Curious...

[stellascura420]

Hi,

I have a 30 year old (atleast that's how long he's been in my family) Yellow Nape Amazon. We've always assumed he was a he because we've never seen any eggs and he's tried to feed me and my grandmother before on numerous occasions. After all of this, is it pretty safe to assume he's actually a he? I thought about having his DNA tested from some feathers, but I don't want to subject him to any unneccesary stress. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Auggie's Dad]

While the presence of an egg would definitively show a bird is a female the absence of eggs, even over such a long period, cannot definitively show that it is a male.

But is it safe to assume he is a he? It depends on the purpose of the assumption, but I think for the most part yes. If you want to breed him with a female I'd say its not a safe assumption, or if a medical treatment has sex specific requirements it's not a safe assumption; but if you just want to know if you can keep calling him a 'he' then I think its pretty safe to make that assumption.

Many parrot owners don't really know the sex of their bird. I've never had Auggie tested and I do assume he is a male - not just on the lack of eggs but from other, admittedly circumstantial, evidence such as his posture while ... pleasuring himself.

All that said the DNA test need not be painful or stressful, there are a couple common methods and they are completely safe. While any change in daily routine can add stress I suspect the trip into a vets office itself is far more significant than the DNA test. The only reason I haven't had the test done is price, but now it's becoming quite affordable too, but I just don't have any need to know.

So all in all I suppose this wasn't a great answer - but if you want a conclusive answer the DNA test is the way to go. If you just want to be comfortable with saying he is a he I think you should be set already.

 

[danewillow]

We have a yellow naped and a Timneh we had DNA sexed. We were just curious. When we brought them to the vet they asked us if we wanted it done and we always said no. Then I found a couple companies where you can just put a spot of blood on a card and send it in for $20-25 (trim their nail a little short, make sure you have some of that quick-stop stuff). We found out Rocky (Amazon) is a female and Einstein (Grey) is a male. I suspected this all along just because of their behaviors but it's nice to know. It took us a while to call Rocky "she" since her name is kind of masculine (we didn't name her) but we got used to it.

Julie