Aussie Finch Forum

At least one of my female Zebra Finches have been laying eggs in their nest. Sometimes both Finches eat the eggs or throw them out of the nest. I have kept them well supplied with calcium. Will removing their favourite nest work? Or do I need to act further?

You can't stop them laying eggs unless you have the bird sterilised like they do with cats and dogs. And I don't know of any vets that do that procedure on birds.

Removing the nest will not stop her laying, she will probably just lay in the seed dish. Also zebra finches sleep in a nest at night so they need the nest for that purpose.

Get a male and let them breed. When the female has babies to look after she will stop laying eggs and raise her family. When the young birds have been out of the nest for 3 months you can sell them to a bird/ pet shop and use the money to buy seed or something else.

Rod_L I used to have a male zebra finch and they keep throwing out the eggs but now he escaped. I have seed containers that have holes for them to stick their head in and eat from, so they can’t lay eggs in the seed container.

Or you could get some plaster of paris and make a couple of fake eggs, which you leave for her. While removing all real eggs. Why? To stop the hens from eating or breaking and to convince them they have eggs and do not need to lay more.
LML

@Rod_L this is a very harmful myth, please don't spread it. Zebbies, just like any other bird, only have nests during breeding season. If I got a coin for every time someone told me their zebbies harmed or killed one another after having a nest in their cage for too long I'd be rich.

That is unfortunately not totally true. Zebs have become so domesticated, that many will now breed 12 months of the year. So Rod is technically correct.