hi everyone-

 

my babies are getting sooo big, i think the oldest will fledge anyday now, I have a couple people who are interested in taking one home, but was wondering if there any any hints as to what sex they will be at this young age? even an old wives tale... A couple of them have really dark bron ceres, but I think this is just pigment or could it signify sex? Thought I'd fish around your brains for a guess- If not okay- I'm just getting impatient waiting to see what they'll be. Thank you, Kristi

pictures are really needed and even then sometimes it is difficult.

 

Boy is usually a very deep pink cere could have small nostril rings but they tend to be more clear then a white.

 

Female is usually a lighter pink, white nostril rings and tannish or white in color.

females can also get a slight blue tint to there cere as well.

Maybe these will help. These were taken right around the 5 - 6 week old mark, so should be close to the age of yours. The males will have a smooth, even color throughout the cere. The females will gradually show a lightening of the intensity of color (even if the color is the same) from the beak to the nostrils. Even harder to tell sometimes, but the males will have a slightly rounded look at the nostrils, where the females sometimes tend to look flatter. They are still rounded, but not as much as males. Maybe you can tell a little bit what I mean from the pictures. Unfortunately, I have a lot of very blurry pictures when the birds were brand new, but will dig through the archives to see what I can find if you want better pictures.

 

Females:

 

 

Male:

 

and some more:

 

Female:

 

 

Male:

 

Yes those helped, thank you. Actually I was looking for even younger...they actually have (2 of them) chocolate brown markings on their beaks & cere, the other two are just tan and impossible to tell anything yet. I may have worded that akward, I guess I was trying to ask if the dark brown pigment signified a particular sex?

 

Thank you, again, this is all just me being curious and , I must confess, trying to decide whhich ones to keep for myelf - he he.

Kristi

 

actually, i just noticed yours have the same pigmentation, on their beaks though, not their cere....does that help, now atleast I know mine are normal

if you look closly at the male whiteface blue you can see some blacky/brown spots on the cere. I can't recall if all of them had that or just one gender.

Thank you- maybe I'll start a study- early detection of boy vs girl

The black marks on the beak don't have anything to do with gender. You will find they gradually fade so that by 8 weeks or so they are gone. You might also try taking a good look at the shape of the head. Males will have very round-looking skulls when viewed from the side. Females will have more of a boxy look to them - a little flatter on top and towards the back of the head. Watch them when they beg for food from dad - when they lift the feathers on their heads and start begging the females tend to lift the feathers from the cere all the way to the back of the neck. Males tend to just lift the feathers at the cere. This difference seems to continue into adulthood.

 

Bear in mind that I don't have any scientific evidence to support what I just wrote - but it has been my observation about the head shape for a very long time.

Edited October 20, 200618 yr by Rainbow