Determining your bird's sex

Do you believe discovering your bird’s sex to be a simple curiosity? Not quite!

You need to know your bird’s sex in order to understand it’s behavior and changing moods during the different periods of the year, if you wish to find a companion for it or even for medical reasons. You may wish to discover it sex to simply find an appropriate name!

Medically, it is better to know your bird’s sex because between a male and female, diagnosis can be quite different. Evidently, a male bird cannot produce a retained egg for example, whereas this situation is quite frequent among small female species. All other reproductive problems may differ between males and females. From this point of view, sexing can be of great help for your veterinarian when determining a diagnosis.

Parrots are not sterilized like dogs and cats and their hormones may occasionally perturb your relationship between you and your bird. Every individual and each species reacts differently depending of the period of the year. During the reproductive period, females may become more affectionate whereas males may become more territorial.

Before, sexing had to be done surgically using an endoscope. An endoscope is an instrument that allows us to visualize the internal organs and therefore determine whether the bird is a male or female. This technique, done under general anesthesia, is no longer necessary today.

Certain species present a sexual dimorphism, a physical difference that is visible to the naked eye. Here are a couple of examples:

-The color of the wax in Budgies, situated just above the beak, is pinkish-brown in females and bluish-purple in males. You must wait for the bird to be at least 6 months to 1 year of age before being able to determine the sex with precision using this technique.

-As for the Cockatiel, with certain colors like the standard grey, the orange cheeks and yellow head differentiates the males from the females (grey head only). Once again, those of less than 6 months have a completely grey head.

-For other species such as the Electus, the difference is striking. In this species, the male’s body is green with a beige beak, whereas the female has a red and purple body with a black beak. For a very long time, experts believed they were of a completely independent species from one another.

The most effective way of determining the sex of a bird that does not present a sexual dimorphism is DNA sexing. A simple blood draw or even a growing feather containing blood, may be used. The sample is then sent to a laboratory that performs this test and within a few days the results arrive. A certificate containing your information as well as those of your bird, are given to you.

This technique is without pain and very fast. The cost is affordable and the sample is drawn from your bird within minutes.

Nataly Bayard

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