I yesyterday I separated the male Finch from the female Finch with a baby fledging in the cage because the male kept attacking the female. The female has laid 2 eggs and I’m afraid she won’t attend to the baby. Should I put the baby with the male in the same cage? Also, should I remove the nest that the male sleeps in at night if I put the baby with him?
Hi Melina,
You need to take the nest away from the male and female, and discard the new eggs. Birds do not need a nest to sleep in – a nest is only for when they are breeding. And they can’t be left in the cage year round. Your female should not be dealing with eggs again right now. She needs to focus on weaning her chick & she needs to rest from the clutch she just finished with. In the wild, they do not nest over and over. The nest once a year, and then breeding season ends and the birds move on. In captivity they do not get the environmental signals to stop breeding. A pair will continue to breed until the hen dies from laying too many eggs. It is the owner’s responsibility to force the pair to rest for several months after each clutch. You should remove the nest as soon as the chicks leave, or the pair will nest again as yours have, and they will let the fledged chicks die. If you remove the nest and eggs, you may be able to return the male to the cage. Without a nest, he won’t feel driven to mate with the female or fight with her if she refuses. He’s probably attacking her now because she wants to sit on her new eggs. This situation will not be resolved until you take the nests out of the picture. Then hopefully they will finish weaning the chick if it’s still alive.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
