Confused about Javas

[erine]

cindy

You meant this picture, right? Because this is the hen! It's the other one (with the softer bill and smaller eye rings) that does the singing, hopping and mounting. So he's definitely a he. So that means the one in the pic is the hen and she looks so much like a male! That's why I was so blinkin' confused but eggs means someone is female. What a hoot this is, eh? Never a dull moment.

[cindy]

the darker eye ring and the bulge in the area near the nares looks male, even from the top she looks male.... as I mentioned it is not always easy to sex the normals... curious did you get a picture of the underside of the lower beak?

I have been breeding javas for a few years now, have a really good size colony... most the time sexing is easy but once in a while you get one that looks one sex but is really the opposite. Not an exact science!!!

Can you see under the lower beak, is it slender, no bulging in the v part?

Keep checking the eggs, see if they are fertile.

[cindy]

some examples... these are fawns.... male is on the right, hen in the center. you can see the difference in the beak and the eye ring.

java 3.jpg (38.01 KiB) Viewed 915 times

two hens

java 2.jpg (37.68 KiB) Viewed 915 times

hen

male

9-2 fawn java male.jpg (36.74 KiB) Viewed 915 times

this one was given to me as a male... never sang, turned out to be a hen, it laid eggs. I questioned the sex from the start since the eye ring appeared pale.

[cindy]

a pair

you can see in this pair they might be some confusion on the hen, beak is large.

male opal isabel, very young

[erine]

cindy

Cindy, you are a font of information, thank you. And your birds are gorgeous. And I totally agree with you on my Java. He totally looks like a male in both beak and eyes. But he is the one being mounted. And the other one sings, hops and mounts like it's his job. So I assumed I had two males with one being more dominant. But now I have eggs. So logically I must must have a male and a female unless I'm way off base, right? It just goes to.show me that I really have nothing figured out, lol.

[cindy]

Thank you!!!

I am pretty sure now that eggs are showing up that it is safe to say you have a pair!!!! You are going to love baby java...by the way the clutches can be as small as to or as big as 10... I had two pairs breeding at one time..one pair gave me 10 egg, all 10 hatched and fledged... the other had 8 eggs which....you guessed it hatched, fledged. 18 little javas all begging loudly at one time!!!!

[Derk]

erine

Well congratulations are in order! Welcome to the life of a finch owner. They are always ready to surprise you.

[erine]

cindy
10! Holy cow! That would be so much fun. When I last checked the nest she was up to 3 and that was a couple of days ago. She has the eggs covered now with nesting materials so I can't tell unless I move stuff around. I read on the finch info site linked here that if this is a pair's first clutch you should try to avoid nest checks. So there may be more in there but I'm using all my will power to avoid checking because I don't want them to abandon the nest. There is someone in the nest almost all the time today and I'll be interested to see where they sleep tonight. I don't know whether to try and candle them or not or just wait and watch and see.

[cindy]

If the pair is relatively new let them be and try to check the box only when they are both out of the nest. If you provided them with lots of extra nesting material you may not be able to see easily into the box.

As far as candling the eggs... do not touch them, javas are funny some get to nervous and abandon or bury the eggs...they do not look it but they are pretty sensitive. When both birds are out of the box, take a penlight and candle them right in the box...most the time if all are fertile they all hatch.

The young tend to stay in the box and return once fledged often and usually the family sleeps together in the box... javas tend to mob together.

This is a picture of the 10 little fledglings sitting together, napping

[erine]

cindy
Cindy, that is one of the cutest things I've ever seen! I haven't touched the eggs at all, only looked. What is strange is that they stay in the nest all day but they don't sleep in the nest at night. That's probably not a great sign and maybe the eggs aren't fertile. I'm going to wait a couple of days and try to candle them right in the nest. There are just 4 eggs.

[cindy]

When did she lay the first egg and the last egg...if it is an egg a day there is still time for her to incubate...and she may not be done laying. Eggs are viable for 7 days from the day they are laid before they need to be incubated.

[wildbird]

Cindy: Beautiful birds! Is the pair of dark eyed white the parents of my bird?

[cindy]

Yes they are!!! They both are big birds. I still have your birds 2 sisters and brother. Semi tame, they come to the cage bar to me and still answer to my sound I use call them with, react to me talking to them. They will eat out of my hand still or take a seed.

[cindy]

Erine... this is what java babies look like (the 10 egg all hatched) ... if your javas are both split to fawn (fawn is recessive in javas) you will be able to see red eyes in the young even before the eyes open. Normals, silvers have black eyes. Opals have red eyes.

[cindy]

these are all fawn babies...you can see how light the eyes are