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Can someone please help me with my Society Finches?

23 9:58:16

Question
QUESTION: Can someone please advise me on what to do to help my society finch babies? I believe that have been abandoned too soon and I am in a Dilema. There are two fully fledged young. The parents also have two which are out of the nest but still needing to be fed. One is not as strong in flight so cannot get back to the nest on his own. One made it back up but into the spare nest so I put the other in with it as I have already returned the weaker one to its original nest twice. The problem now is that today I noticed the parents have three new eggs they are incubating. This I noticed as soon as the others were found out of the nest. Will they still continue to feed the other two? Should I try to replace them in the nest with the parents and eggs? It would be crowded with six birds and three eggs. It is just a small wicker nest. The older siblings have been going in and out of the spare nest which now occupies the not quite fledged young. Might they foster their siblings? The pet store told me the two breeding pair were both females. Yeah, right. I wanted to separate the males from females as soon as they were all independent but now more eggs too soon.
Any advise is much appreciated.
Thanks, Marsha

ANSWER: If you know how to feed baby finches then I suggest you take over the feeding of the two fledglings that aren't weaned yet. You can use regular hand feeding formula for parrots (you just use a smaller amount) and a syringe (not the needle kind). If you are unsure of petstore products you can order some from www.ladygouldian.com. The woman is also highly knowledgeable and would be able to point you in the right direction when it comes to products and baby birds.
You should leave the other fledglings alone and not tempt fate (or the parents). Some parents will attack their previous offspring when they have eggs. Keep an eye on the cage closely and separate all fledglings from the parents should the parents start showing signs of aggression.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your much appreciated and quick reply Megan. I know someone in town that may be able to help instruct me if I need to feed them. I will also check the website you provided.
Here is the twist to this story since I asked my first question and before I got your reply. I witnessed the mom feeding the stronger of the two as it had made its own way back to the original nest. I returned the weaker one (again on the floor) to her hoping she would feed it as well. I saw no sign of aggression. Later it was on the floor again unharmed and the sibling back in the spare nest again so I returned it to the spare nest with its sibling (not wanting it to be alone on the floor all night or jeopardizing its safety alone with the parents and eggs) Now tonight the entire family has moved to the spare nest together and are asleep for the night. The parents, the two older siblings (from the first clutch I mentioned), and the two not quite fledged youngsters that were of concern (from the second clutch). The parents seemed to have abandoned their 3 eggs in the original smaller nest for now.
I have other species of birds as pets but this is my first experience with a breeding pair. I appreciate the advise. They waited untill the first clutch was eating independently before they started the second clutch but the third clutch of eggs just came too soon. They actually had all shared the same nest even through the second clutch. My original intent was to just keep two same sex Society Finches as pets so I provided them a sleeping nest. What a surprise! I do love them all but would like this to be enough. I wanted to remove the nests once the first clutch was independent but they were faster than me. If I remove the nests once all are completely weaned will they stop breeding and laying eggs and be able to remain together? I have heard that Society Finches are good in groups.
Thank you so much for any help, Marsha

Answer
You may still need to feed the weaker of the two. Just until his strength is back up. It sounds like he wants to be with his siblings but lacks the strength. Like a toddler trying to keep up with the older children.
You may need to take over being the parent to the three eggs if they are fertile (shining a bright light through the egg will tell you). If they aren't just toss them and if they are, there are ways to care for new borns (but they will more than likely die because it will be your first time but it's good practice all the same). If you do remove the nests they will usually stop breeding (I've had some that decided to give it a go in a food dish). Societies are excellent in groups and will all stuff themselves into one nest (as you've seen. It's the cutest thing in the world). they do this even with babies which can sometimes  smother the babies