Can you tell if your Grey is Male or Female?

[GOOSIE]

Some people say they can tell if your grey is male or female by just looking at your birds markings (mainly around the tail area) is this true??? if so can anyone give me any tips whot to look out for?

 

Fanks,

 

Goosie.

[danmcq]

There are theories on this, yes....

 

But, if you want to be certain, get your Grey DNA tested for 99.9 % certainty :-)

[judygram]

Dan is right as usual, DNA is the only way.:side:

[loviechick]

DNA is the only 99.9% like said above, however I have looked at the vent feathers of both my greys, and they're both sexed girls, and the theories have been correct, but this is only for CAG's, not for timnehs. There will be gray tips on the vent feathers underneath, males are all white so the myth goes...

[Guest briansmum]

brian has red/piny feathers around the vent, i've read this indicates a male. but i wouldn't go making my mind up on male or female by these wives tales on sexing greys. DNA is deffinately the only way to go

[charliesmum]

how much does it cost to get a DNA test?

[chapala]

If you do the DNA sample card yourself, it's about $20, well worth knowing for sure! Avian Biotech in Florida will send you the sample card on request. You have to cut a toenail a bit short and put a drop of blood on the card (bird toweled, of course!). Vets charge far more, and send it off to the same lab. There is also a lab in California that provides the service. You can pluck several feathers also from the breast area (not molted feathers) - instructions are included when you ask for the sample kit. I prefer to cut the toenail rather than pluck several feathers.

Reta

[Kimber66]

I did the at home dna test by clipping a toenail on my grey. Warning Please be extra careful not to cut to much. I took very little at a time until I got the toenail to bleed and when it did it was difficult to stop!! I thought she would bleed to death on me. To try to stop it I used styptic powder and when that wasn't working I ran it through wax. I was worried to death because she kept picking as well. All ended fine and the results were female but please be careful when attempting this yourself definately use a partner to hold the bird firmly in a towel. I tried to use a candle to see where the vein stopped in the nail but the whole thing just looked dark. Just take the smallest amount possible and wait to see if it will bleed before you proceed any further.Please keep first aid on hand if you need it, styptic pencil ect.. Good Luck. I still think this test is better than trying to pluck painful feathers.

[Anmlhggr]

Yikes, I would never trust myself to do that lol, I would absolutely have it done via vet!

[Timmysmom]

Both the eye theory and the tail/vent feather theory proved correct with my CAG, but I would not rely on these methods at all. DNA testing is the best way to find out the sex.

[casper]

I agree with the DNA testing. I was convinced my youngest grey was female but after having the test done the result came back HE is a male! My vet plucked out the feathers for me and Keeko seemed fine with no problems afterwards.

[Toni]

It cost me $30.00 to DNA Alcazar at the pet shop where I bought him.

[Guest briansmum]

yep all the rumoured traits check out with brian too, they eye shape, feather colour under the wing and wround the vet all say he is a boy.. and he is (dna proved)

 

but i deffinately wouldn't rely on this.. if you're one of those people that just NEEEEDS to know, then get the test done.

[Mel]

Well okay, what are the tales? Do tell. I won't be getting ours DNA tested just yet and I'm curious. I have a CAG. Thanks.

[di2008]

monty was sold to me as a male but he's bonded really well with my husband:evil: :whistle: and generally prefers men,wether this is a myth that they like to bond with the opposite sex i dont know but was the reason for me wanting a male in the first place.ive also heard that females have a v shape in their red tail fethers around the vent area and monty definatly has this, can any tell by my photos if monty is a boy or girl??

anyway wether he/she is male or female i wouldnt swap my little angel for the world :kiss: just would be nice to know

 

[Suzzique]

Monty looks like a male. And the myth that they bond with the opposite is not true. I know several people on another forum that the bird is the same sex as they are.

[Timmysmom]

I can't tell from the pictures, but here is one of the myths stating that they can be sexed without DNA, again I don't rely on them. My Ozzie was DNA tested and is a Male. Another one is the shape of the eye.

 

As for the Grey's preferring the opposite sex, that does not hold true at my house. My CAG does not like women and prefers men.

 

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/appgreys.html

 

 

Dina

[judygram]

My Cag, Josey, is DNA'd a female and she is bonded to me but tolerates my hubby.

[Cagal08]

Roscoe is a DNA'd male and I knew it before and so did his breeder, we strickly were going by the shape of his head " blocky" not rounded and also color of the grey is also a clue, males are ususally darker grey and females are usually very light grey color. You cannot tell the sex on the under side of the tail when they are babies, they gotta go through the first molt and then basically you can tell.

 

I use to work for a breeder and I handfed all his grey babies and each year we visually sexed the babies and then wrote down the band number and what sex we thought they were and then when DNA results came back we were amazed that we were never wrong on our visual guesses

 

Its a rummor and not true that females bond with male humans and vise versa. Greys no matter what sex will pick who they love and prefer to be on that person all the time and will tollerate others or purely hate them.

[BirdKeeper]

I read on a site,

 

that the make cags head was flat and the females was more rounded.

 

but you couldn't tell the difference that way with the TAG

[Animalspirit]

There are many theories indeed: eye, shape, head round or more flat, bigger beak, dark stripes in the tail feathers, but none of them 100 % sure. DNA-test are really the only reliable way to know if your cag or other parrot is male or female. Except when you're dealing with Eclectus, King Parrot or many cockatoos of course. I'd like to share a funny story with you, though:

 

This summer I had 4 parrots to test on DNA: my Yellow Crowned Amazon, my Orange Winged Amazon, my hybrid Lovebird and my TAG Fernando. The vet thought that the YCA was female, and the TAG as well. By observing the behavior however, I was sure they were all males. And I proved to be right!