My father in law has two society, two zebra, and two Asian spice finches that laid eggs (not sure exactly which). 3 eggs hatched, but one of the chicks seems underdeveloped and has solely white feathers that don't cover his (or her) whole body. Could he or she have hatched later than the others, or could there be something wrong? The adults are feeding him or her, and he seems to be flying from one side of the cage to the other in short bursts, but I am concerned about him and whether there is something we should be doing for him.
He will probably grow feathers. His parents are taking care of him and didn't reject him, so that is a good sign.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My baby finches are between 2 - 3 weeks old. The mom and dad are constantly sitting on them and I'm afraid they are smothering them or stiffling their growth. Is this normal? It is a small enclosed nest.
By Karen
The babies don't smother. The parents are supposed to do this. As soon as one hops off another hops on.
My mom raised Zebra finches when I was a kid and it sounds like yours are being good parents.
I have four finches and two of the finches laid eggs. I have 4 babies; one of the finches died. How do I know which one is a male and which one is the female. I think the female may be the one that died. I don't know how to tell the difference. Can someone help me out please I'd like to keep the babies? I just wanted to know if they will make it. Oh also, should I get a new female if that's the one that died?
By Debbie E
You didn't mention what breed of finches you have. Are they zebra finches? The males and females look the same in some breeds, different in others.
I have finches that just had 2 babies and one of them died. I don't know how or why, but it is still in the nest with the other baby that is still alive. I don't know if I should leave it until the other one isn't dependent on the parents or if I should take them both out in case it was the dad cause I've heard of the dad killing them.
Any help is very much appreciated.Definitely remove the dead bird.
Removing the dead bird will be the healthy choice to make for the health of the other baby.
My white finches hatched 3 eggs, but the mother died a few days later. The chicks are now 3 weeks old can they continue to live with their father permanently or should I remove the females?
At 6 weeks old I would remove all the babies from their father and put them in a separate cage.
I've read that you should separate the babies from the parents after 6 weeks. Can the parents and offspring ever live together?
By Rick
No. After they are weaned, they should be moved to separate quarters.
My finch eggs have hatched. Yey! I am very happy with this as we have had eggs before, but all were infertile as we had two females and weren't very clued up about birds!
Since then my white female sadly died from egg binding. I now have done some very intensive research on finches. Since my girl past my other female was depressed so I made the choice to get her a male and now we have eggs that have finally hatched. The babies are about 1 week old now and are making lots of noise even though I have yet to see them. And I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help mum and dad to give them a better chance of survival? I have yet to find any information about how I can help?
By Elle