Ratio of Males to Females - Influence of Diet?

[Thinus]

Hi guys,

I have been running into the same issue with basically all my finch nests (Show Zebras and Gouldians) over the past number of months.

I am breeding substantially more males than females. Probably close to an 80/20 male to female split, which is starting to become a problem for my own plans going forward and when trying to sell spare birds.

I remember reading, once upon a time, that diet can have an effect on the sex of offspring, for instance a higher protein content should yield a higher probability of breeding hens. That's just an example, I can't remember the content and conclusions of the piece i read.

Anyone else seen something like that? Can you maybe send me a link?

Any other ideas of what I could try from a husbandry/nutritional point of view?

P.S. All my birds have access to natural (sun) light for large parts of the day, so I don't think it is a light spectrum issue.

[debbie276]

Might be worth adding a blacklight in your room. I've heard from several sources over the years that it helped. One of the links in my signature leads to an article that talks about blacklights.
I have not heard that diet change did anything for ratio of the sexes yet even though I've heard it should in theory.

Please keep us posted on your outcome.

[Fraza]

Well it’s weird you said this because today I was having a conversation about why all my society’s I breed keep coming out females and no males only a odd one

[lem2bert]

Thinus

That is very interesting. I am a first time breeder of finches and I just had a pair of red cheeked bleu have 5 chicks and a pair of Gouldians with babies ready to fledge. Now you have me very curious about the ratio of males and females. It will be a while for the babies to mature enough to tell, but I will let you know the outcome.

[Thinus]

I will let you guys know.

I moved a clutch of youngsters into my young bird flight cage yesterday, all three males (can see the Zebra bars start showing). I cannot for the life of me figure out what's going on. Maybe I'm just have rotten luck. About a month ago I sold some excess stock 13 cocks and 1 hen.

[lovezebs]

Thinus

I believe these articles may be helpful with the mystery of the larger percentage of male chicks with your Gouldians.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro ... an/3133630

https://www.theguardian.com/science/pun ... -mates-sex

[Sally]

Thinus I once had a problem with breeding Strawberries, as my male/female ratio was similar to yours. In clutches of 4 or 5, I would have only one hen. I was told to put a black light in my bird room, and that did the trick. Subsequent clutches were roughly 50/50. The black light was a 4' fluorescent shop light, hung overhead so the light reached into all the cages. If you try this, you can get smaller black lights, but make sure it is an actual black light, not one just tinted for party use.