Aussie Finch Forum

Does anyone know how to sex Spice Finch visually ?

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

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

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

Thanks Craig for the Spice sexing

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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.