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Society finch, Bengalese finch
Differences in Male and Female: Males
and females are identical in appearance. The only way to sex them is by behavior.
The males will sing a song, with an up stretched neck and fluffed feathers.
He will sing his warbling song and bounce back and forth on the perch while
approaching the hen. They will sing often. In fact, most of the males in a
cage will begin singing anytime a new member is added to the cage. There are
differences in the male and female contact calls, but these are difficult
to describe and you'll have to hear them to pick them out. Males will often
use this contact call while moving rapidly with quick tail flicks. There are
instances of hens that will sing, but these are rare, and I have never witnessed
this.
What my finches Eat: Society
finches prefer the larger millets in a standard parakeet mix. They will also
eagerly eat my eggfood and greens are occasionally offered. I will often include
greens in the eggfood or in a birdie bread. Cuttlebone should always be available
to them. While they can raise their own young on pretty meager feed, it is
better for their chicks if you can get them to eat a high protein egg food.
This is also beneficial if you use your Society finches to foster other species
with higher protein requirements.
What I know about Breeding Societies: It can be harder to get society finches to stop breeding rather than to get them to start. They're always ready to breed at the drop of a hat. And they'll nest right in that hat. They can be quite sociable, as their name suggests, to the point of hindering their breeding success however. If a number of them are placed in the same cage, they will all stuff themselves into one nestbox. It's not uncommon for 8 to 10 birds to roost in one nestbox for the night. They seem to only stop when they can't fit anymore birds into the box. The problem with this practice is that any eggs that are laid usually go unattended or otherwise do not hatch. The experts suggest the best way to raise Society finches is in single pairs or in trios or quads. I still have all of my societies in one big colony style cage. They do just fine and are constantly giving me babies. It seems that since I have two nestboxes up for them, they mom and dad will let maybe one or two other birds in when they have eggs, otherwise they kick the other birds out and they just sleep in the other nestbox.
They will take a variety of nestboxes, baskets or just about
anything that will hold them and their eggs. I built my own nestboxes that
look just like the nestboxes that you would buy in Petco or the similar. Some
of them are master nest builders, but most are happy with just a few strings,
feathers or other materials dropped in the box. I give them shredded newspaper
and they seem content with this. It also makes it very inexpensive to clean
the nestboxes often.
Incubation will begin sometime after the third egg, but some pairs can get
so excited about the whole process that they may start after the first egg.
If this occurs, it is possible to remove the eggs as they are laid and replaced
with dummy eggs until a full clutch is gathered with the usual clutch ranging
from 4 - 8 eggs. This is rarely necessary though. Incubation lasts for approximately
13 days and then pink and naked chicks are born. The Society finches are diligent
parents and will take care of even very large clutches. Some pairs can be
intolerant of chicks that lag behind in size due to a late hatch, while others
have no problems. The chicks will fledge in approximately 21-25 days and are
independent with another 2-3 weeks out of the nest. The entire family will
continue to roost in the nest at night. Any chicks left with the parents after
independence will stay in the nestbox and may even help with incubation and
feeding duties with the next clutch, but it is often better to remove them
for the same reasons you would remove other adult Society finches.
You must actively stop the breeding pair after the desired number of clutches
has been raised or they will continue to raise clutch after clutch. It is
at this time that I will keep a large group of them together. No nestbox is
necessary for roosting as they will all clump together for the night. They
will attempt to breed as young as 3 months, but as with many species, it's
best to wait for them to reach 6-8 months before breeding.
What I know about Color Mutations:
Chestnut Self Society
Fawn Self Society
Chocolate Pied Society
Fawn Pied Society
Fawn Self Dilute
Pearl with Crest
Chocolate Gray Self
Pearl Gray
Chocolate Self with Crest
Albino
Creamino
There are a few other mutations and colors; such as Dominant
pieds that are mostly white, all white birds, true albinos, a dilute called
creamino. There are also a number of feather mutations like crests. There
are numerous frills that cover nearly every part of the body, including things
like chest frills that cause the feathers on the breast to point out or upwards.
I would love to find one of these. While combinations of the color modifier
mutations (Gray, Pearl, Dilute and Ino) are possible with any of the base
colors (Chocolate, Chestnut and Fawn), the base colors cannot be combined
except in purely random occurrences. Some birds showing Chocolate, Fawn and
White on one bird have been produced and are called Tri-colors (not to be
confused with Tricolor nuns) but cannot be reproduced.
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Page Last Updated on
Friday, September 29, 2006 7:34 PM
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