Female Pin Tailed Whydah Question

[Sheather]

Your female looks like an eclipsed male to me.

[Stuart whiting]

Your female looks like an eclipsed male to me.

Hi Dylan,

I think that you and Laszlo ( w i ) could both we'll be right about Sharon's bird being an eclipsed male

[Shannylee]

Sounds like your male wydah has no place in the mixed aviary!
Such agressive birds indeed need to be removed.
As whydahs are not really birds for small cages, now you face a dilemma of whether making him and his harem a new aviary, or find a new home/owner for him.
Good that you've finally managed to upload pics!
What is not so good is that your 'hen' has such a red bill that it may well be a male in eclipse color, too. Mind you, out of color whydahs are less aggressive so perhaps he (?) could at least go to your aviary (under initial supervision!).

That's what I was afraid of...the "hen" is actually not a hen. In all of the pix I've seen of whydah hens, I haven't come across a bill that is as bright as "hers".

My whydah is actually my favorite bird. I love him and will do what it takes to make him happy. The societies will be fine in a smaller cage and the gouldians do eventually push back if the whydah gets too obnoxious. He is only swooping at the gouldians. He is jumping the societies, pinning them on the ground, and then spitting out feathers. Yikes! I'm going to remove the final 5 societies tonight and see what the mood of the aviary is over the next few days.

The whydah rushes to the front of the aviary when I walk out and he sings to me. I tell him how fancy he is and he puts on a show. He has even done his whydah mid-air "impress the girl" dance for me. I'm his girlfriend.

The "hen"....sigh! I guess I'll call the store tomorrow and see if I can return HIM! I certainly don't need 2 male whydahs!! Pet stores...GRRR! I don't typically buy from pet stores but the birds were in great condition and it doesn't seem to be that easy to find a female whydah here in Florida. Tried to help my favorite guy out. Rats!

[w.l.]

Well, after checking more books I found others claim that the female whydahs' bills only turn black in the breeding season... so your new bird may still be a female after all! Confused? Well, many birds can only be surely sexed by DNA testing, with your whydah you could just wait until he either grows a long tail or her bill turns black!

As for the male... I don't think it is good to have such a bully in a mixed aviary, even if not physically harming other birds, he could still opress their normal behaviours.
It is important to choose the right mix of birds in a mixed setting - this is why I don't keep whydahs myself, despite two species being commonly sold here.

If you love that whydah, maybe time to start working on a 2nd aviary!

[Stuart whiting]

Well, after checking more books I found others claim that the female whydahs' bills only turn black in the breeding season... so your new bird may still be a female after all! Confused? Well, many birds can only be surely sexed by DNA testing, with your whydah you could just wait until he either grows a long tail or her bill turns black!

As for the male... I don't think it is good to have such a bully in a mixed aviary, even if not physically harming other birds, he could still opress their normal behaviours.
It is important to choose the right mix of birds in a mixed setting - this is why I don't keep whydahs myself, despite two species being commonly sold here.

If you love that whydah, maybe time to start working on a 2nd aviary!

Yep I very much agree Laszlo, well said

[Shannylee]

w.l.

Good to know!!! I think I'll just introduce her to the aviary in a quarantine cage and see how they respond to each other.

I agree that the whydahs are not fit for a mixed aviary with passive birds. I don't want him in a small cage either. The mannikins and canaries ignore him and he doesn't mess with them. The gouldians tire of him quickly and then they stand their ground. I don't want them to have to go through that though so I will move them into a flight cage until I can have a second aviary built (my husband is going to kill me...LOL!) for the whydah and his harem. The remaining 5 societies in the aviary will come out tonight as soon as they bed down. Just to let you know...I waited until the societies got in a nest last night (as the sun was setting so it wasn't dark) and moved them by putting my hand over the hole and carried the whole nest to the cage. Easy! Easy because I was dealing with societies!

The people who sold us the whydah didn't know what they had. They told us that he was a long tailed finch. He was in a really small cage. He has his long feathers so he is lovely and we decided to bring him home too. Then...I started researching. OMG that was a lesson learned!

Thank you so much for all of your help as I try to figure out the dynamics of my new aviary!

[Stuart whiting]

w.l.

Good to know!!! I think I'll just introduce her to the aviary in a quarantine cage and see how they respond to each other.

I agree that the whydahs are not fit for a mixed aviary with passive birds. I don't want him in a small cage either. The mannikins and canaries ignore him and he doesn't mess with them. The gouldians tire of him quickly and then they stand their ground. I don't want them to have to go through that though so I will move them into a flight cage until I can have a second aviary built (my husband is going to kill me...LOL!) for the whydah and his harem. The remaining 5 societies in the aviary will come out tonight as soon as they bed down. Just to let you know...I waited until the societies got in a nest last night (as the sun was setting so it wasn't dark) and moved them by putting my hand over the hole and carried the whole nest to the cage. Easy! Easy because I was dealing with societies!

The people who sold us the whydah didn't know what they had. They told us that he was a long tailed finch. He was in a really small cage. He has his long feathers so he is lovely and we decided to bring him home too. Then...I started researching. OMG that was a lesson learned!

Thank you so much for all of your help as I try to figure out the dynamics of my new aviary!

Hope you can eventually get another avairy built and all goes well for the birds,

In truth Sharon that is one of the reasons why I personally dislike buying birds from pet shops as half the time they simply haven't a clue about birds

[w.l.]

Good luck!
As for the harem - if you want to buy more females, try and buy only ones with a blackish bill. Whydahs are ususlly imported in the breeding season to ensure that the males are pretty and easy to sell, and at that time adult females should also have their bills black. Outside the breeding season it gets hard to tell the sexes apart. It might help to place orders with importers themselves, pointing out that you only want sure females with black bills, not just any 'female-colored' birds.

[Stuart whiting]

Good luck!
As for the harem - if you want to buy more females, try and buy only ones with a blackish bill. Whydahs are ususlly imported in the breeding season to ensure that the males are pretty and easy to sell, and at that time adult females should also have their bills black. Outside the breeding season it gets hard to tell the sexes apart. It might help to place orders with importers themselves, pointing out that you only want sure females with black bills, not just any 'female-colored' birds.

Very true indeed Laszlo, well said

[Sally]

Shannylee

You probably would do much better checking out vendors at bird marts. They are usually much more knowledgeable than pet shop employees, and their prices are almost always better. You have access to many marts in Florida, here is a link to some of them. There is one in Orlando on August 14.

http://www.exoticbirdevents.com/bird-events.htm

[Stuart whiting]

Shannylee

You probably would do much better checking out vendors at bird marts. They are usually much more knowledgeable than pet shop employees, and their prices are almost always better. You have access to many marts in Florida, here is a link to some of them. There is one in Orlando on August 14.

http://www.exoticbirdevents.com/bird-events.htm

Totally agree Sally, well said

[Shannylee]

Shannylee

You probably would do much better checking out vendors at bird marts. They are usually much more knowledgeable than pet shop employees, and their prices are almost always better. You have access to many marts in Florida, here is a link to some of them. There is one in Orlando on August 14.

http://www.exoticbirdevents.com/bird-events.htm

oh, I am totally going to the 8/14 one! The fairgrounds are about 30 minutes from my house!! I would much rather buy from the breeders directly than to buy from a pet store. I don't typically buy much of anything from pet stores much less living creatures.

Thanks Sally!!

[w.l.]

I would much rather buy from the breeders directly

To be realistic, I think your chances of finding whydahs that are actually captive-bred are very, very low - they are very hard to breed due to their parasitic nesting behaviour.
And if you did find some that are captive-bred, chances are they would be young, not adults in breeding condition, so unless they are already DNA-sexed, you will have a hard time picking females again.
If buying wild-caught birds, I personally prefer buying freshly imported ones rather than ones sold by someone who has been keeping them for a while. The latter may have been kept in poor housing and on poor diet for a long time, are often sold as they have failed to breed, and who knows how old they are? Freshly imported wild-caught birds are never too old and may even still be in breeding condition.

But attending such an event is fun anyway, and I will not be surprised if you come home with something other than whydahs.
Just do at least a quick online research before buying anything on impulse - the last thing your aviary needs now is more bullies!

[w.l.]

Shannylee

Come to think of it, what you should look out for on the mart are some Common Waxbills! They are the host species of pin-tailed whydahs so could come handy if you ever decided to try and breed them, but in the meantime they are a lovely species in their own right and quite unlike anything you have now.
Ideally you should have several pairs if you are ever planning to use them to host the whydahs, but they should be cheap.

[Shannylee]

w.l.

The bird police (my husband...LOL!) will be going with me to the show. I'm sure there will be no more birds added to the aviary for a little bit. I will window shop at this show, make my Christmas list, and then go back to the October show in Orlando.