Finches - polygamous or monogamous

[Dayna]

Are finches polygamous or monogamous? I know that parrots and some species of softbills mate for life but do finches? If so what species are monogamous and what species polygamous?
If a species is polygamous do you pair up the same two birds year after year or do you place them with different partners?
Do you seperate monogamous pairs when the breeding season is over or should you keep them together always?


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[kenny66]

Are finches polygamous or monogamous? I know that parrots and some species of softbills mate for life but do finches? If so what species are monogamous and what species polygamous?
If a species is polygamous do you pair up the same two birds year after year or do you place them with different partners?
Do you seperate monogamous pairs when the breeding season is over or should you keep them together always?

finches by nature are polygamous. That does not mean that a finch that loses its partner will not grieve. I have had this situation where birds take a long time to accept a new partner. Some breeds like goulds are very fussy about partners and I usually let them pair of from a group themselves. Sometimes hen or cock goulds will not accept the partner you have chosen for them, no matter how hard you try. General rule is that if you have paired birds up and they are happy and breed or just happy), dont mess with it. Some Breeders on the other hand regularly change pairs around to improve or add to blood lines. Having seen the obvious distress is some birds that lose a mate, I personally try to avoid this, but sometimes it is necessary. Ther are no catch all answers to some of your questions. Some breeds may need to be seperated out of the breeding season because of male aggression and some you can leave together all year. I am guessing you are not keeping the more exotic breeds such as weavers etc so the general answer for zebbies-jacarinis-ruddies st helenas Cordon Bleus Painteds and a host of others you can keep them together all year. There a more informed and experienced specialist breeders on this forum than I, and they can let you know about any breeds that require separation outside the mating season.

[cindy]

I have a few owls that do not stick to the same partner in the flight and will be with two hens at the same time.

I found with about 90% of my zebra that the pairs stay together even when added to a community flight. It depends in my opinion on the pair. A few of my oldest pairs of zebras are so bonded that in a flight they were next to each other constantly and the male would scold any other males that to close to the female.

I keep my zebra pairs together and my owls are in a community flight year round. Mt lavanders and Green singer are kept together year round as well as my shaft tails (community flight). I have tried separating the zebra pairs but some would stress out so bad running back and forth calling to their mate that after two days and being worried about them eating, what it was doing with to their health I decided it was not worth trying to separate them.

[Sally]

With my CBs and Fires, I generally leave pairs together. They do seem to bond and stress if I separate them, calling for each other, though both species will soon take a new partner, they don't grieve forever.

I have separated Owls, as that seems to be the only way I can get them to stop breeding, they are like little rabbits (think Zebras!).

My Strawberries and Grens bond, so they stay together all the time. When I have been forced to separate, they call for each other and are obviously stressed. Again, they eventually take a new partner, but I only do this if I am forced to re-pair.

[kenny66]

Canary breeders often mate a cock to 2 or3 hens and then separate them to let the hen raise the babies by themselves. This is partly because males will become very aggressive to hens who are not ready to mate. I have one male, though, who will not mate with any hen other than his "favorite" and I leave these 2 together all year round. If I try to separate them he becomes very distressed and I think he would starve himself to death if I left them apart.

[Dayna]

Thanks for all the answers. I guess it just works down to the birds themselves. There is no set in stone answer just like with people

Kenny - I am not working with the more exotic species yet but one day as I get more experience I would like to try my hand at some of the more exotic species. Possibly even some softbills

[kenny66]

Thanks for all the answers. I guess it just works down to the birds themselves. There is no set in stone answer just like with people

Kenny - I am not working with the more exotic species yet but one day as I get more experience I would like to try my hand at some of the more exotic species. Possibly even some softbills

That will open up another whole new world of bird experiences for you. I wish you heaps of success whatever breeds you eventually get into

kenny

[Dayna]

Thank you Kenny

[dan78]

By nature all finches will accept new partners, I have never came across any that in the end wouldn't accept a new partner. Some you will find need multiple partners to choose from such as shaft tails. There is a bond between pairs in alot of speices and some are very strong but in the end if there placed with an other choice(s) when their original partner is no longer there they will try and breed in a season or two. As for what Kenny said about canaries is true that breeders will breed a single cock up to 5 hens with removing him after he has mated and started laying eggs, but this is dine for other reasons than what has been stated, when thus is done it is dye to line breeding which is father and daughters or a male has a specific trait which they want ( sing colour size breed) in which they have good stock if hens which the trait may come out in young. Also doing this all you need is 1 good quality cock to 5 hens alot less mouths to feed. I have done this but with line breeding to get a good size Canary and some if the best singers but this is another story. As for splitting them up after breeding season I don't do this as most will get along fine but gouldian breeders have been known to do just that to get the boys all reved up for breeding I i don't how well it wrks but some do believe that it works

[kenny66]

By nature all finches will accept new partners, I have never came across any that in the end wouldn't accept a new partner. Some you will find need multiple partners to choose from such as shaft tails. There is a bond between pairs in alot of speices and some are very strong but in the end if there placed with an other choice(s) when their original partner is no longer there they will try and breed in a season or two. As for what Kenny said about canaries is true that breeders will breed a single cock up to 5 hens with removing him after he has mated and started laying eggs, but this is dine for other reasons than what has been stated, when thus is done it is dye to line breeding which is father and daughters or a male has a specific trait which they want ( sing colour size breed) in which they have good stock if hens which the trait may come out in young. Also doing this all you need is 1 good quality cock to 5 hens alot less mouths to feed. I have done this but with line breeding to get a good size Canary and some if the best singers but this is another story. As for splitting them up after breeding season I don't do this as most will get along fine but gouldian breeders have been known to do just that to get the boys all reved up for breeding I i don't how well it works but some do believe that it works

Most of the larger canary breeders I know of keep all their hens and cocks apart except for the breeding season. So much so, that big canary aviary complexes have the aviary split in two, with hens on one side and cocks on the other. I am glad that you are in a positon where you can keep cocks and hens together. Thats nice news!!!. As for Gouldians, I have about 20 pairs breeding at the moment and have had my flock at about 100 plus. I never separate cocks from hens because goulds have a very strong pair bond. They never try and breed out of season and I bring them into sexual prime by a feeding regime. Apart from mutations,most keepers of normal goulds would i believe follow this practice of keeping hen and cock gould together all year.