Sexing bourkes- what do you have?

[The Boy With The Birds]

Ok, since last post of this topic i have looked into it and found a few more different ways from others.
but still we will go back to basics.
on normal bourkes sexing can be easily achieved by looking at the blue brow between the eyes which is "ment to be" only relevent in the cock bird
-but
some hens to get small blue feathers scattered around the brow so we cant call this method 100% reliable.
the body colour of a normal hen bird though is generally duller than a cock bird but in young birds all will look like hens with body colour. from 3-4 weeks out of the nest you soon see that some are staying their fledgling colour and some are going shades darker with more vigorous colours. more vigour in the colour, and a shade darker- the cock bird. same sought of colouring out of the nest- hen.

Pink bourkes, or pale-fallow opaline.
bourkes of this mutation are dimorphic which means can be sexed by obvious differences. cock birds are of a deep pink, while hens of a lite fluffly shade of pink. hens also have a yellowish white back. more white than the cream or pale-fallow mutation. both sexes of this mutation can be distinguished from rosa's as the have red eyes and do not have any black to brown barrings through their body and especially around the face.

cream or pale-fallow-
sexing this mutation is straight forward.
cocks- have the blue brow (the same pointer still goes for the blue brow method with the normals!). But mostly can be distinguished by there darker toning than the hen bird. they usually retain a dark olive- to dark yellowy gold wing coverts, while hens are more of a yellow. hens have that lighter pink and the pink in hens extend more up the chest than of male birds.

other methods:
wing barring- now i no there are a few fans of these method but a few who dont trust it.
i have always had 100% with it. not just choosing my stock but for customers at the bird shop and knowone has bought theres back.

but if you defantly dont trust the wing barring try this!
the newest method going around is pelvic bones, i have used it now on about 3-4 occasions so try it for your self!
pelvic bones can be felt by jently feeling around the vent area. to upright bones will be felt.
if they are close together; cock- one or two fingerspaces wide; hen. but even easier hens usually have "rounded" pelvic bone and cock birds- pointy and this is quite feelable and doesnt appear that difficult
i am yet to use it in the long run- so try it i guess.

there are various other methods, but arent that widely used which goes to show they must not have a high success rate.

- there you go thats about as many methods as i could find breeder to breeder.

hope they help!

[The Boy With The Birds]

picture one on top:
normal boukes to the left there is the adult cock bird and his two fledglings that are about 3 weeks old, and you can just tell now they are almost in full colour. hen middle and the cock fledgling to the right.

directly underneath is of a pink and a rosa just so you can see the difference of the two.
the rosa is on top of the box and the pink on the perch underneath.

on the right to that picture is a pink bourke hen. this bird is not well coloured and actually appears cock like.

the next on the right is my best rosa male which has bred out those grey fleckings rosa's usually have.

and on the bottum there is a picture from work of the wing barring.
if you can see, i know i can the cock bird is on the right.

obviously i cant take a picture of the pelvics but give that method a try and see.

[birdymomma]

hmmm interesting i may have to repost my pics of my bourkes because i think i may have males and i was supposed to have two females and two malesand now i have a two month old baby i got

[birdymomma]

k took pics of mine here they are....

the one in the middle is just a 2 month old so not sure what sex it is...according to the person i got her from she is a female but at this age who knows i am wondering if i have all males

[The Boy With The Birds]

well the two adult normals are cock birds. if you could get a pick of the rosy's wing spread out i could tell but visually; this is a hard mutation to sex.
the youngen looks henish- but do u have any pics of her closer around the head and upper body.

nice birds too

[birdymomma]

thank u i knew the two were males but this baby and the rosy i wasn't sure about i can try to get pics later on today

[birdymomma]

ok here they are.....this is the rosy

this above pic is without the flash

then the above is with
and here is my 2 month old baby

[The Boy With The Birds]

the 2 month old is a hen-

i would say the roseys a cck bird though?
does that seem right birdymomma?

[birdymomma]

that's what i was afraid of i was told it was a female along with my other one (rosy) but when i got them home i noticed a problem with the other rosy (sigh) a few days later and that weekend she died...the breeder i got her from won't return my calls the others have a clean bill of health though thank god, well guess it's time to dna to be 100% can't breed males lol and that's why i got them...

[The Boy With The Birds]

yes maybe you coul swap the cock for a hen?
its always a bummer when you get birds that turn out to be a different sex to what you panned/were told.

good luck but that roseys blue in her wing is makes her extremely he-ish.