Female with pink feathers on neck?

[Alexandrine]

About 6 months ago I got an Alexandrine from a breeder. There were two baby's being sold, one female and one male. I was shown the papers from the DNA results saying that the bird I was getting was a girl ( the gender doesn't actually matter to me as I am not looking to breed but the male was already sold ). Anyway she has always had a shadow of a ring ( I know that it is normal for females to have a light grey ring whilst younger so didn't think anything of it) but lately I have noticed it getting slightly darker and today I noticed two tiny pink feathers on the back of her neck. Has anyone heard of females getting the pink feathering before or do you think I was given the wrong bird?

I will try to add some photos soon

 

[SailBoat]

I am assuming that as part of receiving your Alex that you also got the Lab results, Certification of DNA Sex - Female, Yes? Assure that the document has a date on it. Although rare in New Zeeland, in some places in the World the documents are nothing more than photo copies, which are shown to the potential buyer, but never provided.

If you are deeply concerned that the paperwork may have been mixed-up. The only way to confirm that is to have the test run again. For your peace of mind, it maybe worth doing.

Feather colouring can be affected by any number of minor to major health problems, diet, injury to the Parrot and/or injury to that specific feather. The results is an odd /miss-placed feather. Maybe better to say that any number of factors could cause that specific feather's DNA to provide the incorrect code for that location. Mutations do happen all the time and this is most likely what is happening.

Pictures will be helpful.

 

[maverickbull]

Let us see the pics first

But I'm thinking this is definite male

 

[Dinosrawr]

Very easy to accidentally give the wrong paper/bird if the breeder has not identified them by a band or used a physical characteristic to distinguish the two. Chances are you have been given a male, especially with the pink feathers coming through at this time. Your bird is growing closer to sexual maturity, and generally after their second full moult their rings start coming in. Shiko is an IRN, and his black feathers started coming in just around a year and a half of age.

There is also the possibility of the Sailboat mentioned, where the DNA documents were fabricated. I know that I had a DNA sex done personally for each of my birds after bringing them home. While I trust my IRN breeder, I also had to pay a "premium" for a male (no choice either way, all three clutch mates were male), so I wanted to ensure that the higher price was justified and I was paying for what I was getting.

It might not hurt to notify the breeder afterwards if it is confirmed so that the other party who was supposed to get the male knows they will be waiting a loooooonnnnggg time for a ring to come in.