When I first started to breed my zebra finches it was by accident. I got a pair fed them and gave them a nest and poof they had babies. The first clutch consisted of 4 males. The mom and dad were Florida Fancies. Three of the babies were just like them but one was a very light brown color, I decided to keep him. I did not have a name or a mate for him. I just thought he was cute.

The mom and dad did there thing again and had a second clutch about 2 months later. Well all was going well till one day I came home and found dad standing over his son with an evil glint in his eye. There was blood just pouring out of the kid's wing. Well I immediately got the youngster out of the cage and applied direct pressure to his mangled wing. The bleeding stopped but not before there was a small puddle in my hand.

I took him to a vet to see what could be done. The vet told me that there was not much she could do. The only "real" options were to amputate the mangled wing or to put the little guy down. Well me being the big softy I am decided to amputate the wing. When I took my wingless wonder back home he looked like a mummy. All wrapped up and just laying there.

Well in a few days he had regained some strength and started to explore his new home. I had made him a long but low cage. It was 40 inches long by 20 inches wide by 16 inches tall. He was just hopping around exploring his new home. As time went on he was bouncing around and climbing up his perches, eating, bathing and everything else a zebra finch does.

Then I decided to get him a mate. I had found a pretty little fawn princess for him. We called her Late'. When I brought her home I set up a cage for her so she could see Puddle. They spent all the next few days calling to each other. They even slept as close to each other as they could. Then I put her into his cage. I watched to make sure that there would be no issues with that, but I had no choice since his cage was the only one like it I had. Well there were no problems. The two birds were as happy as happy could be. It took a couple of days for her to figure out that he could not fly but when she did she would and still does just make short fights so not to get to far from him.

Then came the fateful day that I put a nest in there cage just to see what would happen. Well in about 2 days he had filled it with the string and cotton I had given him. Then in about 3 weeks I heard a few peeps from inside the nest. I looked and low and behold there were 4 little babies. And dad was standing guard trying to look all big and mean.

Well since then I have become an avid breeder of zebras. Puddle and Late' are my best parents they will foster anything and I mean anything. I had a pair of Keets breed and the one surviving baby was not being fed. I had no other keets at the time so I figured why not give them a chance. I still have that little keet. His name is miracle. I just wanted to share this amazing story.

Article © Wraith 2006