Rings

[sstotler]

This may be a really stupid question, so please indulge me. I have a IRN who will be 4 months old this coming Sunday. I do not know his gender. I was playing with him the other day, and I noticed that where his ring will be if he is a male, there are black feathers underneath his green ones. Do all ringnecks have these, or could this be a precursor of a "ring to come"? If anyone knows, could you tell me? TY so much.

 

[LordTriggs]

could you upload picture at all? Bit of a tall order but it would help

They sound like stress bars to me, which is quite common for young birds which have just moved. The ring won't often appear until about 2 years so the darker feathers appearing at 4 months doesn't strike me as the ring beginning to form

 

[SilverSage]

Some Ringnecks get a "ghost ring" early on, and this can happen in both males and females. I've never seen stress bars show up on a neck but I would t say that is impossible. I highly suggest DNA sexing your bird. It is cheap and easy and important for health and safety reasons.


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[Raixalotto]

Many IRN can get a shadow ring. As said above it can appear on both males and females. The shadow ring can vary in darkness of colour, from a light (almost transparent) grey to a very dark grey. Only males get the black (or adequate colour based on mutation) ring.

Hope this helps