Society finch female not interested in any males

Tips for successful breeding and troubleshooting breeding problems.
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Magali
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Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Magali » Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:48 am

Hi, I have a little issue with one of my society hens, she seems reluctant to breed. She's old enough (born in the 1st week of April 2018), she's been fed a rich diet including good quality seeds, egg pate and greens and she's active and healthy. I recently purchased a set of breeding cages and I currently have 2 other couples that have built their nest, mated several times and are now brooding. They seem content with their setup. 1 couple is experienced since they've had several clutches last year, the other couple never did before but I put them together because they looked like they were bonded (usually close to each other in the large cage where all my birds usually live). The problematic hen didn't look like she was bonded to any bird in particular, so I selected one for her that I was interested in breeding. He courted her a lot, but he never built a nest and I didn't see them mate either. After a full week, they were obviously getting nowhere, so I put this male back in the large cage and put another one in her breeding cage. He tried courting her, but she pecked and chased him away. I tried yet another male, she didn't show signs of aggression with him but he didn't court her either, they were basically just ignoring each other. They both looked unhappy and even somewhat lethargic, so after a few days, I put a stop to this and put both back in the large cage. It didn't even take 2 minutes before they got energetic and happy-looking again.

So, I don't have years of experience breeding birds (begun only about a couple years ago, but only "casually", basically putting up nests and material in the large cage and letting them do whatever they wanted), maybe I'm missing something here? Society finches are usually quite easy to breed, but I guess stuff like this can happen. Is there such a thing as hens that just won't breed, or is she just particularly picky? Any advice? I'd really like to breed her because she's the only one I have and have seen around here that looks like a true self, all others are pieds, to varying degrees.

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Fraza
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Re: Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Fraza » Fri Mar 29, 2019 6:55 pm

Magali what diet are you feeding her

Mine are fed a rich seed diet however once I start adding in the veg, grit, cuttlebone and egg it’s like it persuades them to breed and assures the females they are prepared to breed

It’s there natural instinct if there is more Availibe they will feel more secure breeding.

I also don’t think you have left her with a male long enough some take so much longer than 1 week, I’ve just paired my zebra hen to a new male and it’s been around 9 weeks and eggs have just hatched for about two weeks she didn’t like him and wouldn’t let him in the nest till he started messing with nesting material

Also add a pic I love society’s/bengalease !!!!!
FINCHES I HAVE
Bengalese
zebras
Java sparrows
Silver bills
java x beng hybrid



PETS IVE HAD
dogs
Fish
Cocktiel
Doves
Hybrid cherry x Bengalese
Stars
Heck’s
Canary’s

My favourite is COCO my grey pearl society cock been here since the start my flock leader


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https://m.youtube.com/results?q=fraser% ... de101&sm=3

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Magali
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Re: Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Magali » Mon Apr 01, 2019 11:52 am

She's been fed pretty much the same kind of diet as what you do, except for the grit (I don't want to start a debate on whether grit should be given to finches or not, but I don't want to give them grit as I believe due to research that they don't need it and that it may even be harmful in the long run). I think you may be right about the time, I probably didn't wait long enough, or could it be that she's actually bonded to another male (yeah, for some reason, I ended up with a lot more males than females, so the ladies have got plenty of choice :wink: ) and that it wasn't none of those I tried to pair up with her? I remember reading somewhere that society finches wouldn't accept another partner if they still have visual and/or auditory contact. My breeding cages are in the same room as the large cage and not very far apart.

Here's a pic of her (her name's Brownie, BTW, I think it suits her well):
0041.jpg

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Re: Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Fraza » Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:51 pm

Magali yeah she’s a nice self I would just put her up with the male that looks most similar to a self and then leave her in the cage with no nest for a couple of days and then add the nest in so that might make the male see the nest and start nest building then the female will probably want to breed

And ano I personally think the grit makes the eggs stronger and since using it I’ve had better results however that doesn’t matter they will still breed without it.

I hope that works because I want to see the chicks aswell !!!!!!
FINCHES I HAVE
Bengalese
zebras
Java sparrows
Silver bills
java x beng hybrid



PETS IVE HAD
dogs
Fish
Cocktiel
Doves
Hybrid cherry x Bengalese
Stars
Heck’s
Canary’s

My favourite is COCO my grey pearl society cock been here since the start my flock leader


YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://m.youtube.com/results?q=fraser% ... de101&sm=3

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Magali
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Re: Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Magali » Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:30 am

Well, I don't have many birds that look like selfs, unfortunately. The closest ones would be her dad and her brother, but that's not an option for obvious reasons. Among the others, there would be this one, but he has a lot of white, mostly on his belly and chin (on the other hand, he's crested and I would love to produce crested selfs). Also, he's older than the others, around 4 years old. Is he too old? I read that society finches lifespan is about 4 years, but he doesn't look like he's about to kick the bucket any time soon. What do you think?
0046.jpg

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Re: Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Fraza » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:22 pm

Magali I think it would be fine and because you female is a chocolate she will over power the fawn and possibly make more of the self come out

Also because he’s older he should know the breeding process better etc nest building

Keep me updated
FINCHES I HAVE
Bengalese
zebras
Java sparrows
Silver bills
java x beng hybrid



PETS IVE HAD
dogs
Fish
Cocktiel
Doves
Hybrid cherry x Bengalese
Stars
Heck’s
Canary’s

My favourite is COCO my grey pearl society cock been here since the start my flock leader


YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://m.youtube.com/results?q=fraser% ... de101&sm=3

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Magali
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Re: Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Magali » Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:59 am

OK, I'll give the "nest after 2 days" thing a shot next weekend. We'll see how it turns out. I'm not sure that Jack (the crested fawn male) is actually experienced in nest building and stuff though, since I'm pretty sure that the lady that had him before she gave him to me never encouraged breeding and probably didn't provide nesting (she had a couple, male and female, and decided to not replace the female when she died and to give away the male instead to someone who would take care of him).

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Re: Society finch female not interested in any males

Post by Fraza » Wed Apr 03, 2019 2:24 pm

Magali yh I see what you mean I’m hoping they do because you have a crested and a selfbwhich are the hardest types of bengalease colour utation
FINCHES I HAVE
Bengalese
zebras
Java sparrows
Silver bills
java x beng hybrid



PETS IVE HAD
dogs
Fish
Cocktiel
Doves
Hybrid cherry x Bengalese
Stars
Heck’s
Canary’s

My favourite is COCO my grey pearl society cock been here since the start my flock leader


YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://m.youtube.com/results?q=fraser% ... de101&sm=3

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