RFPF hen home invasions
Posted: 07 Sep 2016, 23:06
I have a pair of red-faced parrotfinches in a mixed collection.
This week, the hen has started taking over the nests of other finches and doing parenting duties, much to the dismay of the actual parents of the chicks.
On monday she entered an emblema nest and spent most of the day sitting on five very confused emblema chicks. She didn't do them any harm and seemed to be feeding them adequately, although she was quite aggressive towards to the emblema parents when they tried to retake the nest.
Then yesterday she kicked a cordon hen off of her chicks and decided to feed and care for them for most of the day. The cordons, not fond of being disturbed, didn't return to the nest so I moved the chicks to a canary nest in another aviary. No losses there, thankfully.
Finally, today she was caring for a different nest of emblemas, whose parents were equally as pleased as the first nest.
What's more, she also has her own nest full of eggs that she and her partner are taking turns incubating.
Has anyone seen this sort of behavior before? Is she just an over-eager new parent that's just getting carried away a little, or do you think this is more aggressive in nature? Should I be doing something?
This week, the hen has started taking over the nests of other finches and doing parenting duties, much to the dismay of the actual parents of the chicks.
On monday she entered an emblema nest and spent most of the day sitting on five very confused emblema chicks. She didn't do them any harm and seemed to be feeding them adequately, although she was quite aggressive towards to the emblema parents when they tried to retake the nest.
Then yesterday she kicked a cordon hen off of her chicks and decided to feed and care for them for most of the day. The cordons, not fond of being disturbed, didn't return to the nest so I moved the chicks to a canary nest in another aviary. No losses there, thankfully.
Finally, today she was caring for a different nest of emblemas, whose parents were equally as pleased as the first nest.
What's more, she also has her own nest full of eggs that she and her partner are taking turns incubating.
Has anyone seen this sort of behavior before? Is she just an over-eager new parent that's just getting carried away a little, or do you think this is more aggressive in nature? Should I be doing something?
