New. Trying to determine sex and cage compatibility

[Evelyn]

This is such a newbie question
How old do society finch makes start to sing
I have 3 new babies born September 11
Can any combo of 3 burd sexes be kept together
Like
2 boys one girl
3 girls
3 boys
2 girls one boy
No breeding is wanted
They are handfed tame loving pets

[Sally]

I'm not a Society expert, but I think the males start to sing at quite a young age. With Societies, any combination can be kept together, they are very compatible. However, if you have even one female and one male, there will be breeding. You can keep it down by not providing nests or nesting material, and keeping the protein levels in their diet lower, but they are determined little things. You may find eggs on the floor or in seed dishes, etc.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles about breeding, diet, housing, and especially the Society finch. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on.

[ohboi_jc]

If you do not want breeding, you should have all females or all males but your combinations are fine. Socieites are one of the easiest species to care for in my opinion. Good luck Evelyn.

[lovezebs]

Evelyn
Welcome to the Forum.
If you 'dont' want any breeding or egg problems, then three boys is the answer (or 2 or 4 or more). They will be happy together.

As to when they start to sing. Boys learn to sing from their Father, and then from each other. They will sing to one another, with the other male listening intently and picking up on it. They should start singing at quite a young age. In fact, yiurs, should be starting to practice their songs at this stage or any day.

Seeing as these are siblings, and the two parents I presume, I would not keep any of the males and females in the same enclosure *other than the two parents*. Siblings WILL mate and breed, and this is not desireable.

Again welcome, and we would love to see some pictures of your babies.

~Elana~

[wilkifam]

I have a male that fledged 2 weeks ago that is singing already.

[MiaCarter]

Welcome, Evelyn!!

I think everyone covered it quite nicely!

I just wanted to add that society finches are relatively tough to sex; you need to watch their behavior, as both genders look the same. This makes it tough to purchase all males or all females unless you're buying from a breeder who's sexed them already.

But keeping both genders in the same enclosure isn't a problem behaviorally. Societies are super easy going and problems with compatibility are extremely rare.

Personally, I keep siblings and other related birds together as a bonded pair. Many worry about keeping them together since there may be mating (as incest is not taboo in the birdie world.)
But without a nest, most will not attempt to incubate and raise a clutch (though there are exceptions. One member recently had a little baby named Anduin raised in a seed cup!)

But if any eggs are laid, you just pull them. It's that simple.

I should note that a healthy female will lay eggs every now and then, even without a nest and without any mating. That's totally normal. They're usually laid in a seed cup or on the floor.

And you could also use related birds as foster parents if the need arose, raising another bird's babies. Societies are commonly used as fosters.

[Sheather]

I have many societies, some of my favorite birds!

Society males begin to sing within a week of fledging, fully develop their songs by two months of age, and can breed a month later.

You can keep any gender combination together, if you want to avoid inbreeding you just can remove eggs.