Hi Debra,
This is common when a pair starts a new clutch while they still have chicks to feed. It probably only happens in captivity. If this is a young pair, it may be they are more interested in the mating part than caring for the chicks. When they have a 2nd clutch, often they fail to wean the first clutch and those chicks die. For whatever reason, the pair stopped feeding both clutches. Maybe they got confused, or the chicks were not healthy, or they lost interest. Since the older chick was flying, it could very well have tossed the chick out of the nest to have it for himself. I’m assuming you only have the pair and their chicks in the cage? If you have other finches in the cage, this would be the problem. If the parents didn’t have enough of the right kinds of food, this can cause them to stop feeding chicks. Parents eat a lot of food while feeding chicks. They need greens and veggies and most importantly some type of egg food. If they only had seed, this isn’t adequate for them, and definitely not for feeding chicks. Egg food can be cooked eggs with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with them, or a commercial egg food made for small birds. Do I understand you still have one surviving chick? Once this chick has left the nest, take the nest away. This pair needs to be rested from breeding for a few months. If you let them breed again in the future, with the same results, then I wouldn’t breed the pair again after that, which means no nests. Some birds simply do not make good breeders. I’m sorry you have had this experience. Sadly it is the down side of breeding birds.
Take care,
Brenda
