Huzzah! The Seagreen is a hen!

[Keltoth]

Today is a happy day; I just got the DNA results back, and our little Seagreen is indeed a hen! Being as she is intended for Paco if they will have each other, I've gone ahead and named her "Pixie" (as in "Pixie and Paco"; unlike Ditto, she WON'T let Paco list his name first...).

What this also means is that my flock is now balanced, as in five males and five females, with two birds per cage once Pixie and Paco are formally introduced. This means that I now do not care what kind of loveie I run across; I'm done with new lovies until we get some babies under the wings.

Whoever it was that told me tounge-in-cheek on the old EZBoard forums that if I wanted hens I needed to "pick the bitey ones!", you are a genius. I owe my last two hens to your painfully effective technique. :D

[Sparkette65]

Congratulations Eric!!! Im glad your seagreen is a hen. Balance is a wonderful thing isn't it!!
With all the lovies you have aquired you are giong to have some Beautiful little lovie babies!
We will all be waiting to hear that there are eggies in the nest boxes at your house!
I am now waiting the arrival of our first egg here. My lutino pied hen and my Jade green PF are setting up their nest....and Dekoda (the lutino) is heavy with an egg. It's so cool that you can make out the outline of it in her belly!
I am a bit aprehensive though....just nervous...hopefully all will go well with her and Tiki bird.
Take care, and good luck with all your lovies!
Lori

[LauraO]

HAH! Things are even now but just wait til' you have some babies and they socialize with the other birds and one of your younger birds decides they like the new babies better and they leave their mate for another bird ;) . Things never stay even in a lovies world. I know I've been trying to get even for five years now and I can't seem to get there no matter how hard I try. I got six pairs plus one now :eek: :eek:.

[Paulette]

Hi Eric,
You have a pretty good sized flock there. I'm sure if one is raising birds the DNA testing is necessary, but is it very expensive. An office visit to the vet plus the test? I really want another pair of lovebirds, but are they going to lay eggs without a nest box? You know anyway?
Paulette

[Mummieeva]

Paulette. The price of testing varies. But there is a place that you get ahold of them and they send a contanar(sorry i can not spell for beans), you pluck a few feathers and send like 25 dollars and they can find out birds sex that way. I plan on doing this when Whisper is a bit older.



Steph

[Paulette]

Hi Steph,
Well, that's cool. I was wondering. Thanks for the info. I can see where breeders would have to get it done so they can sell birds at a younger age. I contacted a breeder in MO about some lovebirds, her ad is very extensive (many species),but she didn't know the age of her birds and her descriptions were not right on comparred with her photos. She called a peachface (masked). Do you know what the definition of "pied" is? I thought it would be splashes of yellow. She called what looked like a dutch blue with peach forehead, pied. I've been trying to take notes of the diff. colors and what they are called just so I can understand what everyone is talking about.
And then you throw in the dark factors, this can get down right confusing. I love hearing from you.
Paulette

[Keltoth]

Hi Steph,
Well, that's cool. I was wondering. Thanks for the info. I can see where breeders would have to get it done so they can sell birds at a younger age. I contacted a breeder in MO about some lovebirds, her ad is very extensive (many species),but she didn't know the age of her birds and her descriptions were not right on comparred with her photos. She called a peachface (masked). Do you know what the definition of "pied" is? I thought it would be splashes of yellow. She called what looked like a dutch blue with peach forehead, pied. I've been trying to take notes of the diff. colors and what they are called just so I can understand what everyone is talking about.
And then you throw in the dark factors, this can get down right confusing. I love hearing from you.
Paulette

Just saw your posting, Paulette, sorry for the late response.

All my birds that I have sent in the DNA work for have gone through Avian Biotech, out of Tallahassee, Florida (http://www.avianbiotech.com). I did the blood sample DNA route, where you clip your bird's toenail just barely into the quick of the nail, collect a couple drops of blood on the card that Avian Biotech provides, and then send it in to them for analysis. They charge $19.50 USD for the DNA sexing analysis, and are very quick in getting the results to you once they have received the sample. I am very happy with their services.

A bird that is "Pied" in the lovebird world is loosely defined as having a complete reduction of melanin in a given area of the bird's feathers. The extent of such a reduction varies from bird to bird, from birds that are so very pied as to look very much like Ino-colored birds (i.e. a full, even reduction of melanin over 100% of the body, resulting in a yellow bird), all the way to very lightly pied birds that show NO yellow feathers which would indicate a reduction in melanin and only has a clear nail or some other small indicator of the bird possessing piedness.

At the website http://www.birdhobbyist.com/parrotcolour/naming01.html, Wessel Louw van der Veen defines Piedness for all parrot-type birds thusly:


Pied: A complete reduction of both melanins (if both present) or of one melanin (if only one is present) per feather area. In this mutation melanin is reduced in a certain area. The carotenoid or psittacin remains unaltered. Pied birds should comply with the following demands:

* the quantity of “piedness” should lie between 40–60%
* the pied pattern should be symmetrical
* the pied areas should be even coloured
* feet, claws, and bill, should show one colour.


By selective breeding it may be possible to create a fixed pattern (Banded Pied Budgerigar). To obtain the maximum of contrast, pied birds at an exhibition are only allowed where no quantitive melanin reduction has occurred. (i.e. no Pied Pastels). Of the pied mutation a dominant and a recessive form are known to exist. When both mutations are bred into one bird it is possible to breed an even coloured yellow or white bird (Dark-eyed Yellow or White).

So, you are correct in your expectation that a pied bird should exhibit some yellow feathers. The degree of which any given bird shows their piedness varies widely, however, and therefore a very lightly pied bird might only have a few yellow feathers and is not as readily identifiable as a more heavily pied bird may be. It all depends on how any given lovebird owner is defining "pied" in relationship to any given bird. By way of example, I own two lovebirds that I define as pied - Myst, a young heavily-pied Olive (pied wild green bird with two Dark Factors), and Melody, a lightly-pied Wild Green male (you can view them on my website at http://home.comcast.net/~romaar, on the home page and in the Photo section). While Myst is VERY yellow and easily identifiable as a pied, and thus would be allowed to be shown in competition under the pied classification, Melody is so slightly pied that he only has a few yellow feathers throughout his chest, back and two yellow primary flight feathers - one on each wing. As such, it might be very confusing to some to see him labeled as "pied" and yet he appears to be a wild green; indeed, I don't know that I have any pictures up on my website that specifically show his pied feathers (I'll have to attend to that in the immediate future!).

If you are in doubt as to what the breeder is calling "pied" on the dutch blue you have mentioned, you might want to ask the breeder specifically what she is referring as pied in relationship to her bird. The bird might simply be a very lightly pied bird.

Hope that helps -

Eric

P.S. - If you would like a more immersive study into what Pied entails, I highly suggest reading through the information at http://www.birdhobbyist.com/parrotcolour/pieds01.html . The webite is a wealth of information, but this section of that website deals specifically with piedness across the whole parrot baliwik.

[Paulette]

Wow...Eric! Thanks for all the links and your photos too. This is very interesting and indepth info. I printed some of it for reference. Thanks for taking the time. ;) And I feel better thinking that I really did know something about it, little maybe, but still something. Ha Ha.
Paulette