Aussie Finch Forum

what methods do people use to sex their birds?
for example a plumhead cock has a bib and the hen doesnt.

MIck that's too easy. I want to know how, short of a DNA test, to sex Munias (other than pictorellas), Parrotfinches (other than Gouldians), Parons, Long-tails & masks, Red-brows, Double bars etc. The guys selling then in the shops up here reckon they can but they all look the same to me (the red brows , parsons and pictorells are a wish as they aren't here) but I'd still like to be able to sex them on sight or feel or smell or whatever (nothing that involves a wedding ring suspended by a thread either).

A lot of finch varieties where sexes are similar can be sexed by looking at the feathers round the vent area (UNDERtail coverts)

Colour in cock birds is brighter, sharper, more defined etc

Try it with birds such as St Helenas which can be readily sexed, and you will get the idea

While some hens, and some cocks towards the "middle" may confuse, this method will give a very high percentage of correct results with most finches including those of the munia/ mannikin family

PS

The number of supposedly intelligent people who believe in the "wedding ring test" is amazing . . once saw an expert(?) in this science sex an empty carry-box as a hen . . and spat the dummy big time when all was revealed

Comment invited!!

Some good ideas there Arthur. I'm not sure it's politically correct but I wonder if you can select for sexual dimorphism? I reckon you can be 90% sure sexing Hecks, at least here in the Philippines, by the bib size, intensity of bill colour and definition of the colour-change boundaries. I seem to remember that when I kepts these birds as a kid in the 70's, when some were wild sourced, they were impossible to sex. If breeders have been selecting the extremes for their breeding stock it sounds plausable that what were originally monomophic are now have sexually dimorphic captive populations. Weather this is a good thing or bad for aviculture or the species I don't know.

With Munia's the only suggestion I have is a glass of something cold and pleasant and plenty of time to sit and watch. And a good dose of luck. The males dance if you watch long enough and at the right time then catch them and put a blue ring on.
Of course you do have to start off by putting a different colour ring on each bird.
Re- birds like the double bars where the whiter the bit between the bars is the more likely it is to be a cock and the creamer the more likely a hen. That is a valid point that selection over time could lead to easyer sexing.
The easiest is to just accept that you need at least 6 birds, and a dose of luck.
LML

thought there would have been more answers than there has

have put the details that I know into the australian finch profiles section

For the munia family, around 80% can be sexed reliably by looking at the beak. The cocks beak is broader across the top, forms more of a U shape on the underside and may have a bit of a bump on the top when looking side on. Head shape and size differences is also quite evident in some individuals.

I have only just started with birds that are not sexually dimorphic so Im learning as I go along with the help of other breeders.

I have been told the blue on the head of a Blue headed parrot finches is a lot brighter and more of it on the males, and I can see the difference between the pair I have.

With the RHPF I reckon that would take a bit longer to work out, when there is a known pair the difference can be seen with the cock bird a brilliant red and the red mask extends back past the eye with the hen's RH slightly muddier and not quite as far back. I can see the difference between the pair I have, dont know how I would go if someone gave me a cage full to sex correctly