[jinx mommy]

Hey all I have two Zebra Finches a female named Piper and a male named Nebo. So far I have found evidence of one egg being laid. smashed on the bottom of the cage. So I got them a nest and supplied them with some nesting material. the problem is, they keep trying to build their nest on the top of the Nest (Covered wicker type). How can I encourage them from builing the nest on the top?? and encourage them to build thier nest inside?? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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[equineRtist]

Try putting a big wad of nesting material IN the nest so they will have to stick their heads in there to get it. That may click in their little brains to do the right thing.

Let me give you a small piece of info on Zebras (if I haven't already...I'm OLD , so I don't remember who I gave this tidbit to)
Zebra Finches can live 2 to a cage (2 males or 2 females). They can also live 5 or more to a cage, but if you put 3 or 4 to a cage, they may get along for a while, sometimes for almost a year, but then one dominant male will kill all the rest and may die himself, from exhaustion from fighting.

No one knows why this happens. I was very fortunate in that I read this during my research before I started raising them. I raised them for 12 years and had 40 at one time.
I gave my nephew a pair and he raised his first babies. They only hatched 2, so there were 4 in the cage.

I advised him to remove the babies as soon as the parents quit feeding them and they started to eat on their own. He didn't remove them and said they were getting along fine, so he saw no reason to separate them. I cautioned him again.

One day he called and said he had one live bird, three dead. It WILL happen, so keep a close watch. If you have 3 or more babies, you are fine, except you don't want your parent bird to breed the babies. That happens FAST!

Best wishes with the nesting.

[equineRtist]

OH, another tip:
If a baby finch ever falls out of the nest and you find it cold, in the bottom of the cage, and it is not stiff....still soft, never assume it is dead. It's hard to pick one up without hurting it (they are soooo teeny), so get a teaspoon and warm it in your hand or quicker under your arm. Lay the spoon on the bottom of the cage, tilted toward the baby and gently roll the baby into the spoon. Then roll it our into your hand. Cover that hand with your other hand, with the fingers cupped so there is a hole to breath into (onto the baby). Never BLOW on the baby, just breath normally. If you blow on it, it could burst its lungs. If it start to wiggle, roll it back into the warm spoon and gently roll it back into the nest.
Hope you never need that info

[Andie's Mom]

Zebra finch are neat little birds; but let me just caution you that they are the rabbits or mice of the bird world! They multiply like crazy! I never had the problem with the dominant male situation that Weeza mentioned not sure why but I didn't+ As far as the nesting goes; I would suggest as Weeza did; putting a wad of material inside the nest etc+ However I preferred using a regular nest box over the wicker styles for a couple of reasons; one you can hang it on the outside of the cage and be able to view the babies from outside and two because they are a lot easier to clean! Realizing many people use the wicker type nest as a disposable nest I choose to re-use and the wooden square nest boxes are just easier to clean If you want to use wicker; you might try using a different style; While I eventually went to the wooden plywood type boxes I started out with the wicker and found that they weren't really particular as long as it was dark inside; however I have had several want to use an open nest like a canary nest and they did just fine but as I said I prefer the out of cage plywood square ones+ Keep in mind that many of the zebra's will double clutch and sometimes triple clutch in a season if you allow them which means they will reuse the nest for the next clutch and will often build a new nest right over the top of the old one and if they have a clutch die they will often build right over the top of the dead babies causing a bad situation for disease etc; thus another reason to have a nest box that you can check easily+ Also as Weeza said you don't have to have male and female pairs you can have same sex pairs and they will do just fine and not reproduce obviously

[jinx mommy]

well i originally did place the nesting material in the nest box, but they took what they could reach without going fully inside, and moved it to the top of the nest lol! I tried moving the nest, but they still go for the top. I might just try a different kind of nest box like suggested. I definitely plan on seperating the offspring (if we get any) once they are ready. Thanks for the ifo! Awsome!

[jinx mommy]

well they are finally building their nest inside the nest box!! woohoo!!! I didn't even get a chance to change the nest box. When I was cleaning the cage, i decided to try a different nesting material. and it has worked! They even go inside the nest box completely now, which they had never done before! Woohoo! their nesting material now is shredded papertowels lol which they seem to love! I havent yet seen them try to build the nest on top of the nest box at all since the change in material. Hopefully this means we might have babies soon!!

[Cacophony]

Yay! LOL I always chuckle how people expect critters to know exactly what to do and brand new expecting HUMAN Mom's to be clueless... EVERYBODY has to do it the first time and I don't think anyone just "gets it" right off the bat without a few "uhhhh... HUH?" moments.

Keep us up on babies!