Need Advice: First Clutch of Eggs

[HeyItsRaymond]

I've had my Zebra Finches for about 2 weeks now and one has laid a clutch of eggs in a nest. The female laid 1-2 eggs and then ignored them. The male built more of a nest on top of those before I could get them out and now this new clutch is on top of those.

Although the other 2 pairs sleep in the other nest, they haven't built a nest or laid any eggs yet.

What do I need to do now to make sure the chicks are hatches and raised properly?

Thanks

[Sally]

I'm not seeing your photos. With Zebra finches, they often continue building the nest, burying eggs/clutches as they go. I would remove all nesting material, which should put a stop to the building. They should start to incubate, but if they are young, they don't always know what to do the first time. Do you have 3 pairs together in a cage, and how big is the cage?

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on breeding, housing, and especially the Zebra finch.

[Sally]

Oh, now I can see the photos. I didn't mention before, but are you feeding egg food. Growing babies need lots of protein, which is easy to supply with egg food. You can use a commercial brand, or you can make your own very easily. There are lots of recipes in the Diet and Nutrition section of this forum, or you can simply hardboil an egg, mash it shell and all, and offer it to your birds. If it is too moist, you can dry it out by adding a little commercial dry egg food or even some yellow cornmeal.

[HeyItsRaymond]

I've been providing a crushed up boiled eggs once a week. They honestly haven't really eaten much of it.

They also don't seem to be incubating the clutch of eggs. Are they supposed to be laying on they constantly? Because they spend some time in the nest during they day but not as much as I'd expect them to.

[Sally]

If they are not sitting all the time, they haven't started incubating the eggs yet. Once they start incubating, they will only leave the nest for very short periods of time, and usually the other mate will swap out so the one sitting can get some food and water.

[SaphyreSkye]

So, what happens to the eggs that gets buried? I believe mine have done the same thing.

They laid two in a food dish. We got a nest and placed the eggs inside of it. We then believe they built on top of those eggs and laid more. Advice Please....

[Sally]

The buried eggs won't hatch, at least in my experience. I think the heat from the parents doesn't reach those buried eggs, so they never develop. Often, the parents will lay another clutch once they are finished putting in a new layer of nesting material. With Zebras, you have to remove all nesting material once they start laying eggs, as they are such zealous nest builders that they will often bury clutches.

[SaphyreSkye]

Ahhh Ok. Should we go in and try to dig out the first clutch and place it with the newest and see if they hatch with the others or wait till after the new clutch hatches?
Thanks for all your help!

[Sally]

Most likely if you do that, the birds will abandon all the eggs and try to start a new clutch. Better to just forget about the first eggs and let them work on this clutch. If they raise a clutch of babies, the time to clean out the nest will be after the babies fledge. Those first eggs can just stay where they are for now. The less you interfere with breeding, the better.

[SaphyreSkye]

Thanks for the advice!

[lnlovesorange]

How old are your birds HeyItsRaymond? Do you know? Cuz my Zeb's did the SAME thing they mated and the female laid a total of 6 eggs, and during the days that she was laying them (about 6 days, an egg a day) she was great, she never came out of the nest, and when she did the male went in just like Sally said. But after the last egg was laid, they just kinda said screw it. They never incubated them. I thought i may have been keeping their room too hot, b/c i thought i saw the Female panting a few times, but i turned the heat down a little, and they still didn't. So i came to this FABULOUS forum and asked some questions, and people told me that my birds were probably too young, and didn't really know what to do when they laid the eggs. (my birds I THINK are around 6-8 mo's old) Just wondering if you keep your bird room warm, maybe we had the same problem, or like Sally or some other amazing finch expert on here told me my birds were just a little too young to be doing the "dance o' love"!!!