Tschirren was able to demonstrate that maternal resource investment decreases steadily over the course of the laying sequence of a Zebra Finch, with eggs laid early in a clutch being larger and containing more nutrients and hormones. The first eggs receive preferential treatmentĪccording to the study, attractive sons are not the result of exceptional genes rather, their enhanced ornamentation is due to the mother's investment in the eggs. In a study published in "Proceedings of the Royal Society" the researchers demonstrate that - despite the observed quality differences - the fathers of attractive sons are neither better looking nor genetically superior. Now, Barbara Tschirren, professor for evolutionary ecology at the University of Zurich, and her team have challenged the idea of the exceptional male. Indeed, females are believed to engage in extra-pair copulation with genetically superior males to obtain better genes for their offspring. Up to now, the quality differences between social and extra-pair offspring have generally been assumed to reflect the genetic superiority of the extra-pair male. And, as evolutionary ecologists from the University of Zurich and biologists from Macquarie University in Sydney have discovered, offspring sired by an extra-pair partner develop larger color ornaments and are more attractive to females than their social half-brothers. If the opportunity arises, females will choose to pair with partners other than their primary mate - with the interesting result that the offspring of different fathers have different qualities. The social partner of a female, however, is not always the biological father of the young. This egg food should be fed when the hen is laying eggs and while they are feeding chicks.In Zebra Finches, as in most other bird species, both parents contribute to offspring rearing. This can be a commercial egg food or you can simply cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. While they are set up for breeding, you need to offer an egg food. You should also offer dark leafy greens and chopped veggies. A seed mix will not provide the nutrition that pet or breeding birds need. It’s important that your birds are eating a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets or granules. ![]() Laying eggs is hard on the female’s health, so if she is allowed to do this year round, it can eventually cause her to die from laying too many eggs. In captivity, they do not receive the environmental changes that signal the end of breeding season, so you have to take the nest away to get them to stop for a few months. In the wild they would only breed once a year, and they will only raise one or two clutches. You have to control how often a captive pair breeds. The pair only needs a nest when they are breeding – they do not need a nest to sleep in. ![]() The nest should be removed when you discard the eggs. Since you say she laid a lot of eggs, it’s best to rest the pair before you let them breed again. You should wait for 20 days after the last egg was laid before you discard the eggs. So you have to count the days from when the last egg was laid. Most of the time, the female will not sit on the eggs until she has laid all of them. ![]() Zebra finches will lay anywhere from 4 to 8 eggs in a clutch, with one day between each egg being laid.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |