Penny W

Today I attended the funeral of a 48 year old work colleague, a distressing time. So nice to get home and spend some time with the birds. Very therapeutic cleaning cages, replacing seed and water etc. (I never would have believed this 3 months ago!) My 'couple' are still busy incubating their 4 eggs - they stopped laying 2 days ago so I'm expecting news in about a fortnight (I think)

There are now 4 eggs and one or both of the finches is in the nest box at all times. Fingers crossed that the eggs are fertile. Time will tell. We are off to the Welsh National Show this weekend, just to see what is out there. This finch hobby is a bit addictive!

don't know whether the cock is split BC or not - just a question of 'wait and see!'

Well, today there was an egg in the nest box - but neither finch was in there and it felt quite chilled - is this normal?? Should they not be making an effort to keep the egg warm?? Or do they not incubate until they have laid the whole clutch??

Last week we looked at possible pairings for the finches, think we have made the right decision - but plenty of time to change our minds - have moved them into different cages - double breeding cages, currently got 2 hens in one side and 2 cocks in the other with a solid divider between. Mind you, today I found one of the cocks peeking around the end of the divider to see the hens - and one of the hens flirting back! I don't want them breeding quite yet as I want to use my 2016 zfs rings when I get them in January. We have put one pair together (because I'm inpatient) and we want to see what we get crossing our black cheek hen with a normal grey cock. Nice nest built - nothing in it yet though! I'll keep checking......

About this blog Well, I got my first 6 finches at Stafford in October - just before my birthday - I didn't know that I wanted to take up bird keeping as a hobby but there it was - my birthday present! My partner used to keep budgies but gave them up when he got divorced but wanted to get back into the hobby. His thoughts - if he has budgies and I have finches I can clean out his cages when I do mine (a typical man!). So there I was, the proud owner of 2 cock and 4 hen zebra finches. I spent the next few weeks looking up genetics, colour variations, diet, breeding advice and anything else I could read - if anyone had told me a year ago - even 2 months ago - that my spare time would be spent googling finch information I would not have believed them! I joined the Zebra Finch Society and have ordered my rings for birds born next year so am carefully keeping males and females separate until December - I don't want any accidents! (I am a family planning nurse - I am fully aware that accidents happen!!) Today we trekked up North and acquired another 10 cocks and 10 hens, I'm not sure that we meant to end up with that many................ I'm now studying the birds I have for colours, shape etc to make sure that I make up the best possible pairs. I bought a set of 8 breeding cages so will just put down 8 pairs at first - but which ones........ I'm very excited to see what comes out! My partner will be building me an outdoor aviary ready for the spring, I am very excited to see it al come together. We are imminently going to move house (solicitors permitting) and so the new bird room has been made and dismantled in kit form so it can be reassembled in a few hours - very exciting. I tried to upload some pictures but my compute crashed! Maybe another day.........

Found myself some CFWs! - pick up on Saturday, looking forward to pairing up in December and using my 2016 ZFS rings!

would love to visit your set up when it is ready, thank you

I'm planning on cage breeding so I know who the parents are. I would like to breed birds I could show in the future. Yes, it was my partner who contacted you.

I have just started keeping zebra finches. Never had birds before, in previous years just dogs, cats and guinea pigs! My partner always used to keep and breed budgies and is getting back into the hobby again, so I decided to go for zebras. I have started with a small flock, 2 cocks - one normal, one fawn and 4 hens - one normal, one fawn, one light back and one chestnut flank white. I am keeping cocks and hens separate for the moment as I don't want to start breeding them yet - need the new bird house up and running first! As a newbie I will be looking here for advice, I'm looking forward to see what colours I might bread from the birds I have. I really like the cfw but if I'm right I will need a cfw cock to make sure I get more of them. Does anyone have a cfw cock for sale? (preferably within 100 miles of Bath)