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Zebra Finch Not Sitting on Eggs?

February 2, 2020

My finch laid eggs. I only see the male sitting on them at night. Is that normal? I haven't seen the female sitting on them.

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This is her first time laying eggs. Is there anything I need to do?

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
February 2, 20200 found this helpful
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All new bird owners go through this and ask why the female won't sie on her eggs. The answer is that she is not ready to sit on them because she is still laying eggs. When she is done laying the eggs she will sit on the nest. This is how nature works and the male and female will take care of the nest and the babies when hatched.

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 107 Posts
February 3, 20200 found this helpful
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Birds instinctively know what to do when it comes to sitting on eggs, raising their little ones, etc. However, in order to provide them with the best nesting situation and care for their young you might want to learn a little more about breeding finches.

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The information at www.thesprucepets.com/zebra-finch-breeding-basics-390482 is very helpful. Watching zebra finches raise a family is exciting and enjoyable.

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15 More Questions

Ask a QuestionHere are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community or ask a new question.

February 4, 2013

I honestly did not know that my finches had eggs! When I saw, they had three eggs. The female bird immediately came out and was flapping her wings everywhere. I saw that they did not have food so I refilled their tube and the female comes out and was scared. It has been 18 hrs since the incident and I don't think the finch eggs survived or anything since the female finch hasn't been in the nest in a while. What should I do? Please help me :( (p.s. I had 4 finches one of them died a while ago now it is 2 females and one male).

By finchebreederbegginer650

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February 8, 20133 found this helpful
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My two finches laid eggs and I was worried that they would not hatch because I never saw the female sitting on them and it has been very cold, but 16 days later I had 5 babies in the nest.

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The female probably does sit on them but you never catch her in the act. If not just wait and see what happens

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July 10, 2021

So my fiance cleaned our Zebra Finches cage to put them in a bigger cage and we discovered that they had laid an egg! He didn't know what it was so he picked it up and asked me what it was. He put it in the new cage as he had already moved them in there in a little nest like thing that is theirs.

Does this mean they will abandon the egg? Is there a way we could care for it if they do that way it hatches? I'm excited to be a grandma and don't want anything to happen to it.

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 140 Posts
July 14, 20210 found this helpful
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They lay eggs often , and may be to late for this nest that was disturbed . They are very protective of there own, and very often will not bother after movement and touching.

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They can sense that on there young, so abandonment is possible.

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September 1, 2020

I have had a pair of zebra finches for 2 months. They were in a much smaller cage. I shift them to a bigger cage and provided a breeding pot and nesting material. After a while she laid 2 eggs. Both the male and the female take turns sitting on them. 1 of the babies died while hatching and one of them survived. When the baby bird came out of the nest the female had already laid more eggs.

Both the male and female were incubating them. I provided an additional breeding pot and material for them. They build half of the nest then stopped. 2 days ago I noticed there were really small insects coming out of the nesting pot. There were so many of them. I took out the nest and washed the pot and put some new nesting material in the pot and all 4 of the eggs. I never touched the eggs I handled them with a tissue paper. And I put the nesting pot again in the cage. This took hardly 30 minutes.

The male quickly jumped in the nest and the female was going in nest looking at the eggs, but not sitting in them. The next morning I saw that they were building another nest in the new pot, but also checking up in the old pot looking at the eggs. Then they broke 2 of the eggs. They are still making a nest in the new pot, but not throwing the other 2 eggs out and are not sitting on the eggs, but are checking up on the eggs. And they sleep in the old pot. It's confusing! Help.

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
September 2, 20200 found this helpful
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The birds like this normally lay an egg each day until they are done laying the eggs. This can take several days for them to finish laying all the eggs before they sit on the nest. Considering you saw bugs coming out of the nesting box, you removed the nesting box and cleaned it the birds more than likely will not sit on these eggs again. It appears they are not interested in the eggs in this nest anymore because it has been removed, cleaned, and handled by you. Even though you thought it was necessary to clean the nest because of the bug it should have been left alone.

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Just keep on eye on them and see if they do go back in this nest or not. If you do not see them in the nest or sitting on the eggs in the next few days then it normally means they have abandoned the nest and will no longer sit on these eggs. You can remove them from the cage and the next time please let the birds take care of the nest. Even if you see bugs in the nest they can handle this and clean them out so they can sit on the nest.

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July 11, 2017

I have a zebra finch that laid an egg. Two days later at 12 midnight I was refilling the food pot and the finch left the nest when it saw me. It never returned until 5 in the morning. Is there a problem?


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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
July 12, 20170 found this helpful
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Eggs can remain fertile for a week. The birds will sit on the eggs when all have been laid. Once all are laid, they should be sitting on the eggs most of the time.

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If they are unattended for more than 30 minutes, that is not a good sign. If there is another nest, you can try putting the abandoned eggs in there.

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July 22, 2020

Today in the afternoon my male bird left the cage. They have 4 eggs and now the female is sitting on the eggs. The eggs are at their 8th day. Will they hatch? Will the female alone take care of the babies? Do I need to buy a male bird now? We are on the fourth floor. Is there any chance of male bird coming back?


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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
July 23, 20200 found this helpful
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Normally the two birds take turns sitting on the eggs. Once they start to sit on the eggs they will continue until they hatch. In some cases, a male will push the female away and he will be the only one who sits on the eggs. I don't think you have to much to worry about and if the female is still sitting on the eggs and has not left the nest then she will more than likely continue on and hatch the eggs herself.

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May 14, 2020

My finch doesn't sit on the eggs. The male finch expired three days after the eggs were laid. The female finch would not sit on the eggs at all. What should I do?


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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
May 15, 20200 found this helpful
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If the male has died then the female has chosen to leave the eggs and not sit on them. There really is nothing you can do in this case and you should just throw the eggs away. If the male was there they take turns sitting on the eggs and she knows she can not do this alone.

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May 11, 2020

My zebra finch is laying eggs for the first time. It laid 4, but one got broken. So now there are 3. They are not sitting on their eggs to incubate them either during day nor at night.

They don't care for their eggs at all. I am totally disappointed. What shall I do? (I have only two zebra finches.)

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
May 11, 20200 found this helpful
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Normally it takes a few days for the bird to finish laying all of their eggs. In some cases it can take up to a week before they lay all their eggs. It is normal that the parents won't sit on the eggs until the female is finished laying the eggs. Just allow nature to take care of itself and the birds when ready will sit on the eggs. You need to leave them alone and allow them to handle this on their own. If they do not sit on the eggs in the next 10 days or so they should be removed from the cage. Other than this the eggs are still fine and when she is done laying them she will either sit on the nest or just forget about it.

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May 11, 2020

I had 2 Zebra finches, a male and a female who bred and laid about 6 eggs. The female cared for them really well. However, unfortunately my female finch escaped the cage and the male was left to care for the eggs. In a panic I got another female zebra finch hoping to save the nest. However she does not seem to be sitting on the eggs during the day, only during the night. (I guess to sleep.) The male goes back and forth constantly to the nest, but usually to continue to build the nest.

They are due to hatch any day now and I'm wondering if she would care for the chicks at all? Either that or would she lay new eggs in the old nest with the last batch of eggs still in it? I ask only because the new female finch has already started to mate with the male finch I have. Any answer would help as Google doesn't provide much information.

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
May 12, 20200 found this helpful
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This one will be really hard to say one way or the other if the new female in the cage will take care of the babies or not. The male has been attending the nest because his original mate is gone. Nature has a funny way of handling issues like this and you just need to take a step back and allow nature to handle this case. I am sure if the eggs did survive and they do hatch that between the two birds they will take care of the babies or they will just leave them. All you can do is wait and see what happens now.

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January 10, 2020

My finch laid eggs and was sitting on them and then they stop sitting on them. I don't know why or what I should do.


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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
January 10, 20200 found this helpful
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Please do not worry for this. Birds can sit on the nest to lay another egg in the nest and then leave the eggs alone. This can take several days to lay all the eggs in the nest before the birds will take care of the eggs and sit on them until they hatch.

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February 17, 2018

My zebra finch laid 7 eggs. That was about 25 day ago, but none of them hatched. The parents are not sitting on them. They are sitting outside the nest most of the time.

They do live in nest at night now. What do I do? Should I clean the nest now or should I wait longer?

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
February 18, 20180 found this helpful
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It has been way too long and the eggs are rotten by now. I would remove them from the nest and dispose of them.

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July 15, 2015

My zebra finch laid 4 eggs, but she won't sit on them. Yes I know that they sit on them when they finish laying eggs, but she finished and both the male and female won't sit on the eggs. Why won't they sit on the eggs?

Please help.

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 128 Feedbacks
July 17, 20151 found this helpful
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Are they first time breeders? If so it can take a couple of times for them to ' get it right ' - Leave the eggs for a while longer , maybe 10 days , & if they still haven't sat on them , then maybe throw them out so they can try again.

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January 2, 2013

I have two pair of finches. One pair laid two eggs four days ago and are not sitting on the eggs. What should I do?

By Sekar.k

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 128 Feedbacks
January 3, 20130 found this helpful

I'm not sure about finches but I breed cockatiels and they usually don't start to sit on the eggs until they get up to 3. Are you sure they are a true pair as some females still lay eggs?

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