FINCHforum

I have a finch that I just purchased from the pet store...I didn't really know anything about finches before I bought them so I got a male zebra finch and a female that I can't place. I wish I would have known more before buying and just bought a female zebra as well but that's what I get for being uninformed....

Please email me at Kellye849 at peoplepc dot com to get the pic...I'm not all that sure how to post it here. If you tell me what she is you will get MAJOR kuddos cause I cant seem to find one like her anywhere online!

You can upload your photo to the gallery. The link is in the menu at the top of the page.

Here are the URL's for the pics that I posted of her:


http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displ ... at=0&pos=0

http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displ ... at=0&pos=1

I hope someone can help, lol.

Also, Tammie, you joined this site on my b-day...Feb. 11th, lmao. Just a crazy, very random thought. Have a nice one!

It's a Society and Zebra finch

and it looks like a pied zebra finch too!

ken

Thats a nice lil Society. I want a pair of those, sadly the petstore cannot tell what is male or female ....... how did your store do it??

My store really DIDN'T do it...I knew enough from looking on forums and pics to see that he was a male zebra but as for the girl...I'm assuming she was a girl because she looks like she's bigger in the tummy like she has some eggs inside but Im not totally sure yet. Either way they are so sweet and they cuddle together on the top perch at night and he squeaks kinda and she has a pretty, really high cherp/song. I just think she is a she. The pet store on the other hand....they had them all marked as EXOTIC finch...not hardly...and tried to tell me that the zebras were males because they were bright and the rest were females because they weren't. It was pretty much up to me to tell one way or the other.

Does anyone know for sure if *she* is a she for real? LMAO!

Also, can you tell me how you could tell she is a society finch? Are there certain things to look at on her to tell or what? Thanks guys!

Hi Kelly! I have tried to get some female Societies from a pet shop for a while and I have only gotten males. Wait for a bit and see if she sings a lovely song while fanning her tail and puffing up. Then she is a HE!

Here is a better pic of my zebra...he was about to take off in it...maybe someone can tell if he is a pied zebra...I'm new to birds fairly and dont really know all that much about finches yet but I love them and would like to learn and eventually (i.e. a few months to a year from now) breed some. But for now they are my super sweet singers, lol.

http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displ ... p?pos=-289

I'm thinking that I may have a male/male match here because he does sound beautiful....but it's not really a song, more like it's cussing out my zebra but more sweet and high pitched than he is. Gosh, I know nothing, lol.

I appriciate all the help you are all offering and all the people on this forum seem lovely. I'm glad I have all of you to ask these silly questions to!

Next to Zebras, Societies are probably the most popular finch. They are sold all over the world, but you will not find them living naturally in the wild as they are a man made species.

Here's their page on the Finch Information Center (link is to the left). You will find the more commonly kept species listed there.

http://www.finchinfo.com/birds/finches/ ... _finch.php There is a photo showing a male Society singing, it is quite comical and if you have a male he will stand like the one in the pic when singing. If not, then you probably have a hen.

Your Zebra appears to be a normal to me as I don't see any pied markings in that photo.

Kellye8498 wrote:I'm assuming she was a girl because she looks like she's bigger in the tummy like she has some eggs inside but Im not totally sure yet.

Also, can you tell me how you could tell she is a society finch? Are there certain things to look at on her to tell or what?

Hens don't become 'pregnant' and hold eggs inside. They form one egg at a time and lay it as soon as it is fully formed. The society could be a cock or a hen and you won't know until it sings (male), lays eggs (female), or if you get it DNA sexed (not many people do this).

We can ID the bird as a society finch because of the bird's appearance. The beak is usually two-toned (dark grey on top, silver below), and in "chocolate"/brown/"normal" colored birds the feathers directly surrounding the beak and throat are nearly black but quickly blend to a deep chocolate colored brown which covers the rest of the bird with the exception of the chest and belly area which are covered in a scallop design of offwhite and chocolate feathers; the rump blends into a black-brown tail. Many color mutations exist in this species, the most common being a mottled pied, where white feathers are randomly strewn throughout the normal coloring of the bird.

Your male zebra finch does appear to be pied; in the picture you posted of him with his wings spread, he looks not-pied until you notice that the outter wing feathers are actually white and not just brighter because of the camera's flash. In the other photo you posted of him, I spy a splotch of white on his forehead, too.

The first pair of finches I purchased was actually sold to me in the same way your pet store misinformed you--I got 2 completely *different* species but the store employee told me they were the same species, just that the boys looked "really different" from the girls. He was very wrong, but I didn't know any better at the time.

So if she is a SHE is there a reason that they shouldn't mate together? Because if not then I may mate them in the late future...once I know a LOT more about finches.

I'm not sure if they are different enough that it's a bad idea or not and the lady next door said that she would love to take 1-2 babys when I finally do dabble in breeding. I told her that it seems fairly involved but that when I'm ready she will be the first to know.

Thanks!

You shouldn't breed 2 different species together. If you want finch babies, zebras and societies are both very prolific species, but you should pair them with members of their same species. You will probably have no problem finding a zebra finch hen. It may be more difficult to find a mate for your society finch, since they are impossible to sex by just looking at them (unless you catch a male in the act of singing).

If you aren't super attached to your society finch and if the store which sold you your birds has zebra hens, they will probably exchange the society finch for a zebra hen free since they misinformed you about the pairing. Otherwise, you can do what most of us here do and just buy more birds :)

Breeding zebra finches (or society finches) is actually surprisingly easy (maybe too easy), but you are right to want to be more prepared and learn more about the birds before attempting to breed them. If the cage is large enough and you get a safe nest and safe nesting material, just provide the same-species pair with a good diet (including mashed boiled egg and cuttle bone) and they will pretty much do the rest.

Thanks for all that helpful info Crystal. I'm glad that there are so many patient people out there that will answer my questions! I know some are dumb and probably REALLY repetitive for people that have been on this site for a long time!

So far I am reading about breeding in general with zebras and think I am going to go to the pet store tomorrow and see if I cant find a hen. I will see what I can do from there. I may just keep my society but keep it in the cage they are in now and put the zebra pair in a new, larger cage. I think that if the cages are fairly close to eachother the society finch won't be too lonely but I hope that's true.

I'm really not sure what to do because they seem SO close...they both sleep side-by-side on the top perch in the right hand corner, lol. I might end up having to get another society finch for her to be friends with and a zebra hen for the other bird, who knows, lmao.

The neighbor that wants a finch could also get my society off me once I get a zebra hen and just provide her own cage. That might work as well. Do you guys think that I could get away with having three in the same cage just for 1-2 days until she got a suitable cage or should I wait for her to get a cage. Im not sure how agressive finches can be.


*EDIT* I just got on the site that shows the male society doing his hopping dance and singing and my HEN (sure is!) woke up and started making the "clicking or warning sound" they were talking about on the site. I haven't EVER seen her do that dance or anything even similar before and I've had her for over a week...she just makes sounds like she's cussing the zebra out sometimes but no singing. So now I think she is a she for sure, LMAO

You could get away with 2 Zebras and 1 Society in the same cage for a few days, but if your Zebs mate (hah, that's like saying IF rabbits breed!), they will for sure become aggressive to the Society. The two cuddle now because they only have each other, but once that male Zebra has a mate, he won't want the Society around. Your best bet is to swap out the Society for a Zebra hen--if you keep the Society in a cage all by itself, it will want company. Welcome to the world of ever-increasing finch flocks!