Male or Female Blue-headed Pionus?

[lac575]

Male or Female Pionus?

Are there any behavioral differences between male and female Pionus? Particularly blue-headed Pionus? Please describe your girls and boys.

 

[EllenD]

I'm going to "bump" this since no one has given you an answer...Are you speaking about "Visual" differences between the genders, or behavioral differences? Because as far as behavioral differences between male and female parrots in-general, they are pretty much the same across all species of parrots, and not particular to one species.

In-general, ALL female birds of course run the risk of laying clutches of infertile eggs, and usually do at some point during their lives. Some female birds are chronic-layers of eggs, and you must take all possible environmental, behavioral, and dietary measures to reduce their hormonal-behavior so that they aren't constantly producing Follicles and then they are turning into infertile eggs. Obviously when they lay infertile eggs they run the risk of becoming Egg-Bound for a number different reasons, and this is fatal 100% of the time without immediate intervention by an Avian Vet...When males become hormonal they tend to be a bit more aggressive, nippy, and sometimes actually do start biting. Some males do not like being handled/held at all when they are hormonal, while other males actually want to masturbate on you or anything else they can get to work for them, and it can be quite constant...Females masturbate as well when they are "broody", but not nearly as often as males. Again, this is all controlled (or should be) by the environment you provide them, the diet you feed them, and making sure that you have them on a "Natural Light Schedule" to control their hormones...No small, dark, warm places inside of their cages or out in your house that they can get inside/underneath, such as "Happy Hut" or "Snuggle Huts", no tents, hammocks, boxes of any kind, no bedding of any kind like wood-chips or shredded paper, no liners or newspaper they can get underneath or make a nest out of, no furniture they can get underneath, NO BED OF ANY KIND, no blankets or towels, etc. No warm, mushy foods, and no petting anywhere but their head, face, and neck. And if this doesn't stop a female parrot from laying infertile eggs constantly, then you need to usually put them on hormone-therapy with your Avian Vet; the Deslorelin/Suprelorelin Implants work extremely well and are not invasive to put in at all...Not all females will be "broody" all the time and lay infertile eggs chronically, and not all males will become aggressive and nippy, it's all about the individual bird and the steps YOU take to prevent it from happening...

Another "general" difference between males and females is their ability to talk, and them being vocal overall...And in-general, male parrots are much better talkers. Males typically learn a lot more words/phrases than females do, and males also speak much more clearly than females in-general...That doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of female parrots who are great talkers and that aren't very vocal, but in-general if you want a bird that talks/speaks and that is very vocal and sings/whistles a lot, then you should probably get a male...But realize that you may get a male who never makes a peep (except screaming, this doesn't apply to screaming, both sexes scream with no issues at all, lol)...Basically you should not ever get a parrot at all if you are getting it because you want a bird that talks/sings, because regardless of the sex or the species of parrot, there is no way to guarantee your bird will make a peep, let alone talk...I've seen male Congo African Grays, the best talkers in the parrot world by-far, who have never said a single word nor ever whistled a note.

Blue-Headed Pionus parrots in-general are pretty noisy birds. I've not ever owned one or lived with one, but I have worked with several at the Avian Rescue I work at, and we've had several throughout the years that have stayed with us for months at a time, and the Blue-Headed Pionus is typically a very noisy bird who makes a very distinct, high-pitch squawking sound, both males and females, but they still aren't nearly as noisy as a lot of other parrot species...They are not at all known for their talking-capabilities anyway, but the males do tend to be the talkers when they do speak...

Visually, I don't think that there are any differences between male and female Blue-Headed Pionus parrots at all...In fact, I'm pretty sure that they are not sexually-dimorphic, meaning that there is no way to tell whether a Blue-Headed Pionus is a male or a female just by looking at them at all, and the only way you'll be able to tell if a bird is a male or a female is by doing a DNA-test with either blood or feathers...Someone can correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I don't think that I am, as I don't ever remember seeing any visual differences between male and female Blue-Headed Pionus birds...So if you are wanting a specific gender, you'd have to have the breeder, bird store, or Rescue do a DNA-test for you in order to choose one of the gender you want...

Other than that, there aren't many differences at all between male and female Blue-Headed Pionus birds..They look exactly the same, they are roughly the same size (males might be a tad larger in-general, but not by much), etc.

 

[Wannabird2003]

I have read that males can be more temperamental during breeding times. Females can get egg binding. I have a female who is very even tempered year round and has not tried to lay an egg. She is 16 yrs now.