Sexing Star Finches

Post by **Sally** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 1:52 pm

I have had Star finches for several years and thought I could sex them accurately. I have 5 related females, one having a yellow mask and beak. Her mask does not extend past her eyes. Today, I looked in the bird room and caught the yellow-faced hen? with a remnant of a millet spray in her mouth, hopping up and down and bowing next to one of her sisters. I was in my kitchen, which has a window into the bird room, so I couldn't tell if she was singing. Do Star hens sometimes do the mating dance?

These hens are about 9 months old, so I had planned to start breeding them soon. I have an unrelated male I planned to pair with this yellow-faced hen?, but if this hen is actually male, I will have to rethink my pairings. I may just have to put her in a breeding cage with the male and see how they react.

I have another pair that I set up for breeding last year. They would add material to a wicker nest, the hen would brood for weeks, then when I finally checked the nest, it would be empty. I started to suspect that I had two males who had just bonded. They were sold to me as an unrelated pair, and one does look like a hen, but she never laid any eggs. Has anyone else had this kind of experience with their birds?

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:51 pm

I've always thought that star finches were one of the easier species to sex??? Maybe there are exceptions?

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:11 pm

I haven't kept stars, but I've had other species where the hens would engage in the mating dance (just without singing...they would chirp over and over instead). It can happen!

Post by **Sally** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 12:25 am

Well, I'm sure she's a hen--caught her up today, and her mask doesn't extend past her eyes, and there is no yellow on her chin. Set her up in a breeding cage with the mate I selected for her, and they seemed to hit it off fairly quickly--already checking out the wicker nest I hung in the corner. All my Stars are in full breeding mode right now, so I think she was just getting tired of all the females in her cage.

Post by **Hilary** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:41 pm

I need to read up on star genetics. I have two yellow-faced boys (brothers) and have been looking for yellow hens for about a year, but I guess I really don't HAVE to pair them with yellow - red will give me a mix of colors.....

Post by **Sally** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:12 pm

Hilary - this yellow-faced hen came out of two normal red-faced Stars that I had. They had 9 total chicks last year, 8 red-faced and 1 yellow-faced, so one of them must be carrying the gene for yellow, I guess. I still have the mother (lost the daddy this year), so I will pair her with a different mate (still another red-faced) and see what happens.

Dario78 · Post by **Dario78** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:45 pm

I had a yellow-faced hen that came out of two normal red-faced Stars too ! She was very nice !
I show you this old picture about her and her parents and brothers !

John · Post by **John** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:24 am

Sally wrote:Well, I'm sure she's a hen--caught her up today, and her mask doesn't extend past her eyes, and there is no yellow on her chin. Set her up in a breeding cage with the mate I selected for her, and they seemed to hit it off fairly quickly--already checking out the wicker nest I hung in the corner. All my Stars are in full breeding mode right now, so I think she was just getting tired of all the females in her cage.

Hi, im new here...um..do you guys breed your Stars in breeding cages? I am thinking about getting some, but dont have an aviary yet.

Ive got a pair of White Headed Munia's in a cage at the moment, but im not sure if they are boy or girl or what...Im 75% sure they are boy and girl, but dont know.