Dominance Behavior?

[Icearstorm]

I have had a group of four society finches (1 male, 3 females) for about two months now, and just witnessed a relatively odd behavior. One of my females (which I am sure is female; I saw her lay an egg) just mounted one of my other females and "mated" with her (wing-flapping and touching their cloacas together, just as the male does when he mates). Is this a dominance behavior similar to what dogs and cows do, or something else?

[Babs _Owner]

Icearstorm

I have never ever seen any of my female societies mount another finch. If you have 3 females in one cage, it may be hard to know exactly who is laying eggs. That sounds like you have a male that doesnt sing. He may not sing because your other male is dominant.

I have a cage with 2 males, 2 females. One of my males is the bird that predominately sits on eggs (as if he was a hen), and he seldom sings because the other male is a bit of a show-off.

[Icearstorm]

I watched the egg come out of the bird's body; it had no shell, but it was definitely an egg- the yolk sac, albumen, and membrane were clearly seen... (I saw her discover the cuttlebone and eat a large amount the next day- all the following eggs layed had shells, though I don't know if they were fertile). I have also seen the male courting and mating with that bird (though that doesn't guarantee the bird on the bottom is a female, it certainly does suggest it). The birds I have are quite easy to tell apart and I am sure this is the same bird... Maybe it's a hermaphrodite (extremely unlikely, but possible)?

[Stuart whiting]

Icearstorm

I have never ever seen any of my female societies mount another finch. If you have 3 females in one cage, it may be hard to know exactly who is laying eggs. That sounds like you have a male that doesnt sing. He may not sing because your other male is dominant.

I have a cage with 2 males, 2 females. One of my males is the bird that predominately sits on eggs (as if he was a hen), and he seldom sings because the other male is a bit of a show-off.

Mmm...yea I'm inclined to agree Babs

[Sheather]

I disagree. When I had multiple females I saw this a lot, and I also saw them do it to males! I just joked that they're a little kinky. I have also seen one of my female budgies (brown crusted cere) mount her (younger, inexperienced) boyfriend exactly like a male would usually tread a hen. I have also found that males of both species are pretty fine mounting other birds of either gender, I have seen male society finches mate and then I have a couple male budgies who like to get frisky on the back of our dove even though there are female budgies in the aviary.

Animals do a lot of things that don't necessarily make immediate biological sense, just like we do.

My experience may differ from others but I haven't found society finch cocks to sing less in groups. I used to have eight or nine males, they outnumbered hens, but they would all sing all the time and sometimes all at once. If anything being around other males made them sing more, as if to show off.

[Icearstorm]

Thank you for responding! It's just interesting how I've never seen that behavior before... Perhaps moving all of them into the larger cage triggered it?

[Babs _Owner]

Sheather

What dirty little birds Dylan! *giggle* I would crack up if one of my females mounted the males. The look on the male's face would be priceless. I totally agree with the males singing in a group. That happened in my all-boys cage last year. This one male (Brody) I have seems a bit intimidated by my other male ( KoJax's) song., so he sulks and sits on fake eggs all day.