FINCHforum

My male society yesterday knocked the female he doesn't like off the food dish and then he and the other female that he likes started eating while the knocked off female sat on a perch by herself watching.
This isn't the first time I've seen him go and knock her off a perch. But first time at the food dish.

A friend today took some pictures of society at pet shop.

I decided to try for 3 females, which my double flight cage has plenty of room for 6 total.

One looks puffed up and has head tucked in.
Looks like sick.

None look like they r singing.
A couple have short tails but can't tell in pictures, may young ones?

How when all fly around when catching time, distinguis sick one from others - notice any way to tell difference, looks a lot like 2 others ?

Any ideas which may be females?

I would take 4 they're so cute but then would be back to odd numbers which wasn't a problems before but has started to be one this spring.

Also different question:
On picture of my cage there is a bird bath. I really like it because it greatly reduces how much water the splash everywhere which makes the paper liner wet and smelly
But they don't like taking a bath all together in it, it is a little too small.
The blue bath they took baths all together but they would soak everything far and wide because it was open and attached inside the cage.
I tried a different outside bath but those with little hooks didn't work the door wouldn't stay open or the hooks weren't set right to hold for the door size.
I liked seeing them all together taking a bath buf I hated the mess..
Can't find the bath pictured in a larger size?

zebsoc
All the ones I see seem to have full length tails. Missing tails are common in society finches, as they lose feathers extremely easily. They grow back pretty quickly, but if one of the birds plucks others, good luck having your birds grow back their tails. If a bird has a short tail for long enough, it may rip out any feathers that grow back; it took almost half a year for my white female to stop pulling out the new feathers.

You may want to add another food dish to the other side of the cage so everyone has a chance to eat. A double-sided hopper feeder may work as well, but make sure they know how to use it before removing the other food dish.

It looks like they all have different markings, so the person catching the bird for you should be able to remember which ones you want. Or even better, you could take a photo of the birds and compare it to the birds they caught. Beware or buying any birds from a cage with sick ones; quarantine is highly recommended for birds coming from such an environment. Sick society finches are rare and may be due to a genetic fault or poor husbandry.

As for finding females, this will be difficult. Song and voice are the best way to tell, but you probably will not be able to hear their chirps from inside the glass. Beak shape may vary between the sexes, but this is unreliable. I saw this other test where you hold a bird gently by the neck between two fingers and let it hang from your hand; if it is male its tail will be in line with its body, and if it's female, its tail will be angled away from its body. I'm not sure if the test really works, but I tried it on a male and it did not harm the bird.

Icearstorm - thank you for the helpful info

zebsoc
You're welcome! I wish you luck getting some more birds