sexing help

[birds_at_play]

I got this off the net anyone here of this?

Sexing a lovebird is fairly easy.. in most species and mutations the males will be slightly heavier built with a larger head than the female. The tail of a male when it is opened will fall into a fan-type shape with the center being longer than the edges, where a females tail feathers will be even.. almost square as if someone has got a pair of scissors and cut straight accross

I looked at my breeders and well it is with the 4 i have :confused:

[LauraO]

There are a lot of myths about sexing lovebirds but the only true way to find out is to have your lovebirds DNA tested, have a pair that has babies or a hen who lays eggs, or you have a sex-linked mutation.




:D :D

[mjm8321]

In some cases I'd agree with that, and other disagree. Peachface lovies unless you know their genetic background generally can't be accurately sexed visually, though many people check the pelvic bones and tell you they know the sex. There's still a 50/50 chance with that. I've been fooled a time or two thinking I had a male that turned out to be female. DNA is pretty accurate as well, though there are cases of tests showing the bird is a male, when in fact it's female. Surgical sexing is another option, but even that is not all that accurate. Case in point, I have a surgically sexed hen that fathered six chicks. :lol

[birds_at_play]

ok dont want to sound stupid here i have only had lovies a few months We got them in a trade ..what is .....sex-linked mutation..? Ok here i had mom and dad red faced greed body My AV pic ..and they gave me a yellow with red eyes is that one? and if so what is it then ?srry so many questions

[LauraO]

I just wanted to share that I felt around my lovies just to check out the whole pelvic tests and I swear that the only ones who seemed rather obvious about their sexes were the birds who have bred in the past. All the rest seemed to fall somewhere in the middle so I gave up on all that :x

I will let one of the more educated breeders explain sex-linked mutations. I barely get any of the genetics stuff and they will sound much more educated in their explanations :) .

[mjm8321]

Your avatar pic looks like a pretty standard green peachy to me. A yellow peachface with red face and red eyes, sounds like a lutino. I am not an expert on genetics by any means, but I know the lutino.green peachy genetics pretty darn good. For instance, a male lutino and standard green peachface hen will produce lutino hens and green split for ino males. So very simply, you know the sex of the chicks as soon as they hatch. Now, since you don't know the genetic history of your lovies, you might get a surprise. My pair which look just like a standard lutino male and green female are both split for dutch blue, so they also produce creaminos. I had no idea of their genetic history either, and I'm figuring it out with every clutch they produce.

[linda040899]

Lutino is a sex linked mutation, as is Creamino (blue series ino), Cinnamon and Opaline. In order to produce a male in a sex linked mutation, your hen must show the color and the male can either show it or carry the sex linked gene. Since your hen is not Lutino (yellow with red eyes) and your male doesn't show the color, either, your male is carrying the ino gene and the yellow baby is a female. If your hen were a visual sex linked color but your male wasn't visual and didn't carry the sex linked gene, there would be no visual sex linked babies but all males would inherit the sex linked gene from the mother.

Hope that makes sense.....

[birds_at_play]

Thank you so much!! and WOW my head is spinning..So if i put her with a male that is dutch Blue Violet i think he is lol ..then what will i get? HAHA I guess ill have to wait and see huh.. How old should a baby be befor i can put them with a mate?I am hand feeding now I wanted to pair them up right off is that ok?

[mjm8321]

If that's what he is, you'll get all green lovies, some with the violet factor.

Here's a fun thing to play with http://www.africanlovebirdsociety.com/genetics/calculator.htm

[shylevon]

Don't believe a word of what people say regarding the sexing of all lovebirds in general. All birds are individuals and they come in all shapes and sizes.

I first read you can tell a lovie's sex as female if they stand on the perch with their legs further apart. Yea, that sometimes works after they have laid eggs, and I think we would all stand with our legs a little futher apart after we popped something out that large in comparason to our own size... but once the eggie is laid, you already know the sex anyway, legs spread apart or not.

DNA sexing is the way to go if the birdies sex is important to you.