FINCHforum

Hi Everyone,

For the past few weeks, Ive had a pair of societies I bought from petsmart. I could not identify their gender, and they did not know at the shop. I noticed one singing, but could not really tell whether the other was singing too because of the overriding zebra noises. Well, three weeks in a row with nest building but no eggs, I thought maybe they were males. I was getting confused because some people said watch the tail when they sing, others said the beak...at the end i really couldnt tell. well, yesterday i had to move a small male zebra who was getting horribly bullied by his male siblings in with the societies, as i had no room. yesterday afternoon, peeking into their nest i saw an egg (the zebra was moved in the afternoon). This morning i got another egg. My dilemma is that, could they be both females, in fact, or are they m/f. Would the zebra have had anything to do with the eggs? he does not come near the nest, so im wondering.

im attaching a couple of pix of the societies, in the hope that someone can tell me if they are m/f or f/f.

thanks!

You really can't tell by looking at them if they are male or female. Most people go by song but the only sure way to find out is to wait and see if those eggs hatch.

Pull an egg out and use a flashlight to see if the eggs are fertile. I use a plastic spoon to pull eggs out.

I have 2 females that both lay eggs like crazy. One does a lot more sitting than the other.

If you saw one singing, that is a M.
Now that you have eggs, the other must be a F.

Eggs come about 5 days after mating, so it would not be the zebra male that mated w the F society.

They may coexist, just keep an eye on the zebra. Watch for aggression to the societies. I had a zebra juv that chewed the tail of a society ragged. I also had a zebra juv take over a nest with foster eggs and keep the societies away from the nest. Needless to say, he was removed, I could not have the societies kept from their foster eggs.

Society's look the same no matter what their sex. If you take out the eggs and put a flashlight against the egg in a dark room, you'll see a red/orange coloring and veins of the growing chick. If it's not fertile, you'll see clear egg, like a very small chicken egg from a store. You know you have at least one hen because there's an egg. If the one was singing with it's neck stretched out and feathers puffed up while singing, it's a cock. That means you likely have fertile eggs.

Try to seperate the socities. If they have been together for a while,once they are seperated,they will start singing for each other. If they both sing,you have two males. You'll find out quickly.

Try putting a mirrorin the cage, males will sometimes sing at the sight of their own reflection, or play a clip of a male singing to see if onesings back

I would say that you have a m/f pair of societies in the cage.
If you heard one of them singing, that one would be your male.
They do lay one egg a day, sometimes skipping a day.
Keep an eye on the juvie zebra, as stated they are prone to becoming territorial and may decide to disturb the nesting parents.. Just in case , I would get a cage ready.
Good luck with the eggs, and let us know how things turn out.

I agree it's a male/female pair and you likely have fertile eggs. If you don't want anymore babies, remove the nest after this clutch. Pics please, if they have babies.

finchmix22 wrote:I agree it's a male/female pair and you likely have fertile eggs. If you don't want anymore babies, remove the nest after this clutch. Pics please, if they have babies.

Thank you everyone for the great feedback! As Gary said, the juvenile zebra was not to be trusted. He appeared very well-behaved when i put him in with the societies, but today he started getting mean. Indeed, the little devil was trying to single-handedly take over their nest! What a rascal! I moved him back with his siblings...im waiting until my husband finished building the other flight cage to move all zebras there. I do have a small, rounded cage available, but i hate putting any birds in it, am trying to get rid of it. Well, i havent had the chance to candle the eggs yet, i get so busy and i want to give the societies the chance to settle down a bit after the disruption. ill candle tomorrow and let you guys know.

Thanks again for the wonderful comments and the care!

Your welcome. Would love to see pics and know how it goes.

Yeah it's a good idea you took out the little zebra finch. I can't keep my zebras with any of my other pairs of finches cause they like to bully them around. But I wish you the best of luck it sounds like you got a true pair of societies. Also my males don't sing as much when the females are sitting on the eggs, then they start singing alot when the babies are almost weaned. So don't be alarmed if you don't hear singing for a little bit.

Chrismurdoch3 wrote:Yeah it's a good idea you took out the little zebra finch. I can't keep my zebras with any of my other pairs of finches cause they like to bully them around. But I wish you the best of luck it sounds like you got a true pair of societies. Also my males don't sing as much when the females are sitting on the eggs, then they start singing alot when the babies are almost weaned. So don't be alarmed if you don't hear singing for a little bit.

Pfffft!

Ok, I definitely have one society who's a singer (most likely the male) and the non-singer (female). However, three eggs laid were all blanks. Ive caught them mating a few times, so why the blanks?

I know this is a question in the dark, as there are a million explanations such as age, health, fertility, etc lol. Ill wait and see if theres a round two with more success.

Thanks

how old were the eggs when you candled them?
Maybe the male didnt fertilase the eggs.
He will get is next time

The eggs usually don't look fertile until they're incubated a few days. How long was the hen sitting before you looked? If they're clear, then they may not have completed the dead, so to speak. Sometimes, they take a little practice. As you said, if they're young too, or too old they can lay infertile eggs. Keep observing and maybe the next clutch will be fertile.