FINCHforum

Hi I have 3 canary chicks just starting to feather up now . 2 of which have black patches on there head , the parents are red dimorphic and the cock birds ( father ) has black patch on his head . Does this mean the 2 chicks with black patches are both cock birds ?

No

MrBrittsBirds

Colours, have nothing to do with the sex of your Canaries.

You'll be able to sex them once the boys begin to sing, not for quite a while yet.

I have read in several places that the breeders have watched their babies in the nest, and when they are feathering up the breeder approaches the nest and they say that lots of times the males would back up and try and hide in the nest and the hens would just sit there and look back at you.

I did try this method on one of my clutches in the past out of two babies and the male did tend to be a little more shy in the nest and he turned out to be a male. I don't know if this was coincidence or a good method of determining sexes but i guess you could give it a try and see if it works for you.

The down side to this is you still have to wait and see if the bird sings or lays an egg to be sure of the sex. But if the method proves true it might be something to go off of for your younger birds.

yep i got one chick which has started to become very shy and its not eating from the syringe anymore only from the female . it drops back when i tap the nest .

MrBrittsBirds

How are the Canary babies doing?

MrBrittsBirds
Well keep an eye on that baby and see if it sings down the road. Maybe the hypothesis is true that males are more shy than the females in the nest.

MrBrittsBirds

I have an adult canary that I am unable to sex. It neither sings nor does it lay eggs

Respected Canary breeders that go to national shows and have raised birds for decades still get the gender wrong on Canaries. There aren't any solid, fool-proof methods except when a hen lays an egg.

I have a canary now that is in its second year and I'm still wondering. It sometimes sings, and it will sometimes fight with a near-by male. But, it sometimes acts and flutters like a hen. It has neither laid an egg nor fathered a chick.

There are certain Canary colors that are sex-linked--males will be one color and females another. I don't know how that works, or which colors are like that. Anyone?