Aussie Finch Forum

Im so impressed..my little guys got lovely big portable averys about 2 weeks ago and I did them up with branchs with leaves and things the guys had not had room for.they have many nesting boxs and baskets so they can choose and there are spares.iv always loved the way they line a basket or box as thats all iv ever seen.
Tonight I saw this big chunk of cotton wool dissapear into some leaves up the top and went and looked..a pair of crafty zebs have built this amazing nest in the branchs!! I was stuned..its a lovely thing like a tunnel at the front and a tennis ball inside all woven out of windmill grass it is the first time iv actualy seen a birds nest apart from photos,I think they may be thinking of breeding as its clearly a couple and the male got a bit cranky when he realised id seen it.
Im just amazed that captive bred birds would go to such effort when they could just line a nest box,there must be a bit of wild bird instinct there still
I guess most of you would have seen a real nest but im nearly 40 and that excited
It makes it all worthwile the time and cost I put into it to see them doing proper bird things ,they are so much happyer in the big cages,they have never bred for me or anything and im thinking they well might theres so much more movement and chirping in the new cages ,more birds but before the 2 pairs I had just sat on a swing all day ,now there is such action you realise what that saying "busy birds" means

Congratulations. You are better to give them all natural nesting materials but. Grass is good, feathers are good. Two pair is the least productive quantity of any type of finch that you can have, so that may also have been part of the problem.
LML

I have only given them natural grass till now but saw on some site that cotton wool was good?? I had never considered it before it was just the plain woolies roll type and it said pure cotton ,I checked and theres no way it could strangle their feet or anything .I guess you dont think its good for them? I cannot buy those feathers from slaughterd chooks it just creeps me out.I get feathers from my own 3 girls but there are never enough.
I wont give them anymore if its not good for them ,although they loved it it got carted of instantly

I buy feather pillows from Big W for about $10 to 15 each. 1 pillows lasts a very long time. The bonus of using the pillow feathers are they clean, sterilised and the feathers are mainly white which the birds love to use.
PS. I place a hand full of feathers out in the aviary then sit back and watch which birds are carrying to their nests. Surprising the amount of times I have done this and found new nests from birds that I thought were not interested in nesting. Remember that some birds. especially zebs, just like to line their roosting nests too.