# Finch eggs!



## Obsidian (Apr 11, 2018)

@cmzaha I have a egg! It was layed yesterday, should get one a day then she will start sitting regularly.

I've seen them do the deed successfuly twice now so the eggs should be good.

I'm excited, it's been a long time since I've had baby birds. I already have homes lined up, probably won't have enough babies to go around lol.


----------



## dixiedragon (Apr 11, 2018)

Pics or it didnt' happen.


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 11, 2018)

That is fantastic! Sure did not take long


----------



## lenarenee (Apr 11, 2018)

dixiedragon said:


> Pics or it didnt' happen.



You have time to get it figured out before the little babies hatch!


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 11, 2018)

It was really fast, I was expecting weeks or even months.
I could only get a quick pic, we have 2 now


----------



## dixiedragon (Apr 11, 2018)

SQUUEEEE! So exciting!


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 11, 2018)

sooooo cute


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 11, 2018)

Bad news, my girl is sick. She is sitting all fluffed up and looking miserable 

She was fine the morning and has been eating but is looking worse and worse. At this rate, I'm not sure she will make it through the night


----------



## dibbles (Apr 11, 2018)

The eggs are super exciting. I hope your girl is feeling better soon.


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 11, 2018)

Oh no... I will keep good thoughts for your girl. Do you have an incubator you can use?


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 11, 2018)

I do have a incubator but I really don't want to handfeed such tiny babies. If she doesn't make it, I'll dispose of the eggs.

I've given her some liquid calcium in case it's egg binding. Not much else I can really do. No bird specialist around here.
She is still eating on her own so that's a plus.


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 12, 2018)

Hopefully the calcium will help.


----------



## shunt2011 (Apr 12, 2018)

How exciting.....hope your girl is okay!


----------



## dixiedragon (Apr 12, 2018)

Praying for your bird!

Totally random thought - are you on Reddit? You should see if they have a sub forum (called a sub) about birds or finches in general. You may find some good advice there.


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 12, 2018)

She's still holding on but not looking good at all. Let's hope she passes a egg today.


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 12, 2018)

Ahh! She just layed egg 3 and is now eating. Still poofed up some but looks a little better.


----------



## dixiedragon (Apr 12, 2018)

Dang if I were trying to squirt out 3 babies I'd be fluffed up and miserable too! glad she's doing better!


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 12, 2018)

Not sure she is out of the woods yet but the fact that she is eating, drinking and pooing is a good sign. I really hope she is done or nearly done laying.


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 12, 2018)

Still keeping postive thoughts for your girl


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 12, 2018)

Thank you. She is doing a lot better.
Besides eating, she's also been preening and hoping around the cage.

I think she is going to be ok. I'm continuing calcium in their drinking water since they don't eat cuttlebone like parrots do.


----------



## KristaY (Apr 13, 2018)

I've never been a bird keeper Obsidian, but my MIL has had more Finches, Parakeets, Lovebirds, Canary's etc, etc than I can count so she's very excited about this! I'm keeping positive thoughts for your girl's health and keeping my MIL posted. This is very exciting!


----------



## CTAnton (Apr 13, 2018)

this brings back childhood memories. My dad brought home a pair of parakeets and the female got egg bound and passed. Wonderful seed diet but I don't recall we ever fed greens. I'm wondering if some sort of oil fed with an eye dropper might help...


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 13, 2018)

Looks like she has stopped at 3 eggs which is good, I want her to recover from whatever was ailing her. I was afraid she would just keep producing and really tax her system.



CTAnton said:


> this brings back childhood memories. My dad brought home a pair of parakeets and the female got egg bound and passed. Wonderful seed diet but I don't recall we ever fed greens. I'm wondering if some sort of oil fed with an eye dropper might help...



I've bred zebra finch and parakeets in the past. If I had a large house or lived where I could have outside aviaries, I would have more birds.

I know back in the day, a varied seed mix was considered the best but we now know that a all seed or even mostly seed diet can be downright deadly for caged birds. They aren't active enough in your typical home environment and seeds can cause fatty liver and fatty deposits on/in the intestines. 

I lost my beloved parakeet jules years back at three years old due to a fatty tumor that was pressing on his organs. I didn't even know he was sick until it was too late.

I'm working on switching my finches to pelleted and fresh foods. They nibble at the pellets but won't touch greens yet. It can be really hard to teach a adult bird that new things are food. Once they start tasting stuff, it gets easier.

Ingested oil won't help with passing eggs. Everything might come out from the same end but it doesn't originate from the same system.


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 17, 2018)

How is your girl doing? And how are the mantis doing? My baby shed yesterday and I see a little more color and a hint of a bump so I am still thinking it is a boy.


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 17, 2018)

She is doing great, never would have guessed she was so ill a few days ago. Lost one of the eggs though, not sure if they ate it or if it got buried under the nest material.
At this point it looks like only one egg might be fertile, I really need to candle them.

Mantids are also doing great. They've pretty much got their adult colors last molt. They are still small enough it's hard for me to really see details do I've not sexed then yet.
Just moved them into 32 oz deli cups and fed them, I'll get pics later. It's amazing how different they look.

Would love to see pics of your cham. Is he getting more color yet?


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 17, 2018)

I am so glad to hear she is doing well. The loss of the egg is a shame, but the loss of mom would have been so much worse. Hopefully you will see some signs of life if you candle the egg. 

Not a whole lot of color. Today some blue such as the color of a Nosy Be, but could be mommies wishful thinking. But at least did not go peachy brown which is the female color.


----------



## SunRiseArts (Apr 18, 2018)

Oh gosh too cute!


----------



## lyschelw (Apr 18, 2018)

How are they all doing?


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 19, 2018)

I candled the eggs this morning and only one was good. Wasn't sure if I should remove it or not but I didn't want to risk a bad egg breaking so I took it out.


----------



## zanzalawi (Apr 19, 2018)

crossing fingers!


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 20, 2018)

could you replace the bad egg with an impostor egg? I am glad to hear you have one good egg. Can't wait to see pic of baby


----------



## Obsidian (Apr 28, 2018)

bad news, the last egg didn't make it. The day before it was due to hatch, she stopped sitting on it and it got really cold. I decided to take it and the nest out today. I did open the egg, the baby was fully formed and ready to hatch I don't know why she let it die but we'll try again in a bit.


----------



## dibbles (Apr 28, 2018)

Aw, that's sad


----------



## cmzaha (Apr 28, 2018)

Sorry to hear that.


----------



## lenarenee (Apr 28, 2018)

Maybe it was already dead and she knew it.


----------

