FINCHforum

I have a strawberry finch and I can not tell what sex it is. It has the coloring of a female but sings like a male. Has never laid an egg.

Where can I get sexing done? And what do I send in?

where are you located? If in the states you can use Avian Biotech

http://www.avianbiotech.com/sexingcenter.htm

Strawberry Finch isn't on the list. These are usually easy to tell apart. The male is red the female is light brown. This bird is darker brown than a female but has zero white spots, they are tan.


http://www.avianbiotech.com/SpeciesList.asp

FinchsRUS Why don't you bring the bird to the next Fort Worth Bird Club meeting at the FW Botanic Gardens September 11 or our annual all-bird show in Cleburne on September 17. I'm planning to be at the club meeting. A group of us are going to the bird show in Seguin on the 10th, but we plan to be back late that night so we can make the meeting. For sure, I will be at the bird show in Cleburne, as I am the show secretary for the finch division. I'm pretty sure our judge, KJ Brown, has raised Strawberries in the past, so after the show is over, perhaps he could sex it for you. I've had a few females sing, just not as much or as long as males.

I don't know if any lab will do Strawberry finches, they usually only do monomorphic species. There is a lab in Dallas, I haven't used them for dna, but you could call them and ask. http://www.vetdna.com/contact-us I use Avian Biotech. I do the blood sample, Roy Beckham has an excellent article with photos on how to prepare a sample. http://www.efinch.com/dna_sexing/dna_sexing.htm

Sounds good. I'll put it on my calendar for Sept 11.

I may have a male and female ready to show. They look pretty good. What do I need for that?

FinchsRUS

If you want to show them, I can loan you show cages. I could bring them to the September 11 meeting. Barbara Irwin will be selling show tags there, and I can show you how to fill them out.

FinchsRUS

Hi mate I'd definitely follow Sally's advice,

However I'm willing to be corrected if I'm wrong but aswell as only doing DNA only on monomorphic species I've never heard of small finches ever having DNA, reason being I'd say there far to small and the stress level would probably be to much,

I remember England's top avian vet Alan k Jones once saying to me about 25 years ago that he'd never do a DNA on any bird that is smaller than a Budgie as a lot of very small birds IE finches quite often wouldn't make it because of the stress

If it comes down to it, I could pluck a feather out right? I catch these birds somewhat frequently to clip toenails.

FinchsRUS

Actually yea you could do that mate, that is one way of DNA,

Why didn't I think of that .....doh.....lols

I have had DNA tests done on tiny waxbills, they don't die from the stress. All I did was clip a toenail shorter than normal, you don't need a lot of blood. The DNA labs normally only do DNA tests on monomorphic species because there is no need to do it on dimorphic species. Avian Biotech can do DNA on species as small as Orange-cheeked waxbills or Yellow-bellied waxbills or Black-crowned waxbills. They can only do DNA on species on which they already have DNA in their system to compare with. I even had Owl finches DNA'd years ago at the request of a customer. He had been burned by another breeder, who sold him the wrong sexes, so he was willing to pay the extra to have my babies DNA tested. It can certainly save a lot of time and heartache when trying to breed some of the more rare monomorphic species.

Stuart whiting wrote: I remember England's top avian vet Alan k Jones once saying to me about 25 years ago that he'd never do a DNA on any bird that is smaller than a Budgie as a lot of very small birds IE finches quite often wouldn't make it because of the stress

A lot has changed in 25 years, especially in the scientific and medical avian fields.

Sally wrote:

Stuart whiting wrote: I remember England's top avian vet Alan k Jones once saying to me about 25 years ago that he'd never do a DNA on any bird that is smaller than a Budgie as a lot of very small birds IE finches quite often wouldn't make it because of the stress

A lot has changed in 25 years, especially in the scientific and medical avian fields.

Yes I know what yer saying Sally as I said it was about 25 years ago when I was told this by Alan who is still England's top vet of today,

Baring in mind that Most DNA then was by injection and this would of definitely stressed if not killed any small bird like waxbills.

As you rightly say that an awful lot of reaserch and scientific medical data etc has now been worked on with fantastic new ways.

I personally wasn't to sure in the various ways that DNA is now done mainly because I've never needed to use it,

As it goes I've never ever taken any one of my birds to a vet as I've never needed to because 9 out of 10 I've usually managed to treat what ever problem that had been raised

I've almost convinced myself this is a male after all. I thought female since no red on the breast at all... But they have fooled me like this before. This bird is so much darker than the hens are. It also sings a crisp strawberry song.. It has to be a male.

So .. Anyone have an extra female?

Could this bird be darker because of melanism? Strawberries are very prone to melanism when they don't have exposure to natural sunlight.

Hi, It is really not necessary to clip the nail. I am sure this must be very painful even afterwards for a few days.
Take a sharp thin disposable needle and deliver a quick prick just above the nail where the flesh starts- immediately a drop of blood will appear and that is all you need.
Be sure to use a new needle for every bird as not to get the results mixed up.
[this comment only regards the collection of the blood sample- I really don't know what labs will test and what not]