Babies dead on ground

[lyn2233]

Hi everyone I have not been on the forum for awhile been working long hours and have not had a chance to keep track of who is breeding in my aviary. To-day I got home and found 3 babies dead on the ground. they look like they had been thrown out of a nest but do not know which one. They were not just hatched as they had grown quite abit and had full crops. I think they were Painted finches. I have an aviary 10feet by 8 feet and 2 pairs of stars and 2 pairs of Painted in there. Does anyone know why that happens, I looked to make sure there was nothing in the aviary like mice. I do have rocks on the ground and under them there are some ants would they do anything? Thanks for any suggestions.

[dano_68]

Hi everyone I have not been on the forum for awhile been working long hours and have not had a chance to keep track of who is breeding in my aviary. To-day I got home and found 3 babies dead on the ground. they look like they had been thrown out of a nest but do not know which one. They were not just hatched as they had grown quite abit and had full crops. I think they were Painted finches. I have an aviary 10feet by 8 feet and 2 pairs of stars and 2 pairs of Painted in there. Does anyone know why that happens, I looked to make sure there was nothing in the aviary like mice. I do have rocks on the ground and under them there are some ants would they do anything? Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi Lyn,

Unfortunately this is an all too common problem. As there can be various reasons I have listed a few:

Some Dead Chicks on the Floor Causes:
• First time /young parents
• Lack in diet eg. Live food, high protein food
• Nest inspection
• Ants, cockroaches, mice, geckos in nest

or finally - "because!"

I know how horrible this can be. But when you have Blue Caps it becomes a common occurrence! New Blue Cap parents usually take 3 nests and abandoned chicks before they finally settle down and fledge some!

So try not to feel dis-heartened as it happens to everyone!

[GregH]

Hi Lynn. I'm sorry for the loss but it's part of the "game". In a healthy population of finches in the wild the parents only have to replace themselves once in their breeding lives - the rest die either in the nest or later. In an aviary you can cheat death as dano_68 points out and I hope you and the parents can learn from the experience. Painted finches (Emblema picta) usually take some live food but some people have birds that do it without. I think that there is some imprinting in the nest as to what is is perceived as essential with parents feeding what they received and abandoning hatchlings if they don't get it. That said, they do learn but as dano_68 said it may take a few more tragedies yet before they discover that they can manage. Don't be discouraged.

[lyn2233]

Thanks for the replies, I think now the babies were from a painted finch that I bred and is only about 9 months old so maybe she was a little to young and inexperienced. I had a pair which last year had 3 clutches the male has now paired up with this young female which I find strange as all my other finches have stayed with the same partner. Only if I lost a finch I got it a new partner. My painted finches will not eat live food they will only have cucumber, grass seeds and a good finch mix. I have tried sprouted seeds c orn egg and biscuit and they will not eat it.

[BENSONSAN]

Hey lynn sorry to hear that. The yellow female i got off you smashes the maggots i put in my aviary. But seriously if i hadnt had my redbrows and cordons then i doubht they would of learnt to eat them. Maybe put another pair of birds in with erm lynn. Sometimes a few extra creates a bit of competition and breeding happens and they follow others and eat anything.

But yea first guess is there just young birds when it comes to tossing them. My red cheek cordons tossed there first 3 clutches of young and that was with live food!! Good luck! also my painteds are going ballistik lynn, been going realy well. there a bit cramped and im keeping them in a colony of about 8 birds but theyve never been better.

Ive found the denser the brush the better and i just pile it up on the walls with a heap of nesting material in a bucket on the bottom of the aviary.

[lyn2233]

Hi Ben, Glad the Painted is going well, that aviary up the back has 3 pair of Painted and 2 pair of Stars. When they were in the other aviary with the Red faced Parrot Finches they ate everything I think they followed what they ate. Since I put the Painted and Stars together they won't eat much not even sprouted seed.My husband just made an extension on the aviary up the back so thinking of putting the Stars in there by themselves.I am a bit disappointed that my finches have not bred so far they are all busy building nests but nothing happens. The Red-faced Parrot finches builds so many nests hopefully things will happen soon. I may give you a call one day and get some advice or come and have a look at your set up.

[shox]

Lynn, dont get too worried about painted and stars not eating a variety of foods, i have couple of pairs of painted, one pair, the hen eats mealworms the cock wont go near, not interested at all. I have found birds such as painted and stars are quite happy without sprouted seeds, egg and biscuit etc. The main ingredient I would ensure is greens such as endive, grass seeds etc. With your RFPF how many mealworms are you giving them, be carful not overfeeding with protein, they become lazy in terms of breeding. I noticed you live in sydney, i live in sydney south west, with my RFPF just before breeding time I step up the greens, cucumber, endive, spinach, and grass seeds, dont give them any mealworms until i hear the sounds of young in the nest. I have been fortunate that I have had three clutches reared, the cock is now looking to refurb the nest. Also not sure how much shrub, RFPF like to have about metre from each other when building nests. hope this helps.