My Chestnuts have hatched 3 young on the weekend and are sitting nice and tight on the nest. I have been trying to feed them the Paswell soft food mix but for some reason, they wont touch it even when its mixed with greens and sprouted seed. This soft food is supposed to have the highest protein levels when compared to egg and biscuit but when watching my other birds also they have not seemed as keen on this as the egg and biscuit that I have used before. I have just started giving the chestnuts the sprouted seed on its own and they love it. The sprouted seed that I have was bought pre-made and frozen from Rob at Ace Colony Aviaries. I have seen him making it and he takes special care to include the anti bacterial agents to avoid any fouling. I will probably try the egg and biscuit again in the future.
In my other breeding cage things haven't been going so well. The only other hen that I have which is the light or dilute chestnut has not been displaying as being very broody. I have tried her with a couple of different cock birds with not much success, to the point that I have wondered if it is a hen at all! I had been trying some nesting material in this time that I had found myself and I have now decided that it is a bit too stiff and stick-like and could be a reason for the reluctance.Tim had told me previously that it is good practice to give Bengalese seed mixed with a small amount of cod liver oil to bring the Finches into "Breeding Condition". I have since read that the Vitamin D that is in cod liver oil helps the finch absorb more calcium which is important for egg shell strength. I guess that this will trigger something in the hen that tells her that "she is ready"....well I've put this theory to the test and I have paired the two Dilute Chestnuts together and have been feeding this to them for a couple of days. Also today I popped over to Ace Colony Aviaries and picked up some coconut fiber nesting material.
We will see!!