sexing bengalese (society) finches

[mickp]

I have 4 of these finches in the aviary, the breeder that I got them from said it was 2 pairs.
am wondering how you tell them apart, only way I know off is that the male does all the singing and as much as I would like to sit & listen for a few hours I cannot justify the time.
are there any other ways to tell the sex of these cute little birds

[avinet]

Sexing Bengalese is difficult and behaviour is possibly the best way. However failing that then the best way is to look at the beak and head. A male will have a larger more bulbous beak and will also have a bigger head than the female - especially obvious when looking down at the top of the head where the male is wider between the eyes. When I say obvious I exagerate - in fact the differences are rather subtle and it helps to have looked at lots, and also to have several birds in the hand to compare heads and beaks. Also if you lok at the underside of the bottom beak, where the feathers form a V into the base of the beak, that V tends to be more pointed in the males and rounded in the females.

Taking these various factors into consideration I would expect to guess correctly about 80 or 90% of the time, but when selling them I always say probably pair and not a definate pair.

cheers,

Mike

[mickp]

thanks mike