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Society Finch

Bengalese Finch - Japanese Movchen

Family: EstrildidaeFawn-Pied Society FinchLonchura domesticaPhoto © Roy Beckham eFinch.com

   The word "society" suits these little birds to a tee, as they are very social and like to get into everybody's business! Society Finches make great pets for the beginner. They are one of the easiest birds to care for, very hardy, inexpensive, and are prolific breeders.

   Society Finches are one of the most charming and interesting of all the small Mannikins! They are believed to have been developed in Asia over three hundred years ago by Chinese and Japanese breeders. It is assumed they are a domestic form of the White-backed Munia (Lonchura striata) though their absolute ancestry is uncertain.

For more information about the care of Finches see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Finch

Geographic Distribution Lonchura domestica Data provided by GBIF.org Scientific Classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Actiniform Class: Elasmobranchii Order: Passeriformes Family: Estrildidae

Scientific name: Lonchura domestica Learn more about the Society "Family", the Estrildidae Finches here: Finch Families

Description:   Society Finches reach a size of 4 1/4" to 4 3/4" (11-12 cm). They have three basic color varieties: chocolate and white, fawn and white, and pure white. Tri-coloreds, crested forms (developed in the 1930's), and solid colors are also seen. No two Society Finches are alike!

Distribution:    Society Finches are totally domestic and large numbers are bred in captivity.

Care and Feeding:    Fresh food and water must be provided daily. A good finch seed mix will provide their everyday preference for millets and canary seed and is readily available at a pet store. In a separate cup supply green foods regularly, such as chickweed and spinach. Other supplements include egg foods, apple and pear. Finch treats of seed with honey, fruits and vegetables are fun for your bird too, as well as nutritious!
   Grit with charcoal is essential to aid in digestion and it contains valuable minerals and trace elements. Grit should be provided in a special cup or sprinkled over the bottom of the cage floor. Provide a cuttlebone because the calcium it provides will give your bird a firm beak, strong eggshells when breeding, and will prevent egg binding. The lime in the cuttlebone also aids in digestion.
   Offer your finch a bath occasionally by providing a bath dish that is 1" deep with a 1/2" of water, or a clip on bath house.
   Their nails may occasionally need to be trimmed, but be careful never to clip into the vein as the bird can quickly bleed to death. Bird nail trimmers and styptic powder to stop the bleeding are available at pet shops.

Housing:    Society Finches do well indoors in a cage. Place the cage where it is well ventilated though free from drafts, and against a wall at eye level. It should have good light but be away from doors and windows where direct exposure to sunlight can make it overly warm.
   Provide two or three good softwood perches about 3/8" to 3/4" in diameter. Tree branches of a similar size also make good perches and will help to wear the claws down naturally. Provide separate dishes for food, water, treats, and grit. Place paper on the cage bottom that can be sprinkled with grit, or use a grit paper.
   Society Finches also do very well an in aviaries or bird rooms. The screening should be 3/8" square mesh. Dishes for food, water, grit and bathing water must be included along with perches and nests. Plants that are not poisonous, such as fruit trees, privet, forsythia, and honeysuckle bushes will make the space more enjoyable for the finches.

Maintenance:    Although finches require very little time, a clean environment as well as fresh food and water daily is a must to prevent disease and illness. The basic cage care includes daily cleaning of the water and food dishes. Every two to three days change the paper on the bottom of the cage and sprinkle it with about 1/8" of fresh grit. Weekly wash and dry the entire cage, including the perches.

Social Behaviors:    Society Finches are very, very social and should be kept in groups (except when breeding a single pair). They are most friendly, have an ideal temperament, and are never aggressive toward other birds.

Handling/Training:    Finches are simply enjoyed for their antics and play rather than training. When you need to handle your finch to examine it or clip it's nails, place your palm on it's back and wrap your fingers around the bird with your thumb and forefinger on either side of it's head.

Activities:   Society Finches are active and very friendly. They are so social and such busy bodies that they can often get in the way of, and disrupt the breeding habits of other more private birds! Keep an eye on your energetic friends in an aviary!

Breeding/Reproduction:    Society Finches are one of the most reliable breeders! They can be bred as individual pairs housed separately or as groups in aviaries. When breeding in groups, you must make sure you have more than three pairs to prevent a pecking order. One drawback to aviary breeding is over eagerness. They will often all crowd into one nest to lay and incubate their eggs. They get in each others way and make it impossible for any one hen to incubate the eggs. They are such dedicated breeders, they will even incubate and rear the young of many other birds.
 &nbsp The sexes are very similar, but the male will display mating behavior by singing a little song to the female. Females are generally quiet unless visually separated from their mate. In this case, the male will call to the female with a single syllable, while the hen's answer will be three or four syllables.
   They like a closed or partially open nest. The size of a nest box should be about 5" or 6" (13 -16 cm). Nesting materials such as grasses and hay will be appreciated, and they will line the nest with feathers and soft materials.
   The female will lay a clutch of 4 to 6 eggs. The female will do most of the sitting on the eggs and they will hatch in 12 to 13 days. Both parents will feed the hatchlings. At this time provide lots of greens, seed and egg food.

Potential Problems:    Society Finches are very hardy birds and almost all illnesses can be traced to improper diet, dirty cages, and drafts. A balanced diet and plenty of exercise will prevent most illnesses. The white coloration of Society Finches can often be albino, with pink eyes, and prone to eye problems. Eye problems of this sort can be prevented by supplying lots of green foods high in carotene. Know your birds and watch for real drastic changes as indications of illness.
   Some signs of illness to be aware of are droppings that are not black and white, feathers that are ruffled, lack of appetite, wheezing, and acting feeble and run down.
   Some of the common illnesses and injuries your finch could contract are broken wings or legs, cuts and open wounds, overgrown beaks and nails, ingrown feathers, feather picking, confinement cramps in the legs from a cage that is too small, weight loss, heat stroke, shock, concussion, egg binding, diarrhea, mites, colds, baldness, scaly legs, sore eyes, tumors, constipation, and diarrhea.
   First you can try and isolate the bird in a hospital cage where you cover all but the front of the cage and add a light bulb or heating pad to keep the interior of the cage at a constant temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove all perches and put food and water dishes on the floor. If you don't see improvements within a few hours, take the bird to an avian veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment.

Availability:    Society Finches are readily available in the pet industry in the three basic colorations. With a little more determination, you should be able to find the tri-colors, crested and solid colors as well. Because they are bred so easily in captivity, they are very inexpensive little birds.

Author: Clarice Brough, CAS

Lastest Comments on Society Finch View all 37 comments on Society Finch Add Your Comment

Eve Roesler - 2012-05-07 I brought home two society finches today. One of them is constantly staring up at the ceiling of the cage. He seems to be moving around more than when I first brought him home today, but this constant staring at the ceiling baffles me. Is he sick? Any ideas would be most helpful. Charlie Roche - 2012-05-07 It takes new friends a few days to become aclimated to their new enviornment. I don't really know of anything that has a symptom for staring but obviously something intriques the little guy. Try and look at it from his perspective. Is there a ceiling fan or a light? Is the sun on the ceiling, are their shadows anything that he would be curious about? Reply

Val - 2010-11-05 I adopted two Society finches two weeks ago. The female is missing her feathers on her chest and seems to be bullied by the male - she is very timid and quiet. To break up the drama I got one male and female zebra finch and put them in the cage, along with a new toy. I would have gotten a society pair but I wanted to be sure I was getting a male and female. Now the male society is bullying the female zebra! The male zebra tries to protect her but he is smaller than the male society. Tonight the female society is hiding in her nest and has started putting some nesting material in it. Is the male society just protecting her or being a bully? What should I do to make sure they all get along? The have a large, clean cage and I freshen their food and water each morning. They have spinach daily and two nests to use, as well as a cuttle bone and nesting hair from the pet store. The pet store offered to swap out the male society. Please let me know what you suggest! Cody - 2010-12-22 I think you should just put the male society finch in solitary confinement. That's what I did when one of my Zebra finches was screeching and squawking at the other one. And it worked. I felt like a terrible owner when my female society finch died. Her name was Ivy and she had over 14 eggs all in different clutches. I suspect the cause was egg binding and if anybody has some advice I'd greatly appreciate it. Lucy - 2012-03-09 I have recently bought a male and female zebra finch and I am interested in buying another breed that will get along with them. Other than the society what other could I get that would be a grassland type and get along? kane - 2012-04-21 You are keeping your Bengalese good leave them how they are, but don't give them broccoli daily only 2 times a week. Just leave them alone to breed but if you see the male has no interest after or before to lay or don't help her build the nest you must swap it with another interested male. If the female is building and staying in her nest she is interested and if you see him quiet while she is building her nest he is hopeless so you must swap him with a better and more interested male Reply

mandy - 2011-10-12 Our bengalese lay one tiny egg a few weeks ago and today we can't see the egg. Can anyone please explain what has happened? Reply

Need Help - 2012-02-11 Hi, Need to know if there are ANY stores at ALL in Canada that can tell female and male society finches apart... Places like Petshop and PetSmart don't have a clue as to what they're doing. HELP. Charlie Roche - 2012-02-11 Guaranteed, if it lays an egg, it is a female. There is no 1000% way to determine the sex of a Society Finch except through DNA sexing. You can purchase a DNA sex kit, I believe for $25.00, from one of the labs advertised in the back of Bird Talk Magazine. That said, usually the males sing to the females - it ispart of courting. So watch the behavior and see who is singing. The female doesn't usually call out or sing back unless she is separated from her mate. The males head is usually a little wider, a little flatter than the females. Females head is more curved and narrow. No one - no pet store, can tell you more than and great guess when it comes to these little guys but a breeder is your best bet and can do it with pretty good accuracy. bill m - 2012-02-12 Me and my dad raise finches and it's hard to determine the sex by looking at them but what you can do is seperate them cause only the male bird will sing and the female species does not sing. That's one sure way to tell other than going to a vet which cost money. Hope this helps you out bill m - 2012-02-12 Seperate the birds cause only the male bird will sing. The female species won't sing then you will know which one is male or female. It's cheaper than going to a vet to have them sexed bruce - 2012-02-21 The only sure way is to get the male to sing. You will need small individual cages (2-3) to house individuals. If no one sings they are girls. In a group of 4 or so it's is quite likely one will bounce and begin courting. This is obviously the male. This bird can then be used to sex the rest. The other way is to pay for dna testing. Reply

sudha - 2011-10-21 I am from India. I have had these birds for more than two years and they looked like finches when they where young. They where colourful now they have white feather underside but darkbrown feathers all over. They are shaped and sized exactly like finches. One sings the other doesn't. They do not breed. I dont know what to do. I am trying to identify help Charlie Roche - 2011-10-21 Many many birds/parrots may have various colors on the body but will have a white down undercoat. The finch is no exception. So your finch could have a white down soft fluffy feather coat underneath its colored feathers. That is normal. They molt this coat during the year, based on weather so at times it is much more visible. Normally the male sings and the female does not. You can read more about this in Breeding and Reproduction in the above article. Normally, finches are prolific breeders and are good moms and dads. However, without a flock, it can sometimes take birds a little while before they catch on to what it is they are to do in order to reproduce. You can enjoy them and give them time to learn. You can purchase another pair and possibly they will learn from each other. You could possibly buy a proven pair and your original pair will learn from the proven pair. Much of the time it just takes a pair without a flock some time to learn. amit Ghosh - 2011-12-24 Please watch whether both calls or only one call. May be both the birds are female. If posible buy one more pair of birds and keep together,which may solve your problem.- amit 9831281230 Reply

Debbie - 2011-12-13 My Husband recently bought me 2 parakeets and we went back to the pet store to buy 2 more in different color. Well low and behold we ended up buying 2 social finches (cute little things). So now that we've had them for a month they are now going to have babies (how fun). Of course I have the parakeets and finches in different cages. My question is what kind of greens do you feed them? Charlie Roche - 2011-12-14 The only kind of greens my human can get us to eat is string beans and vrocoli and we really don't like those much unless she puts them in scrabled eggs. Good luck though. Hope you have better luck with yours. Reply

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