male or female

[peteandtilly]

i was told two of my lovies are brothers, but when i was cleaning the cage and took the divider out from the cage and the paper on the bottom both of them started shreding the paper.... do boys do that, i thought only the hens did??

[linda040899]

While hens are known for their paper shredding, I have males that do it, too! Some are extremely good at it. Female Peachfaces will also stuff shredded paper in their rump feathering but the isn't strictly a female thing, either. I have males that do it, just not as well as their female counterparts. :)

Males are known for humping favorite objects but I have a proven hen that can match any male I've ever seen as far as humping ability!!!

[Chickobee]

All lovebirds will chew up paper. Females are generally better at making long narrow strips and tucking it into their rump feathers.

Behavior alone is not a good way to determine the sex of your lovebirds. Same sex pairs can mimic the behaviors of a male x female pair.

Who told you your lovebirds were brothers? Do you know if they were DNA tested?

[peteandtilly]

actually i just found out that the "brothers" i got were not dna and that the owner said she could tell by something about the eyes of the babies??? ive never heard of that!

[linda040899]

With eye-ring species of lovebird (Masked, Fischer's, Black Cheeked, Nyasa), yes, there appears to be a difference in eye shape but that's not true with Peachfaced Lovebirds. With eye-rings, look just at the eye and females tend to have almond shaped eyes, while males tend to have round ones. This is the method I use when I look for birds for myself but I would never guarantee gender based on eye shape when I sell an eye-ring species of bird.