Aussie Finch Forum

haha yes, ALWAYS the last bit to colour isnt' it

The cocks bibs will have black feathers in them Flap. Rare for siblings of the same sex to fight if they do not have the opposite sex introduced. But put the opposite sex in and the feathers will fly. It's called reproduction of the fittest.
LML

thanks for those replies. the normal boy has black already I think. I haven't seen it on the silver yet, only a white bit of bib. His neck and head are still coloring up though so it will be a few more days before I will be able to tell.

I have heard conflicting stories about keeping same sex paired quails. It works for some, not for others. Its always fine to keep many hens, but not always cock birds.

SOmetimes you have the luck of two peaceful brothers. If you want to try two males I would suggest moving them early to a new cage/aviary. Once they colour up they start looking for territories of their own, moving will cause mayhem even though they may be peaceful in the original aviary they may kill each other in a new one. New territory = new rules of engagement.
I would keep a real good eye open once they start getting sexually mature as they can change their attitude in a day if it suits them.

I had two male brothers live peacefully for months together and then one day i came home and the stronger of the two had pulled rank and scalped the brother. No hens within miles of the aviary.
I had a father and son set up in an aviary for a year or more after the hen died and they peacefully lived together, but I never moved them from the original aviary where the youngster was born and raised with the dominant cock bird.

Good luck on your decision.

Thanks Monotwine. Our silver is looking more and more like a hen (almost fully coloured, can see white bib but no black markings), and in that case we will keep two hens, which should not be a problem. The dynamics have changed since we tooke towhem from mum and dad and put them in the other aviary. The silver was the dominant chick, now that is not the case any more and the silver seems the most shy of all! I guess being caught and moved probably was a bit traumatic anyway.