Sexing Spice Finches

[finches247]

Does anyone know how to sex Spice Finch visually ?

[Craig52]

G'day Henry,when i had them i sexed them quite successfully under the bill where the feathers meet,V shape for hens and ) for cocks.Works with most munia's. Cheers Craig

[GregH]

I think that if you're familiar with munias you can sex them with 70A% accuracy but they don't call them sexually monomorphic without justification. If you look at a Java Sparrow site you'll see mandible differences illustrated but such differences often reflect the age of the bird. I think that its not a categorical difference but a continuously variable character and you can select for extremes to create a gracile female and a robust male but you could just as easily do it the other way as well.

Images from SJD Javas
Cock Hen

[Craig52]

Greg,dropping those pics in has confused the the subject,which shows the complete opposite to what i posted regarding munia's.If you had a pic of a true pr of spice finches or bengalese,Henry would spot the difference. Craig

[finches247]

Thanks Craig for the Spice sexing

Thanks Greg for Java Sparrow sexing that will help me to sex my cousins Javas

[finches247]

Another Question

Do Spice Finch have strong pair bonds ?

Reason i ask is want to run single pairs in my 4 bay suspended flight but dont know who is paired to who as in 1 colony at moment of 8 birds.
So do i have observe who is paired to who or can I pick any hen and any cock and pair them up.

Craig sexed them all today and got 4 cocks and 4 hens hope I sexed them right.

[Craig52]

Henry,i don't think they have a tight pr bond but if they can see each other they might not settle with a new mate. Craig
ps,so you reckon you can sex them now and if so how easy was it?

[finches247]

Thanks Craig

I compared a cock to a hen which made 4 Pairs.I also tried out it out on Bengalese before I tried it with the Spice.

[Craig52]

Bengalese are very obvious,every year i sex 30prs for a mate and get 96% right,but i still have to have a known cock in one hand. Cheers Craig

[finches247]

I have photos of every Bird of underthere bill I would to post But there to big to post.There is 8 shots as there is 8 birds.I just want a second opinion of each bird I sexed.Could I send/email Photos to someone that knows how to resize them.