Zebra Finch Breeding

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:42 am

Hey,

I got two zebra finches on Monday from the local petstore. I have them set up in a 30"x18"x18" flight cage. I am hoping to get the birds to nest and produce a clutch of eggs.

They seem alright, however, I have noticed that the female is 125% the size of the male. She also seems to "wag" her tail or twitch will regular frequency, much more so than the male. Is there anything that would be harmed by the female being larger (and possibly older) than the male.

Any advice will help. I have only had the birds for a few days and would have no problem returning the female and exchanging for a younger one. I am very new at this.

Regards,
Erik

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:35 am

As long as both birds are mature you should be ok, do either of them still have black on their beaks? Zebra females will wag their tails to signal to the male that they're ready to mate, so she might be trying to intice him. Don't worry zebras are generally more than willing to mate and produce chicks, lots and lots of noisy chicks

If you're trying to get them to reproduce make sure you're giving them lots of protein and calcium, I like feeding a mashed boiled egg, shell and all

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:02 pm

Thalia wrote:As long as both birds are mature you should be ok, do either of them still have black on their beaks? Zebra females will wag their tails to signal to the male that they're ready to mate, so she might be trying to intice him. Don't worry zebras are generally more than willing to mate and produce chicks, lots and lots of noisy chicks If you're trying to get them to reproduce make sure you're giving them lots of protein and calcium, I like feeding a mashed boiled egg, shell and all

Thanks.

I am still not satisfied with the size difference. They appear to be getting along but it looks like an odd coupling.

I can return the large female and get a smaller one, but my girlfriend wants a white one. Not sure if that would work.

bluefinch · Post by **bluefinch** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:42 pm

Could it be that you have an English zebra hen? Some one correct me if I am wrong, but I think English zebra finches are quite a bit larger then your average zeb.

Finchlet · Post by **Finchlet** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:49 pm

I went to a local zebra finch show last year when one was in town. I was curious to see what a 'show quality' zebra finch looked like. They were HUGE!

I call them jumbo finches.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:56 pm

There are different sizes of Zebra finches... but that doesn't determine their age.

tengtoux · Post by **tengtoux** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:22 pm

I need one post.

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 8:16 am

Erik, I honestly don't think the size will matter. Just think - a larger hen will have an easier time settling her posterior on top of all those eggs to keep them warm!

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 12:04 pm

They seem to be getting along well. I will leave the present female in there.
So far I have observed:
The two sleep on the same perch right next to each other.
When I added a basket-style nest near the perch, the two began to sleep in there as well.
Both are becoming more 'chirpy'.
- The female had been the only one of the two to make noises, she had been making soft 'beep' noises.
- Now the male is trying his hand at being a vocalist.

One funny observation is that when I go downstairs in the morning (the birds are upstairs), I hear them get very vocal, almost like they are arguing. I went up to check and they weren't fighting, just chirping at each other.

I will add more when I see it.

Thanks all for your advice.

-Erik

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 12:31 pm

It's too bad we can't translate what they are saying, huh?

"Walter, you need to get going on that nest. It isn't going to build itself, you know!"

"Stop nagging me, Mabel. I told you I'd do it and I'll get to it, but right now the game is on."

"I swear, Walter, nothing would ever get done around here if it weren't for you. I'm probably going to have to sit on these eggs the whole time."

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:59 pm

StevePax wrote:It's too bad we can't translate what they are saying, huh?

"Walter, you need to get going on that nest. It isn't going to build itself, you know!"

"Stop nagging me, Mabel. I told you I'd do it and I'll get to it, but right now the game is on."

"I swear, Walter, nothing would ever get done around here if it weren't for you. I'm probably going to have to sit on these eggs the whole time."

Haha

There is one notable observation that I did not include. Here it is:

When I checked the nest this morning it looked like one of the two (I don't know what the term for it is so here goes) placed a large dropping in the nest. When I returned later it was not there anymore. Will they clean out their droppings out of their nest of did it just soak in?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 3:31 pm

They will remove some of the droppings. I've seen them do it. They get lazy though once the chicks hatch and get to filling the nest with poo.

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 3:59 pm

Yummy.

plantsandbirds · Post by **plantsandbirds** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:44 am

StevePax wrote:Yummy.

There you go with your poo again Steve!

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:13 am

hi erik
there is no difference in the british zebras..its just that some are bred for their colour and some are bred for their size..the show birds are enormous in size as oppossed to the normal "pet " zebras but if the breeders want a particular colour they breed the big ones to the samll ones as there is no other option open to them.so dont worry about the difference in size you will end up with medium sized ones!and the poop is passed in little transparent packages by most birds but when it hits the floor of the cage that membrane is broken hence the splat!

but when they are layed in the nest they fall on soft material so they can be carried away by the parents which is a delicate operation...the reason they do this stems from the wild..they carry the poop away from the nest so predators will not know where the nest is!

ken