Fostering question

[Norse]

Hi all
I have transferred some 6 day old zebra finch young from my red zebs( as hen died) to a pair of gouldians that didnt hatch there eggs a few weeks ago, and they have fledged today, As ive never done a cross species fostering i was wondering if there will be any future breeding issues with the zeb young, Ive heard a lot about imprinting but never really looked into it properly.
So im wondering if anyone has had experience in this type of fostering so i can get some info
cheers jason

[elferoz777]

Out of desperation I once threw a goldfinch egg in a box with some zebs once (hen died).

The chick dudnt make it but ut was getting fed.

I think it'll be right if you put them with zebs after fledging.

Im interested in how this plays out for you.

Good luck.
Steve

[matcho]

Norse,
I wouldn't be too concerned. I have had stars raise goulds and vice versa purely by accident and had no problems.

Good luck.

Ken.

[finchbreeder]

Have not tried this or the other way round. But would not be too worried. Worst case put them into a seperate avairy with none of the foster species.
LML

[Norse]

Both young zebs fledged but the youngest was never a strong type and during few rolling thunderstorms on tuesday it perished.
The first to fledge seems to be eating by itself so looks like i might get lucky with one.
I have put a pair of zebs in a breeding cage inside the gouldians aviary to see what the young will do and it sits on top of their cage nearly every time i look in so i feel it knows its a zeb, so might be a success once i know what sex it is.

[E Orix]

When considering what to foster think how the chicks are feed.
For example a Canary will have little trouble feeding European species, their chicks are raised
in cup nests and the chicks beg with open beaks vertically and are feed that way.
On the other hand a Zebra finch builds a dome nest and the chicks are fed from the side.
Watch a young Zebra being fed and it will turn its head to the side and is fed that way.
This is why the Bengalese is so successful as a foster bird in raising young from the Dome type nesters
but I doubt very much if it would rear a young European specie. Also for some reason they seem to
love sitting on any ones eggs.
As for imprinting, the safest way is to remove the chicks around 2 weeks and 3 weeks after they are weaned for
the best results.

[matcho]

Norse,

I am glad it turned out sort of ok. I would not worry about putting a zeb cage inside to try and get the chick accustomed to them. If it is feeding by itself I would move it into the zeb area. There shouldn't be any worries, will say one thing though, that zeb chick, if fed by goulds should be a fat little thing>

Good luck and hope all goes well.

Ken.

[finchbreeder]

Glad it worked out OK.
LML

[D0NKEY]

If needed then, Zebs could raise Gouldian chics I take it?

Would there be an issue of cochlosoma as with using Bangos?