Any Pointers on Sexing Juvinile Canaries?

[Jamm972]

So this is my first year breeding and so far I am up to 12 Baby juveniles. I know one way is to watch for the ones that are trying to sing. Or another way is see if 2 canaries are fighting.

Does anybody else have any pointers on how to sex canaries at such an early stage before the Molt Starts.

Also whats a good way to encourage the males to try to sing when they are housed in a flight cage with others siblings.

Should I just chance it and put them in individual cages and play canary songs and hope they sing.

I know there is DNA testing but as a breeder this is not suggested because its costly.

What do other breeders do or suggest.

Any advice would be appreciated and taken in.

[Jamm972]

Also updating an onservation. 2 of the juveniles are now sitting next to each other like there cuddling as they sleep together. Is this a sign of opposite sex? It's happening with 2 pairs each night.

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

In June, I don't worry to much about sexing babies. Really impossible without expensive DNA work anyway. As soon as I see them eating hard and soft food on their own, they get to fly free in the open aviary for about 8 months. With a varied diet and plenty of exercise they gain in size and form. Those with slight variegation in color (brown spots) are sold un-sexed at wholesale prices after the molt. To answer your question; some juveniles may sit together (doesn't mean anything) but most are pretty independent.
After the Fall molt, the young males seem to go off on their own to start practicing their songs through December. At first I notice some very soft singing going on but within a month or so they start to get into prime breeding condition and the place gets pretty noisy. My birds are all banded with the year color and the family color so by February it's easy to notate the males and the females. Not to disturb the place, I use a special pair of "butterfly binoculars" by PENTAX for a close up view of the bands.

In March the males will sing directly to the females and the hens start carrying nest material around. By June my selective breeding season is just about over and all adult birds are released from the breeding cages back out to the open aviary with their babies

- so I can enjoy them in a semi-natural environment until next March. Some are re-banded (gray) for retirement, others are noted by band number for sale or for the next breeding season. I'm not that interested in high production numbers but I do keep track of everything on an XL spreadsheet - hopefully to improve the red factor species and to avoid inbreeding. Now that the Canary season is almost over, Gouldians and some other finch species are just finishing their molt so preparing egg food is a pretty continuous thing around here.
Maintaining multiple species takes quite a bit of focus but for most of the year it's much easier to care for colonies of birds rather than servicing all those individual breeding cages.

All the best.

Paul