SEXING PARROT FINCHES

It goes without saying that it is quite hard to breed from a pair of cocks or a pair of hens. The latter can be quite misleading as some 'pairs' of hens will behave like a true pair, even to the point of laying eggs which are, of course, infertile. I was once given an 'infertile' Red Faced Parrot Finch cock which, once paired to another true cock produced some super youngsters!

And, yes, in the days before I learnt the infallible way of sexing mature Parrot Finches I also frequently paired single sex pairs which was very time wasting and frustrating.

Some species of Parrot Finches are dimorphic and therefore much easier to sex although, even then, mistakes can be made. The difficulty of sexing the rest has led to the rise of many highly dodgy theories but some theories can be used as useful indicators.

Let's start first of all with the easier ones:

Tricolor Parrot Finch - E. tricolor tricolor

This species is dimorphic with young cocks being a far darker and intense blue. However, beware. Hens become darker and more colourful as they become older and can easily be mistaken for a young cock. It is always a good idea to colour ring young hens as soon as they become sexable to avoid any future confusion, and, if you are not familiar with the species, be careful you are not buying a young cock 'paired' to an older one.

Pintail Parrot Finch- E. prasina prasina
This is the easiest Parrot Finch to sex as pairs are completely dimorphic.

Peales Parrot Finch- E. pealii
A good indicator, but not infallible, is the chin colour. The cocks should be black whilst the hens should be light grey. However, note the word SHOULD. Unfortunately it is not always true and some cocks in particular can be very poorly coloured.

Red Headed Parrot Finch - E. psittacea
An indicator-the red of the cock's head is sometimes brighter and the lores a darker black. The fifth and sixth tail feathers are sometimes longer than the hens. Note the word SOMETIMES!!!!

Dodgy theory-cocks have red feathers around the vent-so do some hens and many cocks do not! Cocks have bigger bibs than hens. There could be a rude reply to that!

Blue Faced Parrot Finch - E. Trichroa
An indicator-some cock's heads are a deeper blue than hens and the face mask comes further down the cheeks and  further over the crown of the head. In some strains this is more pronounced than in others.  Sexing immature birds is almost impossible other than by DNA sexing.

The Infallible System:
This system is absolutely infallible but only works on parrot finches which are in breeding condition.

As you can see from the drawing, the cock's vent is larger and is hooked forward whilst the hen's vent is a mere pimple and is vertical.

To ensure accuracy using this method, it is advised to put your birds through an austerity period first to ensure that both cocks and hens are at the same biological status at the same time. Once they have been brought into breeding condition, sexing using the above method, is easy, quick and accurate,

However, beware if all your birds are not in breeding condition you will revert back to the bad old days of pairing cock to cock !

Young birds in adult plumage and non-breeding adults can be 'rough sexed' using the indicators but the 'modern' way is totally accurate

DNA sexing:
These days there are a number of companies providing this service, some require blood samples and some only a feather.

The blood or feather is subjected to a number of processes which extract the genetic material from which it is a fairly simple process to determine the sex.

Until recently the average price charged was $30 which made it uneconomical to use on the cheaper finches. However, recently a South African company has begun to offer a very efficient world wide service (answer in 5 days!) at the very economical price of $12 which makes it practical to sex any finch.

The company is:

Molecular Diagnostics Services
PO Box 903
Westville
South Africa 3630

You send them the $12 for which they send you a kit with full instructions

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