How to Set up Finches for Mating

Finches are among the easiest birds to breed at home. You can almost always find a ready market for your birds at local pet stores or through classified ads.Iif you want children to experience the joy of watching new life, breeding finches is more responsible than adding more puppies and kittens to the world. Because finches generally are not hand-tamed, you can let the parent birds do all the rearing, so you don't have to worry about hand-feeding the babies.

Things You'll Need

  • One male and one female finch, unrelated
  • A woven grass nesting basket
  • Nest liner material
  • Lamp with full-spectrum lightbulb
  • A small flashlight for nest inspection
  • Fortified seed or pellets, cuttlebone
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Instructions

  1. How to Set Up Finches for Mating

    • 1

      Finches are best for breeding when they are 6 months to 1 year old. Zebra finches are sexually dimorphic, meaning it's easy to tell the males from the females by their coloring, so they're a good choice. Society finches are prolific breeders, but it's harder to determine gender; if you want to breed societies, start with four birds in a larger cage and watch to see which birds pair off. Lady Gouldian finches are gorgeous, but not always good parents, so wait until you have more experience before trying these exotic birds.

    • 2

      Hang the nest basket high in the finches' cage. A roomy cage (16 X 16 X 20 inches) is best, because it will allow enough space for the hatchlings. The birds will breed best if they're getting 14-16 hours a day of sunlight; use the lamp to supplement lighting, if needed.

    • 3

      Place a small amount of nest lining material (available at pet stores) in the nest and additional material on the floor of the cage. The male birds sometimes like to add and arrange the lining themselves. Short lengths of clean, shredded burlap can be used as nesting material.

    • 4

      When you see both parent birds coming and going from the nest basket, use the flashlight to check daily for eggs. Note when you see the first egg. The female will lay one egg a day, creating a clutch of 3 to 8 eggs. When she's laid the last one, she will start brooding them, with the male babysitting occasionally while the female leaves the nest to eat.

    • 5

      The eggs will hatch about 14 days after the parents begin brooding them in earnest; any egg that has not hatched after 21 days is likely infertile and can be removed. The adults will feed the babies for the next four weeks, and near the end of that time, the young will fledge -- leaving the nest to hop about the cage. By that time, they'll be very close to adult size. The parents will continue to feed them, even outside the nest, until they're able to perch on the food cups and eat on their own.