Zebra Finch Breeding

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed May 02, 2007 7:00 am

hi erik
sorry for the mistake ..but as i said if your zebra looks like the one in the picture you will be fine

ken

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Wed May 02, 2007 9:10 am

kenny wrote:hi erik
sorry for the mistake ..but as i said if your zebra looks like the one in the picture you will be fine

ken

He is remarkably similar to the one pictured, although his coat seems a bit browner. I am pretty sure is mature enough. He is singing much more now. His call is sounds almost like it has four pitches in it and goes through a scale from high to low then back to high again. The female doesn't sing at all. She beeps.

They are very shy and have been rather pushy when I enter their space. They flap their wings and seem to be trying to charge my arm while it is in their cage. Last night I found they had placed the bedding in the nest to obstruct a hold I placed in the back of it for nest checking. I started to move some of the grass aside to recreate a small hole to see in and they went bonkers.

It didn't help that they were in the nest but the material I moved was in the back and hanging out of the nest.

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Wed May 02, 2007 9:11 am

Crystal wrote:I second Thalia on the no vitamins in the water. In addition to them being useless because they oxidate, they also serve as a great medium for bacterial growth in the water.

I removed the vita-water and replaced it with their normal water. Thanks for the tips! I wish the folks at the pet store wouldn't known that.

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Thu May 03, 2007 9:58 am

I think I saw the finch pair mating this morning. I walked into the upstairs room and the male appeared to just on the female. Wings were flapping and one of them was making a strange cooing noise. It about 3 seconds it was over.

It was preceded by the male singing his song.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Thu May 03, 2007 10:17 am

hi erik
you mean to tell me he didnt have a cigarette afterwards!

ken

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Thu May 03, 2007 10:30 am

kenny wrote:hi erik
you mean to tell me he didnt have a cigarette afterwards!

ken

Hey, Kenny.

HAHA! That's a good one!

I was having to do my best as I was writing that previous post not to say the wrong thing. A sense of humor is a terrible thing to waste.

Erik

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Thu May 03, 2007 12:22 pm

lol you guys are terrible.
It's nice that your two are getting along

Can't wait to see pics of babies!

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Thu May 03, 2007 1:32 pm

Thalia wrote:lol you guys are terrible.
It's nice that your two are getting along Can't wait to see pics of babies!

We aren't that terrible. I had a list of snappy things I wanted to post, but I didn't want Crystal to shut down the thread or something.

As for pictures, this weekend I am going to snap some photos of the flight and the pair and post them.

I am very excited now that it seems as though they are potentially mating. I can't wait to see if my hen produces eggs. It should be interesting to see this unfold.

Not sure what I'll do if a clutch successfully hatches with survivors. I may wait for them to grow into adulthood and leave the nest and then see if I can't go down to the pet store and exchange them for some supplies or perhaps another pair of birds. If the pet store won't give me any credit, I will try to give them to relatives or good homes locally. If all else fails, I will simply give them to the pet store under the requirement that I pick the cage they are housed in until they find their new home.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:39 pm

Hey I enjoy humor as much as the next person :) As long as it's pretty family friendly (never know who is visiting the forums!) :o

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Fri May 04, 2007 9:11 am

GREAT NEWS!

I checked in on the birds early this morning and the female was in the nest, sitting. This isn't normal since they tend to do a lot of flying around, playing, etc, etc in the morning.

I walked behind the cage and the female fled the nest for a second. I peeked in and saw one small egg. This egg was not there yesterday evening. So she must have laid it overnight or I just didn't notice it yesterday.

I got home from class last night at 10 and removed the wire cage containing bedding material because the nest looked to have enough bedding in it and I didn't want the male to completely fill the nest up with grass. Perhaps this prompted the end of the building the nest phase and drew the female to lay the egg. Or it could have been random.

I am so excited I don't know what to do! I guess I should go back and re-read everything I have on finch egg sitting and hatching periods etc. I will continue to do nest checks to see if more are laid. The female appears to be sitting on them and doing the 'mom' thing, so that is excellent!

Big congrats to Otis and Sandra on their eggs!
(In case you wonder, their names where taken from the male/female pugs in Milo & Otis, one of my favorite films as a kid. Sandra in this case is pronunced "Sah-n-dra")

Erik

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Fri May 04, 2007 11:13 am

Congrats on your first egg. I'm certain you will have many more.

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Fri May 04, 2007 11:48 am

tammieb wrote:Congrats on your first egg. I'm certain you will have many more.

Thank you. I am excited to see how this goes.
Although I think the credit should go to the female (Sandra). She did the work on this.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Fri May 04, 2007 4:46 pm

well don to sandra erik....i got my first canary chicks yesterday 3 at once with one duff egg..i will try to get pics but mom will not get off the nest she flaps her wings makes a little twittering noise and then the male jumps on to the nest edge and feeds her...typical woman

ken

ErikL · Post by **ErikL** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:08 pm

I looked in when I got home and saw the mother female about the cage with the male. She didn't seem to be as dedicated to being in the nest as this morning.

Is this behavior normal until she is done laying all the eggs, or is this bad?

I was under the asumption that the female would pretty much be spending 50% of the time in the nest before she finished laying the eggs, and then spending about 80% of the time in there after.

Of course, I am an not an expert here.....so if someone could set me straight on this that would be great.

Erik

Post by **Hilary** » Fri May 04, 2007 10:03 pm

The majority of my birds simply lay the egg and go about their business until they have "enough" to prompt them to start sitting tightly (for some that's 3 eggs, for others that's 5). That increases the chances of all of them hatching close to the same time. Aren't they smart? If this is their first time as parents I wouldn't check too closely or too often - they can be scared off since they're still figuring this out as well.