My male green singer won't sing

[traceyincanada]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the board and to green singers. I bought a pair a week ago and have yet to hear the male sing.

Interestingly, the female seems to tweet all day long. And in case you're wondering, I haven't gotten them mixed up, I know the female has the necklace and the male doesn't but I don't understand why she makes so much noise and he's practically mute. I've heard him squeak a few times but nothing like her.

I bought this breed specifically because I wanted to hear singing so I'm a little disappointed. I'm even thinking of adding a canary to the cage so I can hear some singing although I don't know if that would work.

[ranchnanny]

I am having the same problem so I did a google search on GS and it said if they are in the mating/breeding mode the male will not sing. My hen is flying around the cage with nesting material......

[MavenMI6Agent009]

My green singer hasn't sing either and I've had them at least a month

[BigBear0007]

Seperate them for a while.
My male is separated and he
sings like a mad man!

[Ria]

If you haven't had your singers for very long, they may just need more time to settle in. My male didn't sing until about a month after I got them. They were quite skittish, freaked out easily by everything, so they needed more time to settle in.

[cindy]

I agree with Ria, GS are a bit flighty. They do not like change to much. You need to let them settle in.

My GS male sings to my female when she goes down to eat. He chirps most of the time but he sings a lovely long song as the female has her meal. It akes a bit for them to settle and yours may be young...I would be reluctant to separate them (they do not like to be handled or caught, they act shocky) if they are new to their surroundings and your home. Think of it this way, your home is a new environment, new sounds, smells, routine, people...even a dog walking into the room may all be things they are not use to. Where is your cage located in the room, they do not like a lot of activity or traffic, but they like to be in a spot where they can see who is coming into the room.

Give them time, there is a sound clip on this site for GSingers. Do not separate them but play the sound bite and see is the male shows interest or chirps, sings back. Stand back away from the cage and repeat the sound clip about 3 times...try this a couple of times a day.

http://www.birdbazaar.com /BB-SexDetermination.htm

Can you tell us where you bought them from...a pet store, a breeder that had more GSingers?

I also recorded mine and posted a thread a while ago...I'll see if I can find it and post it for you to play to them.

[finchmix22]

I agree. I have several GS and the males only sing at dawn and dusk when they're calling for their mate. So, if she is in the same cage, no need to sing. Sometimes, the male sings when he is ready to mate, but they will also sing if they hear another GS cock singing. The actually sing in competition of each other. I played a tape of a GS Cock singing and my Gs went wild with song.

[cindy]

I found my older posts about the male singing, he started singing in the evenings then as he got older he started singing at certain times of the day...I am still trying to find my video fo you.

[traceyincanada]

Thanks for all the great responses. I must say they are really skittish and freak out whenever I put my hand in the cage to clean the droppings.

I hope they'll get used to me after some time. I'm sure my crazy dog who barks every time the wind blows doesn't make them feel very secure either.

By the way, I bought them at a Petsmart only because I couldn't find a breeder anywhere near me.

I played a Youtube video of another one singing and to my great surprise, the female really responded! She flew around the cage as if looking for her honey and I'd even go so far as to say that she sang a song, or at least tweeted incessantly but sadly, the male didn't seem to care one bit.

The other thing that I'm wondering, is it normal for them to sleep by themselves? I had zebra finches who snuggled all the time, especially when they slept but these GSs sleep alone hidden in the plastic vines I put at the top of the cage.

[traceyincanada]

Thanks for all the replies. I played the internet clip of the green singer singing and it made my female go crazy. She started chirping really loud and dare I say, she even sang! Sadly my male had no reaction at all.

They seem to be getting along better than when I first got them. I've seen them feed each other and sit on the same perch but they won't snuggle like zebra finches do....is this normal for GSs? Will they ever snuggle or they're not the snuggling type?

[traceyincanada]

Sorry for the repeat posts. When I didn't see the first one go through, I thought it was lost so I sent another one the next day that also seemed to get lost. Now I see that they all showed up at once.

I really didn't mean to plug up the thread with my drivel! Sorry!

[Ria]

Glad to hear your birds are settling in more! Depending on how relaxed your male is, it may take a while longer! Also, he may be too young to be very interested in singing. My male likes to sing several times in the morning, and his girlfriend is right in the cage with him, but then he sticks to just chirps the rest of the day.

I've only had my singers since June, never seen them mate, though occasionally I've seen her beg for food. they definitely aren't as cuddly as zebras or societies; my singers often sleep near each other, but not huddled together like the others. once they settled in to the flight cage, they sure liked zipping around! faster and more acrobatic than my zebs. once they relax, they are a real joy!