I had 2 finches one was a male and one was a female my female finch excaped from its cage because the cage fell frome were i had it they already had a nest so i go a new bid and the female bird wont get inside the nest
Hi,
You first need to take the nest out. You can’t expect a new bird to immediately accept a strange nest and mate, anymore that you can expect the male to accept a new female right away. A new bird should never be placed in with an existing bird as soon as you get it. The birds should be kept separate for 30 days to make sure the new bird doesn’t have any illnesses. And the new bird needs to get used to her new home. After the 30 days us up, you place the cages side by side so the birds can get used to each other. They may or may not be interested in each other. Zebra finches mate for life, so your male needs time to grieve the loss of his mate. Then he might decide to court the new female. Zebra finches choose their own mate and they do not always like the mate we “force” on them. The female chooses a male, so unless she shows interest in him, nothing is going to happen. Most of the time they will end up getting along because they have no other choice. But they may not bond and want to breed. If they show interest in each other, the next step is to put them in the same cage. Then they will either start the bonding process or they may just tolerate each other. If you observe them spending most of their time together, sitting together, sleeping next to each other, feeding and grooming each other and finally mating, then you can give them a nest. A nest is only for eggs and chicks, so when they are not breeding, they should not have a nest. The nest should always be removed after they have chicks and as soon as the chicks leave the nest. Otherwise they may start a new clutch and let the older chicks die. Once the chicks are eating on their own, you need to separate them from the parents. Then after the parents have been rested for 4-6 months, you can give them the nest again.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
