Bird Care for a Nesting Finch

Cheerful birds, finches come in a wide array of colors. The birds measure from 3 to 10 inches in length and sport a tails that usually have 12 individual feathers. Long-lived, finches can live up to 27 years. Relatively easy to breed, the male and female line the nest box together, incubate the eggs and care for the young.

  1. Nest and Egg Laying

    • Provide a finch nest basket for the breeding pair within which to construct their nest. Place the cage where it will receive approximately 14 hours of sunlight per day. Provide dry straw for the finch pair to line the inside of the nest box. After breeding, the female finch lays three to five eggs at a rate of one egg per day. Some female finches lay up to eight eggs per clutch.

    Food and Water

    • The female finch will sit on eggs most of the time. The male will replace her on the nest when she has to get water or consume food. Provide the finch pair with constant fresh water and food. The breeding finch pair will enjoy consuming live canned or fresh insects from a pet store. Make sure they have a seed finch mixture daily. The pair will enjoy a bit of cottage cheese, diced hard boiled egg, sprouts and fresh greens. They will also benefit from the calcium that a cuttlebone offers.

    Hatching and Fledgling

    • The finch eggs hatch in 14 days. Both male and female care diligently for the babies. The parents will make numerous trips each day between the food dish and the nest bringing the babies ample food. The young finches usually require 30 days of care to feather out and begin leaving the nest. Once the young birds have left the nest they will begin feeding at the food bowl and no longer depend on the parents.

    Weaning and Future Breeding

    • Voracious eaters, young baby finches, require regular parental feeding after hatching. Make sure that the food bowl never runs out, so the parent finches can continue to provide food for the finch babies throughout the day. Once the babies leave the nest daily to consume food, remove them from the cage. Avoid allowing the finch pair to breed again immediately. Remove the nest box from the cage to discourage breeding and give the birds a rest.