Surgical VS Dna sexing

[Melzawelza]

Hey guys, i did a search but didnt find a thread on this specifically.

ive been wanting to get my 1 year old lorikeet sexed, as i have a feeling he migh be a female. there are only 2 avian vets within reach for me, and i rang one of them this morning asking about dna sexing. She said they dont do it often, as they prefer surgical sexing because you find the results straight away and its about $20 cheaper. She said it takes around 4 weeks to get results for DNA testing.

I always thought DNA would be better because its non-invasive and they dont have to go under anasthetic, Im not sure i want to put pickles through surgery just to find out what sex he is!

So which do you guys prefer? I still havent contacted the other vets, they may prefer DNA, but i thought id ask all your opinions on what is the best course of action.

[Conure & Macaw Mom]

In the bird talk magiz I read that it only takes a few days for the results to come back to you when you do the DNA (plucking some feathers). From what I read it only cost around $20 or so. I want to do it but am scared to pluck the feathers. I surly would NOT put my baby under the knife just to find out is he is a she but thats just me. Crystal

[bb100]

When faced with a question I ask myself what would I prefer if I was the one who was going to face a simple blood test or a surgical knife???..

Think I would choose the blood test..$20 bucks cheaper isn't worth it for me or my fids... Just my opinion.

[Birdsmile]

Surgical sexing cant be $20. less than $20.
Just clip your birds toenail slightly till you get a drop of blood put it on the card and use stop-nic or flour to stop the bleeding. Send in the card and you can recieve the results via E-mail.

[Conure & Macaw Mom]

But wouldn't that hurt them? Thats why I'm scared to pluck a feather. Crystal

[Melzawelza]

Oh yeah, i dont want to do the surgical testing,unless you guys had given me a reason to. i should have stated that the money meant nothing to me, i only mentioned it because i was surprised, i would have thought it would have been more expensive than $33.

thanks for the quick replies, im going to try and get onto the other ones again to see if they do dna testing.

[Melzawelza]

I just got onto them and they said they dont do surgical sexing at all. they also sounded much more knowlegable. I think ill definitely go with them even though theyre further away (im just thinking of doing a full check up on him as well)

[Alyce Johnson]

A check up will run you closer to $300, most of which is for lab work to make sure everything looks healthy with your bird's blood. Make sure it's a good reputable Avian Certified vet, or you might be wasting your money.

DNA thru a local bird shop where I live is $20 and is less there than at my vet's. They just clip one toenail too short and put a drop of blood on the little cardboard card, send it in. It's just like on "CSI". It does take a few weeks thru this particular service. Some are probably faster than others. I've heard feathers aren't as accurate. There's no risk to your bird using the blood drop from the toenail method.

I would never have my bird surgically sexed in this day & age!
Definitely I *would* avoid that vet, though! Yikes!

It's a really good idea to know the gender of your bird, because some things (like egg binding) only happen to female birds (obviously) and are life threatening. But they have odd symptoms, and might be mistaken for something else. On the other hand, you don't want to mistakenly think that your male bird is "just broody" when he's actually very sick. So for all these reasons, it's really a good idea to know what sex your bird is. It can save your bird's life, regardless of the answer, because it makes it easier for your vet to correctly diagnose what a set of generally bad symptoms might mean.

Birds tend to have kind of generalized symptoms a lot of times, when they're sick. Symptoms like "fluffed up", "losing weight", "mood change", "doesn't want to leave the cage", "staying on bottom of cage" (a *really* bad sign!) - you get the idea. Your vet will need all the extra clues she can get. Knowing the bird's sex will help them help your bird.

Another well spent $10 to $50 would be for an ID chip, in case the bird is ever lost. Call your local animal control shelter (your county and maybe the next one over) and make sure of what chip brands their readers can scan. You don't want to waste your $$ by getting a brand of chip put in that the local shelters can't read. There are a bunch of different chip makers out there for pet ID but supposedly not all scanners can read all types of chip. Almost anything except the smallest of birds can be chipped. And sadly, they do get lost - gust of wind, careless bird sitter - etc. So it's good to be prepared.

[Tiki]

Try www.dnanow.com.au I think its around $25. You can get express service for a bit more.

[Conure & Macaw Mom]

I just ordered some sample collection kits from www.healthgene.com & they said you get results in 2 business days. Its $20. You can pluck a couple feathers or collect a spot of blood. I'm taking my fids to the doc soon for a full work up so they can collect the blood at that time. That way I don't have to do it. Crystal