Related Articles

Breeding

Learn techniques for keeping records on your birds.

• Requirements and Setups - Provides an overview of the steps which need to be taken to set finches up for breeding, including suggestions for assembling a one-pair-per-cage setup or a colony breeding setup.
• Distinguishing Males from Females - How to tell what sex your finch is (i.e. figuring out if your bird is a boy or a girl).
• Breeding Behaviors - Describes behaviors typical of breeding finches including: increased territorial and mate aggression, courtship, pair bonding, nest building, copulation, egg laying, incubation, chick rearing, weaning, and nest and chick abandonment.
• Nests & Nesting Material - Covers nest selection, nest placement within the enclosure, and safe nesting material selection.
• Nest Box Plans & Construction - Includes instructions for how to build nests out of household materials.
• Nest Checks - This article explains the reasons nest checks are performed, tips and advice for performing nest checks, and warnings about when to hold off on checking the nest.
• Eggs (Including Candling, Clear Eggs & Egg Repair) - A very comprehensive article covering many aspects of eggs, including the following topics: fertilization of an egg, egg laying, when you can expect to see eggs in the nest after mating, complications of egg laying, parental care of eggs, normal incubation length, how to candle eggs to find out if they are fertile or infertile, brief advice for performing nest checks, egg hatching, possible reasons for clear or unhatched eggs, egg repair, and artificial incubation of eggs including proper incubator settings.
• Random Name Generator - Simply enter the number of names you need, and this page will provide you with creative suggestions to select from.
• Video Documentation - Videos obtained by monitoring two lady gouldian finch breeding pairs with webcams. Includes: egg laying, incubation, nest cleaning, nest building, and chick tossing.
• Leg Bands & Record Keeping - Describes the uses and complications of banding birds, lists sources for obtaining leg bands, details methods of banding and record keeping, and includes copies of the forms used by the owner of this site to keep track of breeding birds and individuals.
• Fostering (including Imprinting) - This article includes indications for fostering, potential disadvantages of fostering, instructions for fostering using society or zebra finches, and recommendations to follow which minimize some of the problems associated with fostering, such as imprinting
• Handfeeding - Provides instructions for hand feeding abandoned finches, including a list of supplies, notes about proper hygiene, instructions for setting up a brooder and preparing the hand feeding formula, advice for administering formula to chicks of various ages, and notes on how to monitor the health status of the chicks.
• Life Cycles: Breeding Time Tables - Lists the following information for various finch species: clutch size, when incubation begins, incubation length, how old chicks are when they fledge, the age at which chicks are weaned, the age at which chicks molt into their adult plumage, and the age at which chicks reach sexual maturity.
• Discouraging Finches from Breeding & Laying Eggs - Steps you can take to help reduce your birds' desire to breed.

• Stimulating a Pair to Breed
• How Lighting Affects Breeding
• Young (Hatchlings to Maturity)
• Complications & Troubleshooting (including Culling)
• Hybridization & Inbreeding
• Loss of a Mate - "Widowed" Finches