Society Finches
Our Society finches are all self colored from Japanese bloodlines. To the right is the new pearl chick!
Societies are some of my favorite birds. They get along with everybody in a mixed aviary, and come in a wide variety of colors and frills. They are generally between 4 1/4 to 4 3/4" in size. The Euro varieties are known for their larger size, while the Japanese are slimmer in build. They love to roost in a communal nest at night, and will even pyramid/form pigpiles of birds if a nest is not available.
Self society finches are a solid color, as opposed to the pied birds we generally think of. They come in chocolate (dominant), chestnut (recessive to chocolate) and fawn (recessive to both). All three colors are also available as grey and dilute mutations, as well as the new pearl. We also have albinos. These are true albinos, not black-eyed whites. Birds can be split for grey, or split for albino.
There are several different frills: bonten, chiyoda, chunagon, dainagon, king society finch.... The bonten is a charming bird with a head crest (the "Beatles" haircut). Chiyoda refers to a bird with a breast frill, while chunagon refers to a neck frill. Dainagon is chiyoda + chunagon and they are highly priced, especially in the albino mutation. King is all frilled (head, breast and neck) and is not as an attractive bird (in my opinion). All of the frills are considered to be lethal dominant - you only need one bird with a frill to get frilled chicks. Albino is co-dominant, grey is recessive and pearl is a sex-linked mutation (males). Breeding birds with similar frills (bonten to bonten, chiyoda to chiyoda) is discouraged, but you can breed different frills together to create these combinations. On the right is a juvenile chiyoda still feathering up.
Breeding Japanese society finches , unlike the Euros, is just as easy as breeding the pied societies. They make wonderful parents, and are great fosters. You do need to have a single pair in an aviary or else breed in individual cages - they love to pile into a single nest, and too many adults can crush eggs or hatchlings. Take care - they will hybridize with other lonchura as well as other species. Young take 16 days to hatch, and they fledge at 19-21 days of age. You will need to separate the young after they're weaned before you breed again, as they will continue to roost in the nest at night.
Fawn self hen-society finch
grey fawn self society finch
dark grey and light grey society finches
albino,chocolate dilute,chocolate self and albino society finches
chocolate self and albino(in the middle)society finch
All photos copyrighted-belong to EJ AVIARY-HILARY"S BIRDS breeders of lady gouldians society and owl finches ...and should not be copied without our permission
check our Bird leg bands for finches
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