This Is Going To Be Interesting ...

Occasionally members of a finch-related forum I belong to trade eggs. This gives everyone new bloodlines for only the cost of postage. The "catch" is that you have to have a foster pair or trio already incubating fake eggs, and swap them out for the real eggs as soon as they arrive. I'd mentioned that I'd like to have some eggs in the future, but that I didn't have any to trade right now, so I didn't really think much else of it.

Over the weekend, by total coincidence, I started setting up 2 pairs and 1 trio of my society finches to foster some abandoned zebra finch eggs. I've added a total of 4 eggs over 3-1/2 days, which simulates a hen's egg-laying pattern. The pairs and trio are all males, which is ideal because, since there's no hen, there are no additional eggs to deal with. Supposedly it can sometimes take males a bit longer to start incubation, but they're supposed to start within a few days. As of right now, I'm still waiting for them to SIT. One pair is thinking seriously about it. The other pair is "on the fence". And the trio wants nothing to do with the nest as of yet.

Well, someone from the forum e-mailed me two days ago and said he had some eggs to send me. I went ahead and agreed, since a) there's time for the male pairs and trio to start incubating, and b) as backup, I have another trio (M/F/F) in my bird room already incubating some foster eggs, and I'm 99% sure those eggs are all duds. I gave him my address so he could see how much shipping would be, thinking I had 3-4 days at least, by the time I paid him and he shipped the eggs via Priority Mail.

He e-mailed me yesterday.

He's already shipped them.

Via Express/Overnight Mail.

They'll be here today.

Gads. Where I can I put them???

I remembered that my "already on eggs" trio is incubating likely-dud zebra eggs, and thought, "That's where I'll put the new eggs!" Yay! So I went to candle them to be sure, and to my surprise, the societies have laid some eggs of their own in addition to the foster eggs. Gads.

The eggs aren't just normal eggs. They're English Zebra Finch eggs. English zebras are about twice the size of normal zebras, and are rare around here. I really don't want to lose them.

Unless my "sort of sitting" pair decides to put their l'il bottoms in the nest and KEEP them there, it looks like my "already on eggs" trio may end up incubating a double/mixed clutch. That's risky, because sometimes when birds see that some of the chicks are different-looking, they'll toss or abandon some or all of them.

I *may* replace the new society eggs from the "already on eggs" pair with the English zebra eggs, and move the society eggs to the nest of the "sort of sitting" pair, and cross my fingers and toes that they'll take over. None of the society eggs have candled as being viable as of yet, but it IS early.

Feels like I'm playing a game of "Musical Eggs"! :-/