Has anyone sexed their grey? How is it done?

[Smoochn]

I read you have to pluck 3 to 5 fresh plunked feathers from their chest. Does that hurt them? Will he hate me for doing that. What is the correct way to do this as to not harm the bird? I'm thinking of letting my husband do it so he doesn't hold it against me .

 

I ordered the kits today. Does anyone know how long it takes to get the results back?

[Shelly Yokum]

Yes, plucking the feathers will hurt. Its like pulling your hair out. I would prefer to cut the nail a little short and get the blood, and then immediately stop the bleeding. If you are unsure please take it to a vet to be done. Every bird is different, but will probably pout with you for a while, and possible to have to regain the trust.

[Barbara2]

I never got my two little birds sexed. I've had them for 17 years and back in the day, you pretty much only had the sexing done if you were planning to mate them. My grey that is coming has already been sexed. (The breeder uses the nail method mentioned by Shelly.) If you are unsure about this, I would let the vet do it.

[judygram]

It does cost more to have the vet do the test but for me it is worth it for they know what they are doing and it is someone other than me that does the inflicting of pain, something I don't want to be associated with. It shouldn't take more than a week or two to get the results back.

[danmcq]

I'm with Judy, I had Dayo DNA tested when he was 12 weeks old. It is the only true way to know (other than them laing an egg after mature) which sex they are. It was important to us to know. Some really don't care and thus never have them DNA tested.

[Luvparrots]

I got one of the kits in the mail and when I went to pick up my grey, the breeder plucked the feathers and put them in the plastic envelope. The breeder figured it was the last thing she would be doing for her baby and so it was better the grey "blamed" her instead of her new parront! I never noticed any problems for my grey, so if it hurt, she didn't really think about it. The breeder told me my grey was a female and I also thought she was. We were right, woman's instinct, I guess. The testing place e-mailed me my grey's sex and also sent a certificate. My second grey was tested before I got him by the breeder and she gave me the certificate. Some breeders now do the sexing for the buyer so that you know your grey's sex beforehand.

[Smoochn]

Thank you everyone for the reply. Don't know what I'll be doing but I'll let you know how it went.

 

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

That was my CAG saying hi.. He seems to enjoy the keyboard more than he does his toys.

Edited August 1, 2011 by Smoochn

[aslterp59]

Gemma enjoys trying to pull the keys off my laptop keyboard... and has succeeded a few times when I wasn't quick enough to stop her...