a catch-22 situation. I would recommend buying some fake finch eggs and exchanging the real eggs for these. I believe you can order them on line. With these instead of the real eggs, she will sit on them for quite a while, trying to hatch them. This will give her body a much needed rest from constantly laying eggs.

What seems like an obvious solution, would be to seperate the couple, however some females will just continue to lay eggs whether the male is there or not , so this may or may not work.

Anyway, you can try the suggestions above. I really hope it will help.

Goodluck with your little couple.

~Elana~

[Claire+Charlie]

lovezebs Thanks for the advice. I am ordering faux eggs now. I am still hesitant to remove the nest though, because while it was gone before the male spent every day throwing hay or bedding or anything he could grab in the empty corner of the cage where the nest used to be. This was causing a huge mess outside of the cage. He seemed very worked up and confused about the nest not being there. Also instead of sleeping on a perch, the couple would cling onto a hanging toy that was near where the nest used to be and they would have to constantly readjust themselves so that they wouldn't fall off the toy to sleep. I know it is a logical solution to remove the nest but it seems to cause a lot anxiety for them.

[lovezebs]

Claire+Charlie
Hi.
I know it seems like they can't live without a nest, but honestly they really can. I have a flight of Zebras (m/f) . Not one nest in the flight, containing nine Zebras, plus a Shaft Tail male, a Cut Throat male, and a bonded pair of Green Singers. Everybody sleeps on perches without any trouble.

Just a thought, you could remove the toy from the corner and replace it with a nice piece of tree branch. As for your boy throwing a bit of a temper tantrum and making a mess (boys are good at that ) I would remove the nest building material from the cage (Timothy hay etc).

The temporary stress caused by nest removal, is minor compared to the stress of losing a mate due to egg binding.

However, nothing is written in stone. Try the plastic eggs and see if that will curb the endless egg laying and lets hope for the best.

All the best of luck.

~Elana~

[Claire+Charlie]

lovezebs Okay I will do that! If I take the nest out, do I still put the fake eggs in? And if so, do I just put them on the floor of the cage?

[Hilary]

Here's a slightly different perspective that has worked for me. My societies, like your zebs, enjoy having a nest to sleep in. I've let them keep the nest but took away all nesting material except a newspaper lining - it's hard for them to incubate in a bare nest, and the eggs tend to roll around more so are less likely to stay viable. I also check the nests every week for any new eggs and pull them, replacing them with old eggs that I pulled during an earlier inspection (I just save them in a little bowl by the cage). I also make sure they aren't shredding the lining to turn it into nesting material. As long as you stay on top of it this works - no chicks, they get a nest and the female lays less eggs. If you don't stay on top of it you get chicks (we're not going to go into how I know that ). I agree with lovezebs and dutch that the best option is to remove the nest and all nesting material, but this is another option if you're up for the additional work.

Either way save any eggs you pull - they're cheaper than buying fake ones, you know they're the right size and a week or two after being laid but not incubated are no longer viable so are safe to use as substitutes.

[lovezebs]

Hilary
Hi Hilary.
Don't the old eggs get stinky after a while?

~Elana~

[Hilary]

lovezebs
I've never had a problem with that, and have been doing this for years. Most of the time they just dry out, but if it looks like a particular one has gone rotten I toss it. Since I'm checking the nests on a regular basis I'm looking at the old eggs, too. So new egg is tossed, old icky egg is tossed, old not icky egg is put back. It's usually easy to tell old eggs from new (old get a big air pocket), but when in doubt I toss.

[ApricotMuffins]

Birds tend to sleep on the highest perch they can find, if their toy is the highest thing they can grab, they'll try to sleep on that.

If your birds seem to be struggling to find and keep their footing while they're asleep, I would suggest getting one of those thick grapevine perches that you can find at PetCo or Petsmart and making sure that is the highest perch in the cage. They should naturally gravitate towards it as they begin to roost for the night. You may also need to find some way to lower the hanging toy that seems to be their preference at the moment if it is still competing with the high spot.

[MiaCarter]

You could also opt for a shelf instead of a nest.
It's hard to find a good shelf that's finch-sized. So I got an 8-inch-wide shelf and put paper towels over it.

I'll put the shelf in the corner. They tend to like to cuddle up in the corner.

I agree that something needs to change because your hen going to be at very high risk of egg binding.

I too use old eggs as substitutes. They dry up within a matter of a few weeks. Alternatively, you can also use a syringe to suck out the innards.

If you pull the nest -- which I recommend -- there's no need to put the fake eggs in there.

Best of luck!

[CHIRP]

I can suggest removing a few eggs, or if you have a few dead ones, swop them, replace the removed eggs again with the dead ones and then it will give her time to strengthen up. I am taking out a few eggs from my next clutch, she has 3 in the nest and I took out two. I don't want her to have so many babies. I then have a few dead ones if I need more and later when she has about 5 in total I can swop them so she really only has 3 real ones, she wont know.

We are moving next year and then I will swop all her eggs with dead ones, so I don't have baby issues in the nest when we move.

[Celebrian]

I've had to remove my male Zeb for a bit because he's an old man and needed some rest. I currently have two juveniles and two young adults of theirs. The main pair will breed their brains out, so I use faux eggs. Plus, they all sleep either in my fake plants or the shelf I made for them. My juvies are now back to using the nest and all is right in the world, lol. It can be a juggle!!