Aussie Finch Forum

Why is it so,When you think you have nothing nesting and decide to do a brush or plant change,You seem to find out when its to late not a good idea.

Had some awful looking small Poa grassI wanted to move.And in that aviary there is only a few goulds moulting not breeding and two pr of pictas and a pr of chestnuts.The chestnuts I knew had a nest in the tea tree.And the pictas have not done much in twelve months or more,And every time I go in thier they are sitting on the perch.So I had a look around the grass,No signs of nests as expected.Then I proceded to rip out the grass,No worries.Planted a NZ brown foxtail in its place,Thought I might just rip out the grass next to it aswell.Only to see a nest under all the crud.Put my finger in it to check,Bumer a few chicks in the nest.So i put the grass back beside it I had ripped out.And now we wait and see,fingers crossed they will go back to the nest.

Good luck

How well do finches deal with disruptions - there is a chance Ill be mving in the middle of the time I want to breed the gouldians in the new year - if already in individual breeding cages will they continue to nest if moved ?

Gouldians are one of the better birds to deal with disruptions.These guys I dont have alot of hope for.

fingers crossed ... you never know what might happen

Were you able to tell how old the chicks were-my experience is that if they are really young they are more likely to abandon then if they have been feeding them for a week or so. Hope they come back! Otherwise you could try hand raising or fostering under something that has similar age chicks??

I would say four days old.Thats whats Worries me.

Do you know what stage the chestnuts are at? Might be an option. Had a similar experience just recently - my pair of white earreds are proud parents of a couple of crimsons

Well they can last a day without food but won't last the night without warmth. Tomorrow morning will tell you what their intentions are. I just read Garry Fitts article on fostering and even if you have suitable birds you still have to crop needle feed them for 1-2 days so nothing is guranteed. Best of luck

Fingers firmly crossed here for you, how are they today?

Marcus Pollard has an article on fostering in the latest ABK