Quick Tip for Sexing Monomorphic Species

[annague]

It has come to my attention that some newer folks struggle at times to sex monomorphic or nearly monomorphic species (both male and female look the same or so close it is hard to distinguish at times).

For instance: RT Parrot Finches, Orange Cheek Waxbills, Owls, Societies, etc.

When I have monomorphic chick species I band each chick a different color at the same time I NFSS close-band.

That way, the chicks only have to be handled once and when I put them in with the other juvies I will be able to distinguish them by their unique band color.

Then, when they exhibit sexually specific behavior, for instance; Society with purple band is singing -- MALE. I then make a note of it and the next time I have to handle that finch I will remove the color identifier band and add a band that identifies it as a male and separate it out into a male only enclosure until mature.

This enables a separation of young birds by sex to prevent pair bonding of siblings, unnecessary sexual harassment, etc. And, you have your birds confidently identified by the time you decide which ones to sell and which ones to keep.

(Of course this may not be so easy for people with much larger operations than I.)

[finchmix22]

Your idea works for Society's, but other species do not sing as much as Society's and some Society's won't sing in a flight of over six other Society's because there is usually a dominant male. I've had male Society's who I thought were female, but they began singing when I took out the dominant male for a medication one day and was placing him in quarantine for a few days. They other two males started singing, but had not previously. They were competing for the dominant male and mounting each other. Both sang until the real dominant male returned to the flight. Then, they went silent. My other finches are more difficult to hear as far as singing goes. And some species the hen will sing some too. If that is the case, I really have a more difficult time. I saw on a post from Sally that she will separate the finches, one per cage, and wait to see who sings or lays an egg. That works if you have extra cages. Oh well.

[annague]

Deborah, this post is not intended to tell people what characteristics to look for in order to sex mono. finches -- it is intended to offer a way to tell monomorphic finches apart ONCE THAT CHARACTERISTIC has been identified so that it can be confidently separated by sex at that point.

All species of monomorphic finches have different characteristics that aid in determining sex-- and that's a lengthy and different post -- although it would be an interesting one if someone wanted to attempt it.

[Queen_Bee]

Good system, and one that I will probably try out myself!

[6finchfriends]

Anna, that's a great idea. I have 8 societies in a flight and the boys sing up a storm all the time even though Dad is dominant. I only have a few finches so I know what sex they all are but if I had 5 pairs nesting and having fledglings, this would work out great! When it was time to sell them you could have them separated with the colored bands to refer to and you'd be confident in your sales. Would this work for siblings as well. A different color for pair #1 and so on?

[Sally]

The split colored bands work well for identifying families, too. So you can put say red bands on pair #1, blue bands on pair #2, and so on, and then their babies can have that same color. Makes it a lot easier to put unrelated babies together.

I had a cage full of Owls one time, parents and two clutches, and one of the birds was singing--male! But without a colored band on it, as soon as I reached in the cage, they all scattered, and I no longer knew which one had been singing. It would have been so easy if I had had colored bands on them at that time.

[annague]

I think everyone that breeds birds for a while develops their own system but here is what I do for quick 'visual' identification:

Example Pair of Owls:

Original male/female pair: Family band and Sex ID band on same leg (I always use the same leg -- say, right).

1st clutch: family band one leg, Sex ID band other leg

2nd clutch: family band and Sex ID band on same leg but opposite of parent pair (so, left).

3rd clutch: family band one leg, Sex ID band other leg (but opposite that of 1st clutch).

Normally that's the end of the season for the pair and the finches are re-homed or moved to a specific cage so I don't need quick visual i.d. beyond this.

And, of course, with closed-banding you can always grab up a bird and refer to your records which is normally what I do beyond the breeding period.

Bands can also get caught or cause damage sometimes so they should fit fairly snugly to the leg and be relatively thin if you decide to use them this way.