Aussie Finch Forum

finchbreeder wrote:When they have chicks the parents like weeds, roots and all so they can pick through the dirt on the roots for minute bugs.

I second that, I grew some lettuce seedlings for the birds, and put the seedling tray in the aviary, they spent ages rummaging around in the soil.
To make the water areas safe, I put rocks in the normal drinking water so that it just left little puddles of water, just in case one of the babies tried swimming.
I also used a couple of lids off jars just for the young ones drinking water.

Just thought of another question.

How old should the babies be before they can be moved from their parents and go to new homes? I have someone anxious to have the baby I have here. It hatched out 14th September.

about 6 - 8 weeks. They should be fully feathered
or they can just be left in

While we are on the subject, at what point does dad get removed to prevent him harming the chicks???

some males are pure gold, will look after chicks like mine. Some are horrible. I would say if you doubt the male's nature, then don't let him near the chicks atall. Mostly though it's just when the young males start to colour up.

I have left my males in with Mum and babies/eggs, in the aviary where the chicks were hatched the Dad is a diamond, throwing food in the path of the chicks, carrying them around in his wings, the surviving chick seems to follow Dad more than Mum.
Jury is out on the other male till the eggs hatch out.

Thanks, it makes sense to make the water supply as shallow as possible. Will do this. Regarding the male, on whether he will be a good parent to the chicks, time will tell

Thought i would update. I now have a single week old baby Quail. Going well. The mother is still partly nesting, i think its due to keeping the baby contained and nurtured. Still has 4 eggs under, i investigated with much displeasure from the parents ( they certainly can be fiesty, i just love their protective nature, the charging, usually from behind and the puffing up of their body to make themselves look bigger!!! ) Anyway, threw two eggs out of the remaining 6, both just dust inside ) Im tempted to just throw the others out but will wait.

In the other aviary, should have at least one young, but those two eggs havnt hatched. I doubt they will. Yesterday, mother laid another so now there are three. In hindsight i should have marked the original two for identification...... Ah well.

So out of 9 eggs, i have one chick. An outcome.

Well at least it's an outcome. Strange, as mostly they hatch in good numbers... what colours are the parents and the chick? what do you mean by 'just dust inside?'

Hi FinchFan, that sounds quite different from ours... We had 6 eggs, 4 hatched at same time, hen stopped sitting on nest so yesterday I took one of the remaining eggs out, today the other. When my son accidentally dropped it, it was clearly not fertilised. I am guessing the same went for the other egg.
Chicks are about 3 or4 days old and going strong, both parents being very good with them.

You mentioned two eggs in 2nd aviary, how long have they been there? interesting that hen laid another. Maybe she is starting a new breeding cycle?