Love my babies...BUT

[Barbara]

Tweet67 I didn't have the corner ones but did have two sun decks the society wanted to build a nest on them and would tear the paper at bottom of cage and carry lettuce anything up to it they ended up getting very possive of them I have a pair of bleu's and a canary in there so I had to take them out,glad it works for your mannikin it must be cute love mannikin never seen any around here

[james.uk]

Personally I would leave them to be able to nest and engage in that natural behaviour, but I would check the nests every other day for new eggs and remove them, and replace them with fake eggs (I have heard that some people simply hard boil their real eggs as they are more convincing, but I don't know if this is safe or not as the inside may then rot and become a risk if it breaks -I simply do not know).

If you used hard-boiled eggs, then don't forget to mark them to make them easily identificable to you as the 'fakes'.

The eggs you remove will have no embryo inside at that stage so no harm done. It does take nuritents from the birds when they lay eggs though, so it may be a good idea to use their eggs to make egg-food to feed to them so they can be replenished.

[Barbara]

I would rather they didn't have a nest my female was so thin after she had and took care of her 4 babies and she looks so much healthier and hasn't laid a egg yet the male has not been able to build a suitable nest for her to what to breed so that is great I wouldn't be able to keep throwing eggs away and replacing them with fake.,or cooking them in case their was a baby I personally would rather stop it before it gets to that point.six societies is enough there is no means to find homes for them to many societies around here you can get them free or $5 _$10

[james.uk]

I would rather they didn't have a nest my female was so thin after she had and took care of her 4 babies and she looks so much healthier and hasn't laid a egg yet the male has not been able to build a suitable nest for her to what to breed so that is great I wouldn't be able to keep throwing eggs away and replacing them with fake.,or cooking them in case their was a baby I personally would rather stop it before it gets to that point.six societies is enough there is no means to find homes for them to many societies around here you can get them free or $5 _$10

There are many ways of doing things, but they will likely be more content if they are able to engage in more natural behaviours.

With regards to the mother being underweight, it may be beneficial to review the diet being fed, others on this site will be able to recommend changes to diet to avoid this.

There is no risk whatsoever of killing a 'baby' as there will not even be an embryo if you take the eggs every day or two and cook them or otherwise 'destroy' them. It may be beneficial for you to read about the biology to you can see why this is the case.

[Barbara]

No thank-you we all have our own ways of doing things I respect how you feel and I will end conversation hoping you respect mine

[james.uk]

No thank-you we all have our own ways of doing things I respect how you feel and I will end conversation hoping you respect mine

Did you mean to respond to me?

I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with. I am totally confused. I meant no offence at all.

If you tell me what offended you, then I will apologise if I can.

I was only voluntarily suggesting possible solutions in an attempt to help.

Thanks
James

[Sojourner]

Well here's the thing. Our birds are NOT living "naturally" in cages. We try to make it as comfortable for them as possible - but it is not natural. If you are really all that concerned with natural behavior, you shouldn't have birds at all.

I had two female societies, and nevertheless, one of them insisted on continuing to lay eggs because I thought they were so cute cuddling up in their nest and didn't take it out.

I lost her to egg binding, the second time she tried to lay. Less than 6 months and she was gone.

THAT is why we remove all nests and nesting material. It isn't "natural" for them to lay constantly. And my guys - now one female and one male - sleep quite happily on the bottom of their un-natural cage. And thank the stars, NO EGGS.

I'll take "unnatural" over dead any day of the week. There is no excuse for unnecessarily risking the lives and health of our charges.

If you actually intend to breed, that is one thing. But if you don't want babies, don't think you're doing them any favors by setting up conditions that encourage them into what is most definitely unnatural behavior, to whit, breeding and laying constantly and out of season. Perhaps you should read about biology to understand why this is so.

[Barbara]

Sojourner

Well said thank-you

[Susan39]

I did want to mention I have a swing in there actually two of these all the finches and canary love them,I bought at Amazon the small size they would play and sleep on it and still do but at night aways on perch with parents.There is always some one on them so no problem with them making nest still. here is a picture of them hard to tell them apart so I named them enie ,mene,minie,moe

Your Society Birds are beautiful! I want to get 2 Gouldians and 2 Silverbills. Now i am thinking about getting 2 Society Finches.

Can you tell me how loud they get?

[Barbara]

I have 6 society while they are awfully cute they are very loud ,but there are six I think I have 2 males and 2 females (babies) they are finding there voices and they do chatter and sing quite a bit my red cheeked are very quiet compared to society.I know some say they are not as loud as zebras but I don't have them to compare so to me society are pretty loud.When I had just the parents they wern't too loud but again with six they do chatter,on a good note they are the first to perch for the night even though lights are out at 7:00 there done before 6:00. Hope this helps in your decision if you do decide they are worth the chatter to me they have so much character

[Celeris]

Societies aren't nearly as loud as zebras.

I do find my societies can make a racket, but they generally get drowned out in all the noise my zebras are making. I find the societies' noise to be far more pleasant and bird-like, however, with the zebras reminding me of a circus--all kinds of honking and squawks.

Nevertheless, when I had just my two societies, I had to go into a room across the house from them to have a comfortable conversation on the phone. Not quiet, by any means. Such friendly little birds, though!