Owl finches-male and female?

[colorin]

do males groom other males or just females?

[L in Ontario]

They all buddy up to either males and/or females - it doesn't matter to them. Just like Societies.

[lstyles]

My owls are together because they are being quarantined but they are nesting in a nest box with my three society finches. I haven't heard any singing from the male but the "male" spends the most time in the nest and seems to be "fixing" things. The "female" flies around the cage a lot making her beeping noises. We will see what happens. Do different species share nests like this and raise chicks in the same nest...seems weird?
Lori

[L in Ontario]

They may well share a nest but when it comes to actually laying/incubating eggs - I would imagine they would want separate nesting sites.

[the.puppeteer]

Owl Finches and Societies can interbreed and create hybrids. Either separate them, remove the nest or remove any eggs laid while they are together as you wont be able to tell which birds are truly the parents.

Good luck with your pair!
Julie

[finchmix22]

Do hens make a chirping sound at all? My new owl finch that is suppose to be a hen chirps like our male all the time and the markings of both are equal at all the points mentioned. I cannot tell a difference in width or color. Could I have two males?

[Sally]

They will both make chirping sounds, but the males have a cute, squeaky little song. Visual markings aren't always correct, as some hens will look like little males, and vice versa. I always have to go by the song to be sure. You can play this audio clip of a male Owl singing from the FIC, but even that doesn't always get my males singing.

http://www.finchinfo.com/audio/owl_song.mp3

[finchmix22]

Sally,
I played the link of the song and they both chirped a while, but no song. Before we picked up the hen from Helen, the male was singing daily. So, maybe he is just happy now and doesn't need to sing. I just wanted to make sure she was a hen, as Helen told me to call her if the finch began to sing so we could swap for another one. They get along well though and were in the nest together and taking nesting material into the nest, but no mating dance or calls as of yet. Here's hoping.....
Deborah