Aussie Finch Forum

For some reason my Painted put things in their food dish when they are building a nest. The first time they put their nesting material in the food dish, this time they are putting rocks in it. At first i thought they were going to build in the food dish, but they build elsewhere and continue putting the rocks in the food dish... funny little things finches...

Yes,
Some of my zebs use pieces of endive and chickweed as nesting material- I've also had a male who filled his nestbox with gravel and leaves! This is despite being provided with copious amounts of sterilised feathers and coconut husk as nesting material!

One of my young females has also started laying in her shellgrit container- any ideas of how to stop this? Its a standard container that hangs on the side of the breeding cage, but would be far too small to raise babies! I've tried putting the eggs in her nestbox, but today she just went and laid a third egg in the shellgrit again (the egg was broken when I found it). I tried putting her in her nestbox in case she hadn't realised that her eggs were now in there, and she sat in there for 5 mins, so I'm hoping she'll start laying in there.

Take the shellgrit container away for a couple of days. Not long enough to be a problem, but long enough for her to look for an alternative. Painteds love bits of charcol to put in their nests Rach and it's good for them.
LML

How gorgeous thats so cute

Ive got 3 emblema cocks in an all male aviary with gouldians and an orange breasted waxbill and one of the emblema is constantly putting shells, grit, grass stems, feathers, anything he can find into a seed dish. I think Ive cleaned the aviary really well and removed all the detritus but he always managed to find something.

Found another broken egg in the shell grit container- I'm hesitant to take it away, so I've replaced it with a new container that I have filled to the brim and put on the floor of the breeding cage. I've put her in the nestbox with her first 2 eggs again, and I've also put out another container (same size as shell grit) and lined it with sterilised feathers just in case. Fingers crossed she starts laying in a more appropriate place!

You would be better off collecting any eggs she lays in the wrong place and putting them in a cottonwool lined bowl, and turning them each day. Until she lays in the correct place. Finding eggs she knows she did not lay in a nest tends to make hens chuck them. Then once she has laid in the correct place you can return the eggs at the rate of one or two a day. As though she knows if she has laid in a nest or not, she can not count.
LML

Thanks finchbreeder, I'll try that tomorrow!