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Problem: Not enough
eggs are present to stimulate incubation.
Solution: Try adding dummy eggs to the clutch
to increase the number of eggs present under the foster
pair. Birds may not incubate if less than four eggs
are present, or may have trouble incubating if more
than 6 eggs are present.
Problem: Trying to foster
chicks to a trio of male society finches.
Solution: Because male society finches do not
lay eggs, you may have to stimulate them to incubate
by tricking them into thinking a clutch of eggs is
being laid in their nest. Try adding a dummy egg to
their nest each morning until a full clutch of 4-6
eggs is present. If they have begun incubating the
clutch, you can swap the dummy eggs out for the fostered
eggs.
Problem: Only one baby
needs to be fostered.
Solution: One baby alone in a nest may not
be a strong enough stimulus to get the parents (biological
or foster) to care for it. Ideally, you should try
to place this lone baby in a nest which has other
babies of the same age and preferably of the same
species. If this option is not available, you will
probably have to attempt to hand feed the chick.
Problem: Fostering newly
hatched babies.
Solution: If possible, transfer newly hatched chicks
to a nest with other babies of the same species and
age. If this option is not available, try adding newly
hatched babies to a foster pair's nest with eggs that
are being incubated "tightly." Remove all
but one or two of the eggs and add the newly hatched
chicks in their place.
Problem: Mixing species
in a nest.
Solution: Although it is possible to transfer
the eggs or chicks of various finch species to a pair
of society (or zebra) parents,8 mixing species is
generally not recommended if it can be avoided. Mixing
species can be problematic because some species will
grow faster than others, beg louder, and may outcompete
the smaller, more quiet chicks. If, however, you need
to mix species, just be sure to transfer eggs or chicks
of the same 'age' to the foster pair. For example,
if all eggs were laid around the same time, they will
hatch at about the same time and reduce the risk of
complications. Again, limit each foster pair to six
eggs at a time.
Problem: Mixing chicks
at different stages of development.
Solution: The best solution for this problem
is to avoid it. Older babies may squish or outcompete
younger chicks; they also fledge and wean sooner,
which typically causes the parents to stop feeding
the younger babies (at which point they will need
to be hand fed). This is why timing is key: chicks
must be of same age/size/etc. to be transferred to
and raised successfully by the fosters.
Problem: The increased
risk of imprinting.
Solution: In order for a chick to imprint upon
its own species, it must be exposed to adults of its
species from the 15th to the 40th days of life.7 This
is not a problem for chicks which have been fostered
under their same species, but may be a problem for
babies which are fostered by a different species.
Therefore if you are fostering to a different species,
try keeping a cage of adults of the same species as
those being fostered near the foster pair's cage,
and place all newly weaned chicks in the same cage
with the adults of their species. In addition to this,
keep the weaned chicks out of sight and ear shot of
the species which fostered them.
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