Aussie Finch Forum

Put my breeding boxes/baskets in about a month ago and today went in for the second time to check as I heard the sound of chicks. One nest has 5, one has two, one has at least three. Pretty happy. Two boxes I put in a little over a week ago have three eggs respectivley. All good so far.........then checked 3 other boxes and one basket. One box had 21, yes 21 eggs in it! All in all removed over 50 eggs mainly because most looked clear and were of all shapes and sizes and mixed together in the boxes. Broke them open and 5 out of the 50 were fertile. Anyone had similar?

I've had this problem both Gouldians and Cut-throats. Like you I had low male fertility and I wondered as to the cause. I'm toying with the idea that overfeeding might have been the problem in my finches and it certainly would explain why it's more of a problem for males than females as they latter can lay an eggs and the former doesn't have a penis. So only theories and not reasons so far.

Greg

Could possibly be the reason as they are on a pretty good wicket. Sprouted seed, greens and grains, dandelion each morning plus normal finch mix. Wouldn't like to cut it down now though with chicks in the nest. Forgot to add, I have Painteds, Goulds and Stars. Could be time for another clean out of the Stars and Painteds as I know they don't have chicks or eggs at the moment.

You could have had a half decent omelet with that lot!

Probably difficult to determine precise fertility as no doubt many have not been incubated at all. Sounds more like a simple lack of nest sites/boxes. How many pairs and how many boxes do you have? And how big is the aviary?

Sam,

There are 18 boxes and baskets plus tee tree . I have 8 prs goulds plus a few spare hens. I dont know how many stars I have, but in excess of a dozen, pretty well the same with the painteds. Avairy is 2.7 long, 1.8 tall and 1.8 deep divided into 3 flights that interconnect. I know that is too many for the size, but you should have seen it a month or so ago before I got rid of nearly 30 goulds. Will shorten the numbers of the stars and painteds to 2 prs stars (yellows and normals) and 1 pr painteds. Hopefully it won't be so "busy".

Ive had loads of eggs in certain boxes too. Cant say Ive had your grand total but they certainly did their best. There are 8 pairs of gouldians in the aviary and 16 boxes of varying styles and a wine rack full of November grass. Only other birds are 1 pair of BFPF nesting in the wine rack, 1 pair of obs with a couple of young in basket and 1 pair of emblema not doing anything.

I have had this before,hens seem to be ready but cock birds not,next round should be good as the cock birds catch up ,and the hens more settled,garyh

I know that the size of the aviary seems small for the amount of birds in it at the moment, but I have found that the painteds occupy the lower level of the aviary and build nests from ground level up to about halfway. The Stars on the other hand tend to build at the highest level and don't use boxes or baskets. Stars produced 2x nests of 5 in short time so 4 turns to 14 in 6 weeks. Then they start again. Painteds are a worry to me. Sick and tired of seeing tossed chicks and trying to hand raise, yet have had the last 5 or 6 been raised from the floor or the most open nests you can believe. Yesterday there was a dead BH hen after lunchtime when I went for a look. Wasn't light, not eggbound but I think she might be the hen for the nest of 2 I saw today. They just didn't look right, fair sized but boney looking. I will go inside again tomorrow and if they are still alive and have an empty crop will pull them out and attempt hand raise or can I put them into another nest with chicks of similar size?

If you have another nest of similar size and a different head colour that is probably the easiest way to go. The crowding could be the reason for the painteds tossing? But if they are all breeding happily, then they can't be too crowded. Just getting that way. More nests could help with the painteds also.
LML

Finchbreeder,

They just seem to do it from time to time. The most perfect nests never produce. Open cups, yes, they are just an enigma for me. I think that having more than 2 or 3 prs or a disproportionate number of hens to cocks may have something to do with it. Had them feed chicks on the ground for 2 weeks. Live food helps but came out one day and found 4 fledged with no live food, didn't even know they existed. I have found that the goulds get terribly inquisitive and suspect that they might do the tossing as I have found on occasions that the goulds have taken over the nest and raised a brood.