Sexing Star Finches
Posted: 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?
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?
