Hi to all ! New here...........

sungirl · Post by **sungirl** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:38 pm

Hi, Ime new here and would have some questions!!
My girlfriend has given me her finches and, I am still trying to figure out all the different varietys! I am doing alot of research over the net....
I know that I have a couple of Siver bills, and a couple of Astrilds ....now the Silver Bills caught me by surprise, they had layed eggs in the past but, no chicks.....as I was cleaning the cage I found two chicks at the bottom ouffff "what to do " came to my thoughts lol Well I picked them up, and put them back into the nest !! All is well since then,but, how to know what age they are and when they will come out of the nest??? I see them (three I think ) everything looks fine...and is it normal that the parents sleep in another nest at night?? not with the chicks? and that I have another finch that goes in the chicks nest at night ?
All help is appriciated ...thks

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:52 pm

Hi! It's good that you put the babies back and they're doing well. My finches stopped sleeping with their babies at about 12 - 14 days old, since there wasn't room in the nest. If you describe the babies someone on here might be able to guess an age for you. I know that my guys got their juvenile plumage at 16 days and their first pin feathers sometime between 6 and 11 days old. Mom and Dad didn't stop sleeping in the nest until after the chicks had a good covering of pin feathers. Which bird is sleeping in the nest with the chicks?

sungirl · Post by **sungirl** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:26 pm

Hi, and thks for the info! Well all that I can say is that, one chick seems to have quit a bit of feathers and theres another one wich seems to only have what you must be explaining as "pin feathers" and for the finch that goes in the nest....my girlfriend says that it is a Japponais(sorry dont know what that is in english ) lol
And to my surprise ..again...I found a tiny baby in the bottom of the cage...dead....this was so small(like a little fetus) so I looked into the other nests to see where it came from......have no clue!! but could it be from the same parents ??? while the others are much bigger ? Geese "Ime getting confused here " lol

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:40 pm

oh that's sad about the last baby. If you don't want the birds breeding you may want to remove the nests that don't have babies in them. Baby birds have a couple different "looks" they have soft fuzzy feathers which are called down, and they have little stick-like feathers I call those pin feathers, I don't know if that's the real word, then mine got their real feathers that look like the adult's only different colour. You may want to post some pictures of the birds to help with translating

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:48 pm

if you can get some pictures up it would be helpful as a lot of birds have different names in different parts of the world .it sounds to me like you have a waxbill of some sort and a society or maybe a pair,and by the sound of it the silverbills have hatched the chicks and the nest has been disturbed somehow and they have tossed the chicks

ken

sungirl · Post by **sungirl** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:38 am

Hi, and thks so much for yr help...well I went to do some research on the net and found that I have , a couple of Silverbills(those are the ones that have the chicks) and a couple of Orange cheeked waxbills...for the one that is taking care of the chicks(on and off with the silverbills) Ime not sure

in the other section of the cage ,I think that they are Zebras, thats if my homework is done corectly!! So here are some pics, if you can see well enough, let me know what you think please.....
The pic with the one brown bird is the one ime not sure off..........

Have a great day,
Johann

geese how o you get pics up on here ???[/img][/url]

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:35 pm

Hi Johann.

If your photos are stored on a file hosting site, just click on Img icon in the "post reply" menu and paste in the url of the photo. It should then show up in your message.

You can also paste the location of your images in the text of your message by clicking on URL in the "post reply" menu.

Be sure to close the tags by adding /Img or /URL otherwise your photo or link won't work.

If the photos are stored on your computer you will have to upload them to the forum gallery. The link can be found in the menu at the top of each page.
You will have to be logged in to upload your photos.

sungirl · Post by **sungirl** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:41 pm

Thk u Tammie, just couldn't figure out how to do that ! lol
I appriciate all of yr help....I have uploaded some pic's, not the best, "their camera shy I think " ! but they should help....
Today I was so surprised...as I looked into the cage, there were 3 new finches !! So cool, the babies were all out of the nest ! Now the question is, do I need to do something for them ??? They have millet there but do they need something else ? Will they be able to get back into the nest at night ? When should I seperate them from the others ?? Oh so many questions lol
I'me a new MOM here..so that should explain !
Have a great evening,
Johann

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:17 pm

hi sungirl
you have indian silverbills there and as i said before the chicks were the silverbills and it is a possibility that the zebras may have tossed them if you have only one nest in the cage.if they were eager to nest anything in there would have been thrown out to lay their eggs hence the ones on the floor ..needless to say they are all in good condition from what i can see if as i said you have only one nest in the cage it may be better to put one in for the zebras

ken

sungirl · Post by **sungirl** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:42 pm

Hi Kenny...
Yes, the babies belonged to the Silverbills but, the Zebras are not with them..I have a big cage and it is seperated in the middle so, that gives me 2 sections(they are apart) the Silverbills live with the orange cheeked waxbills(if thats what they are) and 2 other finches(one is the brown finch thats alone on the pic) in my other section live what I think to be the Zebras..there is 5 off them together..I have 3 nests in with them and they are on eggs....I have 4 nests in the upper part with the others. Also, I was confused because that other finch(the one Ime not sure of the breed) was also feeding these babies...Well there out of the nest and Ime keeping my eye on them! lol
Thks for the reply....
Johann

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:27 pm

Just looked at your photos and yes, those are Zebras and the one you are not sure about appears to be a Society. Which would explain it feeding the Silverbill's chicks. Societies will feed anything that begs and are often kept and used as fosters for some of the other finches who are not always good parents.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:08 pm

yep i over looked the society tammie is correct they will feed anything witha beak
ken

sungirl · Post by **sungirl** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:11 pm

Thank You Tammie!
And could you see if those were orange cheeked waxbills because after looking on the net, thats what I found they looked like !
Will they still feed the chicks now that their out of the nest ?
I have 2 of those, society, how do we know if there male or femelles ??

Johann

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:42 pm

The bird in the photo with the silverbills is an OC.

As for sexing the Societies... that's not easily done. There isn't a noticeable difference in their physical appearance. The males sing and the hens only chirp.

The Societies will most likely feed the chicks as long as they beg, or until they get tired of it. You can encourage the chicks to begin feeding themselves by offering them spray millet.

FINCHforum

Hi to all ! New here...........

Hi to all ! New here...........

thks...for yr reply

Pics and info .....

Thk's needed that help !