Zebra Finches - Anyone here raise them?

I have two zebra finches. One male and one female. They are constantly laying eggs which never hatch.

I have misplaced my finch book but I remember it saying that they would hatch w/in 2 weeks.

Anyone around here know about finches?

i have never heard of them

I've never tried my hand at finches but I can think of a couple of things that might be the problem from raising a few chickens.

Make sure that their diet is as high-quality as you can make it. Lighting --- I'm not sure about finches, but I recall reading some research on chickens that fertility increases with the photo period. I would assume also you might want to look into full spectrum lighting as it might make a difference. And then there's always the possibility that one of your pair is sterile, it happens frequently with older birds.

Just a couple of ideas.

I've raised finches, but not zebra's. My first question: Are you SURE they are male and female - and not two females?

Make sure you give them a cuttle bone (or other source of calcium) as the female will need it to replace what she is losing for the egg production.

Full spectrum lighting can never hurt, but usually the longer the day light is what will help trigger them into laying the eggs (fertile or not)

It could aslo be that if they are a true pair, that they are too young to know what quite to do with the whole thing and may not be sitting the nest properly. Or if they do know how to sit a nest - that the cage might be in a busy place and they are getting spooked frequently... high traffic area is never good for birdies to hatch the eggs.

Originally Posted by Talon

I've raised finches, but not zebra's. My first question: Are you SURE they are male and female - and not two females? ... <snip>

Click to expand...

That was my first thought too, Talon, but trying to find pix of them (I'm not all that familiar with finches,) it looks like they're sexually dimorphic in coloration? I never did find a "this is a male, this is a female" pic, but there are birds with/and without orange cheek patches. I'm assuming the ones with patches are males. Hmmm. This is interesting. I wonder if the boys would like some "birdy TV?"

Yep, boy zebra's have the little orange patches. So cute!

Note: most parrots are NOT sexually dimorphic - while the vast majority of "regular" birds are.

Are they young? They may not be sexually mature yet. Zebras are known to be PROLIFIC breeders!!! The male will have the orange cheek patches and a bright orange beak. The female is rather dull in coloration. Give them protein foods if you're trying to breed them such as egg. It will help condition them.

If you give them the egg, cook it with shells in all - good calcium!

how do they look like?