Sexing Bengalese 3

In this clip you can hear the Female Bengalese Finch (in the carry box) has a multi-syllable trill distance call and the male (off screen) has a single syllable call. The other sounds in the background are baby Bengalese. This is a good way to tell the difference between a Male and a Female Bengalese Finch (Society Finch) particularly if you have had a group of birds together for a period and they know each other you can separate one and depending on the type of distance call to its friends you can tell if it is a male or female.

Sexing Bengalese 2

People employ some different methods for sexing Bengalese.  I believe the only way to be sure you have a Cockbird is to see it crow and through a process of elimination you will be hopefully be left with your Hens. This takes time and I know that when people must try and sex Bengalese immediately, like at a bird dealer they often use the method where the underside of the lower mandible is sharp and pointed like an upside down v for a hen and in comparison to the cock that presents more of a rounded point like an upside down u. See picture below




This is the best example that I could find from a half dozen of my Self Bengalese at the time and I have to say that the others were not so obvious. So again the most reliable method to sex your Bengalese, ecpecially at home is to watch for the crowing cockbird.


Another method used by Breeders in Australia and Overseas is shown bellow. Hold gently and let your  Bengalese dangle by its neck (best try indoors first) between your fingers, this does not hurt the bird as long as you are not squeezing it. With this method the male's tail will point straight down and the female's will be kicked back slightly. From what I have been told this is a less reliable method with younger birds especially under 9 months to a year old.

Sexing Bengalese

Well the time has come, I have held off for long enough!

I thought that I would discuss one of the more fundamental topics in breeding and keeping Bengalese and that is the Sexing of them. Bengalese Finches as with all of the Lonchura family of Nuns and Munias are  Monomorphic which means that there are no obvious distinguishing physical features between the male and female.


As mentioned, there are little differences between male and female Bengalese and some breeders use different methods to sex their finches. I will post some of the methods over the time but for now I will discuss the best and most trustworthy methods that I believe there are for sexing Bengos.

First and foremost, a Cockbird Sings (or Crows).
It is believed that when the Bengalese are newly fledged, then both Cockbird and Henbird (Male and Female) can make a song of sorts but as adult birds it is almost unheard-of  to have anything other than a Cock Sing (Singing Male to the right).


Here is a video of a Male Euro Black/Brown Self Bengalese singing or what I call "Doing the Duckie Dance", I say that affectionately because they extend there neck and puff up their bodies like a duck! :-)  ( you can also hear Zebra Finches in the background)


Unfortunately there is no easy way to sex them this way and generally involves a degree of patience and observation.
If doing things casually then any time you are viewing your Bengalese, keep an eye out for one of your birds Singing. If a Bengo is never seen to sing then it may be a Hen but be aware that Cockbirds can be intimidated by dominant males in the Aviary and not freely sing because of that. If you find one that sings then it is best to mark the bird with a split leg ring so that you can distinguish it. In a group of birds one of my friends uses a water pistol to "Mark" a bird so that it can be caught up and rung. Some breeders use just an "any coloured ring" for a Male and the Female has no ring. The only problem with not ringing a Female is that when there is a mixed group of Bengaese in a Aviary, the Hens will not be distinguishable from the young finches that are there and get mixed up. Considering that you can not be 100% sure about a Hen until it actually lays some eggs or vibrates its tail, then it is some times best to wait for them to do this before ringing. If you ring both Males and Females then you can decide on your own colour standard, something like Blue for Males and Pink for Females.
In the case of smaller groups of birds such as a few pairs, then quite often since there are subtle differences in our Bengalese we may be familiar enough with our particular birds to recognize the bird again after seeing it sing but another way to help to do this is by ringing every finch a different colour. Then in a note book, recording your findings as you see one crow (Male) and/or you have a clutch of eggs and young (Female).



To try and purposely get the males to sing then a few things can be done;

- Stand well back when observing
- Place the birds in cages singularly (one to a cage) and keep swapping the cages around
- Cocks housed together causes others to sing
- Put a/some Hens in a cage and introduce a the bird that is unknown sex, this should stimulate a Cock to display.








Hens do display a courtship dance by quickly flickering their tail up and down in a vibrating way. This is a reliable way of sexing a Hen but from what I have experienced She does not perform this display indiscriminately (and not often) to any Cock that is interested (like the singing Cockbird towards Hens) but will only do this with a Cock that she sees as an actual Mate (paired with) and this display is an actual invitation for the paired Cockbird to mate with her. To put a rough number to it I think that every time I saw a Hen of mine flicker her tail it was only to the same Cockbird and this Male would "always" try and mate with her. Hens will vibrate their tails after 4 months.

Here is a video below of an example of a female vibrating her tail before mating (the birds singing in this video are not Bengalese song).




I will post some more sexing methods in the future but I thought it important to start here. Unfortunately with Bengalese they are a bit more tricky to sex than Finches like the Zebra Finch but I believe they are well worth the effort!!

Cheers