Brooding

Let's first review the value of the word "Breed":

- Provide the care necessary for the development of someone, of an animal, from its birth to a certain point of completion: Breeding your young.
- Nourish, maintain its existence until it has acquired a certain strength.
- Feed and protect animals or plants to promote their development.

The zebra finch is naturally a formidable breeder. Laying, brooding and feeding go smoothly. The couple (both the female and the male) are enthusiastic about it, are completely busy raising their brood.
As an anecdote, I will always remember a father who after the loss of the mother, had given everything to finish raising their offspring. I have the image of this devoted male who could not take it any longer, who waver at the end of the day in front of me, but tirelessly continue to feed his young until weaning. I gave him all the care possible to support him during this period.

The young zebrafinch are now about three weeks old; seeking to escape the lack of space, the oppressive heat of the brood or simply wanting to discover the world, they will begin to emerge from the nest.
This outing is not definitive, as they still return for 2 to 3 days, but less and less often. Sometimes, when the young begin to grow up, one of them starts to fly out of the nest a few days before the expected release date, you can leave it out of the nest if conditions allow, the parents will continue to take care of it. If you need to put it back in the nest, place it gently preferably in the evening and keep your hand in front of the fly-off hole, until all the young have regained their calm.
One morning when all the young are out, the nest will be removed and cleaned before a new laying or in preparation for the next breeding season. The nest will be restored when the young are weaned and thus separated from their parents.

It is common for parents to start a new laying before the end of weaning the young. There are no rules on the matter: Sometimes the parents start hatching while taking care of the young that come out of the nest, sometimes they will pluck the young and stop taking care of them. It is up to the breeder to be attentive in his observations. At home, I prefer to remove the eggs laid on the ground to give them to another couple or to give them back to the couple after weaning when the timing allows.

The weaning period corresponds to the period when the young bird will learn to feed itself and thus acquire its autonomy. It is therefore a delicate period when it will be important to observe the birds so as not to make the mistake of separating a young person from his parents too early. Usually a young zebrafinch will be weaned around 35 days of life. Again, the observation is strict; and no need to take risks, it is a matter of a few days.



The young chicks were fed by their parents who regurgitated the seeds and/or mash that is distributed daily at this time. Now they must learn to peel the seeds and eat them alone. The sooner the chicks are self-sufficient, the sooner they will be weaned.
The parents themselves reduce the regurgitation of the pate.
But if young people feel the need they will go looking for it alone, it is easy to access food that will serve as a transition. In addition, some breeders provide young birds with sprouted seeds: These «soft» seeds are easy to peel and ingest. For my part, as soon as I leave the nest, the birds have at their disposal some millet in clusters (red and yellow that I alternate every day).

Last year, a male regularly messed up or removed nest materials. Certainly with the aim of starting another brood.
The bottom of these nests being flat, the eggs were found scattered and therefore a risk of not being incubated was very possible.

So I looked for a solution to avoid this inconvenience. By trying out several types of concave shaped nest bottom, among others those in rope and coconut fiber, by incorporating them into the plastic nest. This male continued despite everything to want to remove these funds !

Then, I tried a white felt concave background that I taped to the nest.

The problem of eggs that do not hatch, despite being fertilized, encountered by breeders gave me the idea of this topic.
The importance of the humidity level during egg development and hatching in our rearing rooms pushes us to find solutions to regulate it, especially during dry periods.

I use an ultrasonic humidifier, adjustable and ideal:



I also use, either in parallel with the humidifier or when there is only a need for a small adjustment of the humidity level, a much less expensive solution: Ceramic saturators (around 5 euros per unit in DIY stores) :



I hang them on the oil bath radiator (which dries the air less than electric radiators of the radiant type or commonly called "Toaster").
The principle of evaporation caused by heat from the radiator works well, however it takes about a day to see the effects.