Confused??

[Angela]

Many of you might remember a few weeks ago when I posted that I thought Gypsy was getting ready to lay eggs, she hasn't yet...she was molting during that time and I think I mistook her fluffed up bum for a torpedo butt:p ...or her body wasn't ready to lay and she reabsorbed the eggs before they hardened (can't remember where I read that this can happen but I'm sure someone will let me know if this is incorrect)... or Gypsy is not a girl...:omg:
Lately I have noticed some odd behavior, I've noticed Tango and Gypsy doing the swishy-swishy>o but now Tango is the one who rasies his tail, Gypsy walks onto his back :omg: but that is as far as things progress, she just walks around on his back. Other then this new behavior both Tango and Gypsy seem to have all the signs of the genders I was told they were...
Gypsy is larger, she chews paper into strips and tucks them in her tail feathers, and is more agressive "nesty". Tango makes spitballs with paper, feeds Gypsy, and is generally sweeter natured. I have also read in one of the posts on this site that if two males are housed together they will feed each other or the more dominate male will feed the other...I have never seen Gypsy feed Tango...
So what I would like to know is do females swishy as a show of dominace...
I know I could find out thier genders very quickly by having them DNA'd but avian vets or even regular vets are so expensive and I would rather not take them again until their next annual check-up or unless any emergainies pop up(fingers cross hoping that dosen't happen!). When or if their parents come to stay with me I guess I can take Tango and Gypsy in for DNA test when I take the others for a check-up.
But until then I am Confused and Curious :confused: and I would like to know what the rest of you think or have experienced.

[graushill]

Hi Angela,

I can tell you what I've seen with my own lovies, to see if that helps at all. I have, as far as I know (no DNA tests) two males and one female. The female (Pontus) is the dominant of the three, but if it not were because I saw her lay eggs with my own eyes, I would never have thought she was a female before, as she is not specially territorial or aggresive, and is quite a sweet tempered little lovie. When she and Nemo (her mate) get together, it will usually be she the one who lifts her tail, but she will occasionally try to step up on both Nemo and my single male lovie (he's four years old and has never laid an egg), but the attempts usually stay at that, attempts. I've never seen her actually do the swishy swishy or the mating dance for that matter, but I've seen her feed her mate on ocassion. My single male lovie will feed Pontus whenever he can but he's rather a confusing little fellow, because while he does do the mating dance for her and has tried to step up on her, he will ocassionally also lift his tail for her. I think it's more because he's very inexperienced and, as far as I know, all his knowledge of the ways of birds comes from his observation of Pontus and Nemo and God knows what conclusions he has come to on his own :rolleyes:.

Sorry if my post confuses you even more. I hadn't realised until I started writing what a confusing bunch I have >o. Hopefully you'll get more coherent answers :).

Hugs,
Gloria