Sheldon & Leonard

[SamFinch]

As I've stated in another post, I sort of 'rescued' Sheldon from a pet store that was going to dispose of him, he has a deformed leg. Then after having Sheldon for a few months, I read here that finches should always have a cagemate...sooo...I bought Leonard for him. I guess I never really thought very hard on what sex they were, its not like its obvious. Because I wanted two of the same sex, I convinced myself it was true. Lol. Then comes the eggs...I was not ready for that. Now I'm thinking ahead to inter-breeding, like what if those siblings of opposite sex, mate and have more babies, and so on and so on.... This cannot be a good thing. So what exactly should I do about this? How do I stop their mating? hmmm...many parents and grandparents have probably thought that same thing...lol

[Sally]

Siblings will definitely mate. The best way to keep them from breeding, other than rehoming them, is to set up two cages, one for the females and one for the males. That way, they have company, but there can be no breeding.

With Societies, the only way to sex them is to wait for the males to sing. With chocolate selfs, they all look alike, so my friends that have them will put a different color split plastic band on each bird, and then when they see one sing, they can mark down that the one with say a blue ring is a male. Then they can catch that one with the blue ring and move it to the male cage. It is a process of elimination--eventually all the males will sing, be identified, and moved to the male cage. The birds left are the hens.

[lovezebs]

SamFinch
Love those names. My favorite show on TV. That said, I think maybe, Leonard and Penny, or Sheldon and Amy, might be more appropriate.

I also have a Society boy with a deformed leg, I named him Gimpy, and he rules the other Societies with an iron claw.

Regarding your question. If you don't want to breed, then take all nests and nesting materials out of the flight. If any eggs are layed, despose of them.

If you do want to breed, make sure that there is a Pet Shop in your area that is willing to take the young, with the understanding that they will not be sold as breeding pairs (seeing as they are siblings).

If you choose to keep all the kids , (and there could be dozens). Then as Sally mentioned, you will need to have different flights for boys and girls.

Goodluck.

~Elana~