finch question need help

[armandndeb]

Hello, this is the question, I received 2 finches for mothers day gift, the pet store where my son bought them did not know the sex and the kind they are was not displayed, I know its hard to sex them, my question is what kind are they.
They both are a brown, black, white and alittle reddish mixed in, there tails are black and white, one is larger with no markings on the cheek, the other has white markings on the cheeks, I would be so happy if someone could tell me, maybe in the soceity family but what kind? I also received a new male keet for mothers day, his name Mr Bo Jangles{Bo} for short, hes joining sky, blue, sunny and gg, we are one big happy happy family

[charmedagain]

Hi and congratulations on the new additiosn did you have a nice mothers day.

Sounds to me like you have Zebra finch's
Males have a much brighter red beak the females is more of an orange.

there is some pictures of zebra finch's at
www.birdshelpline.bravehost.com

Mike

[armandndeb]

there colors are brown, black and white patchy almost like chocolate, and yes I had a very nice mothers day, thank you for asking. I don,t think there zebras?

[charmedagain]

They could be pied or peraled society finchs

Here is some links it has a list of different coloured societies hope this helps.

Also a website that says they are monomorphic meaning they can not be visually sexed

http://www.efinch.com/species/society.htm

http://www.birds2grow.com/cs-society.html

[Jamiya]

I bet they are society finches as they are very common. You can't tell the sexes apart by looking at them. But you can watch their behavior. If one starts to sing and make displays, he's a male.

You can see my birds and hear a society song here: http://home.everestkc.net/tnewman/birds/birds.htm. Rufus is a male society. After you click on the link you may have to wait a little bit for it to load, even though it looks like it is doing nothing.

[armandndeb]

My two are just like yours only more darker colors with the white, I beleive though research they are called pied chocolate's I have named them coco and cookie, I know I have a male but not sure about the other one, it just chirps slightly but are snuggly, but one is larger than the other one like yours, I,m so hoping they are a pair, also do they or can they have fresh grasses to nibble on ?

[Jamiya]

Mike can answer that one better, but I THINK they can as long as you are sure the grasses have never been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals. I know you're also supposed to be careful if you put a whole plant in the cage that the pot does not have fertilizer added to the dirt.

Don't give them grass before Mike answers, though. I have only owned my birds for a couple of months.

[charmedagain]

Here is a website that lists safe plants and woods for birds.

Grasses are fine aslong as they have no chemicals on them and have not been fouled on by other animals.

http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/features_aviaryplants.mgi

Mike