Assigning a gender to a non-DNA'd bird

[usamma]

Just curious, for those of you who have not had their birds DNA tested for gender and there are no sex-linked traits to tell what it is, do you refer to your bird as a male, a female, or just "it?" I'm seeing a trend here that most "mystery" birds seem to be referred to as males.

If you have not tested your bird, do you plan to in the future? We adopted Moki as a "she" but not proven, and later changed his gender to "he" after some humping and stuff. But honestly we will never know. And to tell you the truth after thinking of him as a boy I don't want to know that he's a girl, even if he is! LOL!

[Seiyuuki]

depends on the bird to me, some i refer to as males and other i call females. but when choosing a name for a birl that i really have no clue about it's gender, i pick names that are suited to both.

[usamma]

Originally Posted by Seiyuuki

depends on the bird to me, some i refer to as males and other i call females. but when choosing a name for a birl that i really have no clue about it's gender, i pick names that are suited to both.

Your bird Ducky is sooo cute!

[TooDusty]

It's funny because from the day I got my cockatoo at 6 months old, I knew she was a girl and the DNA test proved that. Riley, my hahns macaw, I though was a boy because she was such a good talker and I'd heard that males were better talkers than females, so Riley was a boy for a while! I finally got around to DNA testing her and voila! She's a girl! We had a Gender Reassignment party with all my friends! My lovebird I've been able to tell once they hit maturity by behaviours.

[hatchling]

I've never had my parrots DNA'd and I do refer to them as males. I don't really care to find out and would rather be oblivious than have to think of them as girls or worry about changing the name. The birds don't care so why should I!

Oh, wait....I did have 1 cockatiel DNA'd because he is a white face and I wanted him to live with my male, who I never had DNA'd, but know he is a male from his sexual behavior (also I white face). Wheww... does that make any sense??? LOL

[chapala]

I only have one bird, the recently re-homed Amazon, that I don't know the gender. The Macaw and Grey have had the DNA test, and the Parrotlet is from a dimorphic species (males and females are colored differently). I think the new 'Zon is a hen just based on behavior, more gentle, less assertive than I'd expect with a male.

[Razzle]

I've got a conure named Edmond because my choices were between choosing arbitrarily to have him be male or paying $70 to have a vet stick a needle in him to find out whether he was male or female. Didn't sound like it would benefit me or my bird, and didn't sound like fun for him to get an extra unneccesary blood draw (I know I hate them!) Just the ones he needs. He's an only bird, so there's no trouble with making chicks or territory fighting with other birds, but even though I've chosen to think of him as male I include being eggbound in the list of ailments to carefully watch him for.

[Ashling]

I guess that Ash is a girl because she was smaller than a lorikeet younger then her, and the females are known to be smaller. Also her yellow plumage- I have always associated red-chested lorikeets as boys and yellow-chesteds as girls! So I'm just guessing. I'm getting her DNA tested ASAP.

[Poicephalus girl]

The only one I know the gender for sure is my Red-bellied because of his bright orange belly.

My lovebird I've called a "she" since I got her because back then, that is what stuck to her. However, as I'm reading people stories about Lovebirds, it seems like I might have a male...but changing without being sure is a little weird for me and I don't really intend on having her DNA sexed any time soon.

My Senegal, I believe to be female. There are some clues to help identify male/female, although you can never be sure at 100%. Based on a comparison of these "clues" between her and her "brother", it seemed that Shade might be a female and her brother a male.

My Meyer's...Petey was 13 when I got her last August. Since previous owners said she was a male, I did refer to her as "him" for a while..then when she started to display with her nesting behaviour, it seemed to be that "she" was more fitting. With Zuri, it was just what stuck. After being around a couple of Pois (more than just my own), she looked more like a female than a male, but again, can't be sure without sexing her.

[Jwhear]

I have 8 birds and never really cared what the sex was, although I wanted a male tiel as I heard they are better whistlers, but I took the one I wanted and never had her DNAd cause I just didn't care. The my lovebird I knew was a female based on behavior so no sense there, then we got our Juno and since he still needed bloodwork and other test to do and it was only 35.00 I figured what could it harm. My Nanday was sexed as I wanted to house my Sun and Him together since they got along so well and I really didn't want any Sundays. I just got Juno's clutchmate last night and since I again want to house them I definitely don't want them mating so I will have him sexed before I put them together. But I wouldn't sex them for any other reason since it doesn't really matter. All my birds have gender neutral names since I don't like people names for birds.