Aussie Finch Forum

Can someone tell me how to sex Red Browed, and is it better to run them as a colony or single pairs.
When I bought mine I took the sellers word they were pairs.

The way I've been using is chest colour, females brown males grey, and by that reckoning I Have two hens three cocks.
They definitely enjoy being in a colony, they are very sociable birds both in captivity and in the wild. As for which is better for breeding, I only got mine in February so I can't help you there.

Adding to Jayburd's colouring thoughts....if possible, get them into a show cage (or the like) and have a good look at them in the sun...put two together and look for differences, albeit subtle. One method often referred to by others is that the cock bird will have a longer red brow but remember, this may not be the case in younger birds.

For me, with all my monomorphic friends, observation is the key. Watch long enough and you will see how they interact, how they sing and what they do to impress or avoid each other. My cock red head often stands up tall and repeats his three beat song over and over...oh and yes, he has a more pronounced red brow than the hen.

Jaybirds observation is spot on(adult birds) The lesser subspecie is visuable,black under tail coverts in cocks and light grey under tail coverts in hens(adult birds only) Craig

I have a colony of 10 birds and spend a lot of time watching them. I can identify them individually by leg ring and they have a definite alpha pair which dominate everything, eg new food, seeding grasses etc. I would run them as a single pair per aviary if you have the space. Depending on how large the aviary is (mine is 4x 2x2m), generally only the alpha pair will breed, and the alpha male will turn into a bully when he has young.

Let them pair up as a colony, then remove the alphas to let a new pair form.

crocnshas wrote:Jaybirds observation is spot on(adult birds) The lesser subspecie is visuable,black under tail coverts in cocks and light grey under tail coverts in hens(adult birds only) Craig

Very easy to sex the lessor visually Not so easy with the eastern race

gomer wrote:

crocnshas wrote:Jaybirds observation is spot on(adult birds) The lesser subspecie is visuable,black under tail coverts in cocks and light grey under tail coverts in hens(adult birds only) Craig

Very easy to sex the lessor visually Not so easy with the eastern race

I found it very easy with my last pair - I bought them DNA sexed from Gomer .

Thanks all, info noted and logged.

natamambo wrote:

gomer wrote:

crocnshas wrote:Jaybirds observation is spot on(adult birds) The lesser subspecie is visuable,black under tail coverts in cocks and light grey under tail coverts in hens(adult birds only) Craig

Very easy to sex the lessor visually Not so easy with the eastern race [/quote

Gomer,they are an Eastern race subspecie,you mean Nominant dont you,

good point Croc.Are the macgillivrayi,loftyi and minor,completely isolated from the temporalis ? I would imagine the lesser would be ? and how far accross northern Australia do they range ?still to the tip of the east coast .do the others overlap anywhere ? Maybe European settlement has now isolated them all.