What is happening?

[Daviese]

Hi everyone
Very new to the finch game but really loving it apart from the following which I am hoping someone can give me a little insight into. I have a mixed aviary with 3 gouldian pairs, 5 canary (4 female 1 male due to some early on confusion) 1 pair painters, 1 pair ruddies, 1 pair red stars,1 pair orange breast, 1 pair king quail and 3 female Japanese quail. Everyone appears to get along ok and everyone is very very busy building nests and sitting on eggs. The problem is...no babies ever seem to fledge! I know the orange breast had at least 1 baby and it was very much alive and growing well. I was expecting it to fledge any day. Well I checked the nest yesterday and it is empty but I can not find any trace of a baby. The entire aviary (including e floor) is completely lined with 1.5 mm mouse mesh and has more screws in it than my house! And there is absolutely no evidence of a rat or mouse anywhere. Could the parents be hiding the baby somewhere? Or could the Japanese quail possibly eat the baby? There is no evidence of a body or feathers. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Craig52]

In your last comment i think you answered the question, quail cannot be trusted with newly fledged young finches in particular large Jap quail. It's a wonder you have king quail and Jap together as there could be aggression between them and the Jap quail will come out on top. King quail have been known to mother young finches and take them under their wing but Jap quail are more like chooks and will eat any thing.
You didn't mention the size of your aviary that these are housed in as that can make a difference also. Is the aviary over crowded ?

[Greg41]

I would think that the different birds that you have are interfering with other's nests and causing them to abandon them. They may be taking nesting material from other nests, gouldians and canaries are good at this.

Also they may not be getting enough live food for the young, some will stop feeding the young if not enough of the right food is on hand.

[Daviese]

Thanks for the input. I have been suspicious of the jap quail. The jap and king quail get along really well. In fact, the 2 king quail tend to snuggle up with jap quail when they sleep. I have never seen any sign of aggression towards the other finches either. They are happy to let the birds come down onto the floor with them but perhaps a newly fledged baby is a different story. They are going to live at my mothers house and we will see if that makes a difference.

[finchbreeder]

Suggest that you try to make sure they get seeding grasses with aphids once you know the young are due. And set up a vinigar fly trap. These are easy starter live food methods. The quail were probably OK because there was only one male and he was a King. How big did you say the avairy is?
LML

[Daviese]

6 metres long, 1.5 m wide and 3 metres tall

[finchbreeder]

An avairy that size should work well for the finches you have. Particularly if you have a couple of patches of bush spread out. Interestingly seed that has weevils is very popular with Orange Breasteds. For the weevils of course.
LML