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To Sex Or Not To Sex
To Sex Or Not To Sex
A question we ask our vet clinic customers is "What sex is your bird?" It amazes me how many people do not know, including the owners of dimorphic birds! And then they ask why we need to know.
There are bodily functions related to the reproductive systems, which are completely different in males and females. For example, if your bird is sitting lethargically on the bottom of the cage, and you don't know that it is a female, it is possible that an egg binding diagnosis would be overlooked.
How do you know for sure the gender of your bird? First, I recommend researching to see if your bird is sexually dimorphic. If you can visually tell, you will know for sure. Mature Moustache Parakeets are dimorphic. The females have black beaks and the males have orange beaks. Eclectus are easily distinguished - the males are green birds and the females are red birds. Some birds are dimorphic when mature, but not as babies. Ringnecks, for example, will grow a beautifully colored series of rings around their necks if they are males, and a muted version of these as a female. (And the albino form of ringneck does not get a ring - neither males nor females.)
There are a lot of old wives' tales out there about how to tell some birds apart. They are really just that - old wives' tales! When you are accurate as often as when purely guessing, it's not much of a system.
How do you sex a bird? You can DNA sex them or surgically sex them.
DNA sexing involves snipping a toenail or pulling a blood feather and collecting a few drops of blood in a glass tube. You place the tube in a vial provided by the DNA company and mail it to them for analysis. It can take 2 or more weeks to get the DNA results. And, although they are more accurate today than they were even five years ago, this method is not 100% accurate. My family has 5 birds who were inaccurately DNA sexed.
Surgical sexing, or laparoscopic sexing, is performed by an experienced avian vet who will put the bird under anesthesia, make a tiny incision on the bird's side, and place the laparoscope inside the bird and look directly at the bird's reproductive organs. This is an accurate method as long as the bird is not malformed inside. Birds can be surgically sexed when they are fully feathered. They do not need to be mature. They do not even need to be weaned.
Cons: ANY surgery involves risk. Any time you put any pet under anesthesia, there is a risk that they may not come out of it. Likewise, if you cut a toenail too short and make it bleed, the bird could make it bleed after you attend to him/her. So there are risks both ways. Another con in DNA sexing is that it is not 100% accurate. It is also not instant, as surgical sexing results are.
Pros: When you DNA sex, you can also have birds tested for diseases. With surgical sexing, each bird owner can, if the vet is accommodating like mine, look inside your own bird and see their reproductive organs yourself! The male's organs look like kidney beans and the females ovaries look like cottage cheese! Also, when you see the reproductive organs, you know the results are accurate 100%.
Lesson learned: As recently as a week ago, my family attended a bird clinic. I brought a macaw that I acquired a few months ago and had been told it was a female. When the vet looked at her, he noted there were no tattoos, and wanted to know if I wanted her sexed. My Mom talked me into it for all of the same reasons that my vet clinic's clients should know for sure, and I am so glad she did. My "Shania" is a boy! So the lesson is: Unless you have a DNA certificate or a tattoo under the wings from surgical sexing, you do not know for sure!
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