Lavender Finch

[laurab]

How do you sex Lavender Finches?

I thought that their song was slightly different but someone has told me tonight that they he was told if it had white spots on the flank it is a cock bird.....don't they all have white spots? :confused:

[Waxbillman]

hello Laura

the only ways to sex them is by the cock song which he does quite often, the hen makes a different call, there are slight differences in the activeness, the cocks are more active the hens a slightly less so if you know what i mean

Matthew

[laurab]

Thanks Matt. ;-)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura,

One tip on sexing Lavenders that isn't 100% reliable is that the cock will be slightly larger than the hen, but this can vary depending on whether the birds are from the same region in the wild?
Another is that the cock will have more black on the abdomen than the hen.

Paul.;)

[kenny]

hi paul
another is the hen will have all its feathers plucked out:lol: :lol:


ken

[Savant]

Hi Laura

The male lavender finch makes a longer note call than the hen. It starts high and gets lower for about 3 or 4 seconds where as the hen makes several short notes about 1 seconds. Thats if this makes sense. The best way to tell is to separate the two and they will call to each other you will definatly be able to tell then.

Even my two cocks were calling to each other when separated.

Alan

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken and Alan,

Ken,

You can be a cruel man at times,:lol: but what you say is partially true.;-)
Lavender Finches/Waxbills are among certain bird species that have been wrongly accussed in the past as being feather pluckers through aggression.
But recent studies have found that feather loss of hens of bonded pairs of particular bird species is due to over preening, which is far from aggressive behaviour.
Over preening also occurs with larger birds such as Laughing Thrushes etc.

Alan,

I'm pleased to hear that you have noticed another difference in sexing Lavender Finches/Waxbills, the difference between the vocals of cock and hen in most species is very often missed because it is usually a very subtle difference.

Paul.;-)

[kenny]

hi paul
it is true what you say about over preening,i have had a few birds in the past and not just the ones you mention.i had a white java that was constantly plucked by its mate so much so that i checked it out to see if it had any mite or other parasites on it.the male would sit inside the box with the hen out side and he would preen her so severly that all of the feathers on her head were constantly missing

ken

[Waxbillman]

it happens with Black crowns as well!! they are the worst bird around for over preening

Matthew