Is it okay to have a male only Society cage?

otto&lucy · Post by **otto&lucy** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:41 pm

I'm headed to the bird show on Saturday for my new babies but I'm still not sure what to do. Because my husband and I are new to all this, I don't think our thumb is green enough to handle any potential babies. So I have a few questions...

1. From what I've read, Society males will get along just fine... to avoid babies should we get males only?
2. How do you know if an egg is infertile?
3. Do you really just throw eggs away? (I don't know if I could do it

) Can someone explain this in further detail for me?

The books I've been reading are great but they've left a few questions on the beginners front.

Thanks all!

lyderbug · Post by **lyderbug** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:06 pm

I have societies!! I loooove them!!

I'll do my best to answer your q's.

It is absolutely fine to keep all male societies in a cage. The best comparison I can think of...our male societies always acted like college buddies. They were very happy just to sit back, eat, drink, and take care of each other.

If you want to get males and females you may as well. If you do NOT want babies then do not put a nest in the cage. You may find that some females will lay eggs on the floor of the nest, but those eggs will not be cared for. In time the females will stop laying eggs. Our females and males are living very happily together without their nest, and the females have stopped laying eggs.

As far as knowing if the eggs are infertile...I'm not 100% positive..but from my experience you can tell by the look.....if they look light in color and are not very heavy(for an egg) then they are more than likely not fertilized. If they are heavier(again for an egg) and have a deep color to them(deeper color inside the egg....you can tell when the light hits it) then they are probably fertile.

Usually I just remove the eggs that I do not want, and yes..I just toss them. If throwing them away bothers you..then either prepare for babies or do not put a nest in the cage.

For the most part, Societies are very, well, social. They love company and get along with each other rather well.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other q's

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:03 am

YES all males will do fabby together.

If ya have a hen and cock then NO nest is good BUT watch food dishes and even some desperate hens will lay on the floor.

As for eggs, you can hold a flash light up to an egg at about 9 days and see if its fertile or not, VERY EASY to tell.

lyderbug · Post by **lyderbug** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:42 am

Here's another q...

Is it ok to touch the eggs if you plan on allowing the eggs to hatch? I ask this because you said to hold a flash light to them....my first thought was to not touch the eggs at all only because I would not want to shake them too much in turn terminating the fertile egg.

I never do touch the eggs just for that reason...besides I would be pretty pissy if someone tried to touch my egg while I was sitting on it

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:43 pm

I very gently lift the egg and hold to candle it, it will not hurt he egg, UNLESS you drop, kick, throw, squish etc

plantsandbirds · Post by **plantsandbirds** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:49 pm

I love my societies! I have two males at this time because no one at the pet store knew anything about anything and by chance....just boys!

I don't mind....They are SUPER nice birds - very close to each other and my one spice finch. I'd someday like to have a female or two of the society variety but I am full up with zebras right now.

Because they are societies the boys are called Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:16 pm

I have three male Society Finches - got them on purpose to serve as potential nannies if my LG's needed their services. They're great together whether acting as emergency serrogate parents or on their own!!

Ravyn · Post by **Ravyn** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:53 pm

Wash your hands before handling the eggs as well. Sometimes bacteria can get in through the shell from our fingers and kill the chick inside.

lyderbug · Post by **lyderbug** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:36 pm

Because they are societies the boys are called Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn.

Haha that is great

My Societies: Hall and Oat...Hall died and then I bought a female Sarah(the only girls name used in a Hall and Oat's song) that was not on purpose. they had a baby and she sounds like a cricket so Cricket is her name. Loooove them!!!

Post by **Sally** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:57 am

Societies are the best beginner bird, in my opinion. You can't visually sex them, but only the males sing, so that is a dead giveaway. The reason I say they are the best beginner bird is that they are inexpensive, very hardy, great personalities, and they have few problems. Just read some of the posts on here about Zebras, with their aggression, feather-plucking, incessant egg-laying--they have more personality than most finches, but they can try your soul.

If you get two Society males, they will become best buddies, cuddle together, you can provide them with a nest, which they will love, but they will never fill that nest with eggs! So you don't have to worry about having to throw them away.

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:23 am

Ya know I been saying how societies love nests blah blah,
Well my new 2 which so far I must say appear to be male and female NOT what I wanted anyway they wont get anywhere near the inside of the nest boxes. they are camping on top, the male is even attempting to build a nest on top,
I have never had societies that didnt lOVE a nest,
But hese came from a breeder who house smany birds in cages together with no nests if they arent breeders so maybe they dont have nest knowledge. lol

lyderbug · Post by **lyderbug** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:36 am

That's classic! The first few days that I had my societies they slept on top of the nest as well. I would think a nest would be an instinct to them!

I didn't use a box nest though. I'm going to do my best to describe it...oval shaped made of wicker or some sort of bendable wood material. I gave them rabbit greens(like dried grass found in the pet store) as a building material. After a couple of days they began to get the idea of the nest....

I can't even find a pic of the darn thing.

If you put some of the greens inside the box/nest that will get their curiosity enough to get them in there.

Good luck

otto&lucy · Post by **otto&lucy** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:49 pm

Wouldn't ya know it. So I was shooting for all males...... it looks like I ended up with 1 male and 3 FEMALES!

There is a definite destinction between his song and the females song, that's for sure. He found the nest this morning and spent most of the day singing to the girls to join him. It was hilarious to watch them all discover it, one would go in and turn to the others as if to say, "Yeah, it seems sturdy enough...come on in, check it out".

I noticed he ended up pairing up with one female in particular and they camped out in the nest together quite a bit. By the end of the day though the precious couples bed was a bit crowded because the other two females piled on in too. Such a sweet sight.

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:48 pm

and I didnt get what I wanted, to funny, lol

Ok I found a nest they moved immediately into, lol A white nest box all my other birds hated, lol GO FIGURE<

And I have the type you are describing its hangin round somewhere cause to hard to clean, lol

elfhome · Post by **elfhome** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:49 pm

If you throw away the eggs will they lay more to try and replace them? I know parrots will do that as they know how many eggs they have. Typically fake eggs are used, and I have heard of them being used for Finches. Or we boil the eggs, if they're fertile. Of course, females still sometimes lay without any males, so I'd say eggs are a just a part of having hens.

Having all males sounds a lot easier. Certainly, it's less stressful on the human caretaker.