Finch Lovers, Help Please !

[MisterNiceGuy_iz]

Dear finch lovers,

Hope all are fine and staying safe. We are relatively newbie in finch care, and we now have 8 zebra finches at home. We love them, they are absolutely adorable.
Lately, a set of eggs hatched and there were 2 male and 2 female chicks. When the babies were out from their nest, we have observed that the parents are not taking care of the female babies very well. Other adult birds are pecking the poor babies. So we took them out of the cage and started handfeeding them. Now it has been more 1 month since we are handfeeding. One baby passed away the next day, but the other one is very healthy and staying with us inside our house for last 1 month. She is very much attached to us, very active and our kids are very fond of her and named her “Cuddles”

We have below questions: Could someone guide us, please ?

https://i.imgur.com/GcB3wYU.jpg
• Attached is her picture. She has pink beak and pink legs, whereas all our other finches have orange/dark-orange beaks. The other babies used to have black beak in the beginning and turns orange as they grow. We are worried/curious to know if this is normal or not.
• Coincidentally, the 2 babies that were ignored by their parents have pink beaks. Might that be the reason why parents were not taking care of them?
• It has been a month since we started handfeeding our baby. Till now she hasn’t started eating of her own. She always pecks on the millets and other seeds, breaks the shell but do not eat the germ inside the seed. She is actively breaking the seed shell and keeps chewing them but never eats it.

Thanks a lot !

[matcho]

It certainly looks healthy, I can't help you are to why it wasn't fed but I would not worry about the beak colour as it is a white bird and probably just natural; as it is light coloured. I am no expert but I am pretty sure will change to orange as it matures. I would suggest however that you should try a little less of the hand feeding and try and get hold of some green seeding grasses. Hand raised birds do tend to take a while longer to become self sufficient but it appears to be well on its way. You would be surprised how much it is actually consuming. Well done on your efforts so far.

[finchbreeder]

What colour are the other babies feathers? Like Matcho said give her green seeding grasses and dry seed and only hand feed her just enough to get her through the day. If she gets hungary she will try harder with feeding herself. Enjoy.
LML

[Rod_L]

The pink beak is probably a colour mutation and nothing to worry about from a health perspective.

The pink beak could be why the parents stopped feeding them when they left the nest. In the nest the baby birds would have all looked the same and the parents would have just fed everyone. After they fledged, the parents would look at the black beaks and feed those but probably ignored the ones with the odd coloured beak.

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You can try feeding your birds some soaked and sprouted seeds. They are softer and the baby might be more likely to eat them. To make soaked seed, simply get half a cup of finch seed and put it in a container of tap water. Leave it to soak overnight and then pour it through a sieve. Rinse if under the tap, shake dry and put it in the cage.

Sprouted seed is more nutritious that soaked seed and is made the same way. However, after draining and rinsing the seed, you put it in a plastic ziplock bag with air and put it on top of the fridge or somewhere warm. After a day or two the seed will germinate and tiny little roots will appear. Rinse the seed again and then put in the cage for the birds.

Soaked and Sprouted seed are used in addition to a normal dry seed diet. They are supplemental foods. The birds should also have fresh plant matter (fruit & veg), cuttlebone and mineral grit at all times. A powdered vitamin supplement can also be added to their water each day or every couple of days. And they should get clean water every day.

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Birds learn from each other. If you put the bird in the cage with the other birds, it will watch them eat and should start eating on its own. You can take the bird out morning and evening and hand feed it for a few days while doing this but most birds will learn very quickly, and it should start eating properly within a day or two.

[MisterNiceGuy_iz]

Thank you very much matcho, finchbreeder and Rod_L for your valuable suggestions. All your points are well noted.
I noticed she started eating sprouted seeds when I offer her in my hand.
Sending her back to the cage doesn't seem a good idea as I'm afraid other fellow finches were pecking on her.
Thanks once again.

[Rod_L]

Zebra finches are social birds that live in huge flocks consisting of hundreds of individuals. There should be no reason for the other birds to attack this one simply because it has a different coloured beak.

Put the bird in a cage and put that in the aviary and see how they react. If they seem sociable to the new bird then let it out and monitor it.

If you do put the bird in an outdoor aviary, make sure the weather is warm and fine so the bird doesn't go from a warm house to a cold aviary.

Put the bird out in the first half of the day so it has time to explore the aviary. If really concerned, put the bird in the aviary for a few hours each day and bring it indoors at night. After a week or so of this you can leave it in the aviary all day and bring in at night. Do this for a week or so then leave it outdoors permanently.

[finchbreeder]

Even if you choose to keep her as an indoor pet, an hour or 3 of "socialising" can only be benificial. If the only way you feel safe doing this is by putting her in a smaller cage in the avairy in the warmest part of the day, this would be good for her. It's like senting your first born to school, scary but good.
LML