Hi,
You can try to foster the eggs to the Societies. They are actually used as surrogates by some breeders – usually for a more expensive species where the parents aren’t caring for the eggs. However, only having this pair for two weeks, it’s highly unlikely they will feel secure enough in your home to sit on eggs. It can take weeks, months or longer for a pair of birds to settle down in a new home and start breeding. But you can at least try and see what they do.
As for your friend, they need to take the nest away from their birds and not allow them to have anything to use as a nest. Forming and laying eggs is very hard on a female, so everything should be done to discourage egg laying with a non-breeding pair. And even with a breeding pair, the nest should be removed after every clutch, and the parents rested for about 6 months before letting them nest again. Sadly, Zebra finches especially the females, often die in captivity because owners allow them to breed over and over, not realizing they need to intervene. In the wild, the seasons change and breeding season ends, so they leave their nests until the next year. But in captivity, they don’t know to stop breeding, so they breed over and over until the hen dies, or sometimes the male actually dies from being too worn down after caring for his mate and chicks over and over. Good luck with your pair, and of course the same rules apply – rest them after every clutch, and take the nest away.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
