The boys - 'twins'!

[Kaye]

My parents have decided to keep Fred and George, two of Aleda's babies. But, the problem is, they look EXACTLY alike! I marked them with a permanent marker when they were little but I don't think that is a good long-term way of telling them apart! They are not banded, unfortunately.

I'm thinking, maybe if I just band them with open bands, or just band one of them so that we can tell them apart? Right now they can only be taken out seperately and are in seperate cages of course (which is okay) but it'd be nice not having to worry about getting them mixed up. Personalities are different of course but can change!

[Keltoth]

Well, maybe you can dock three different tailfeathers on one of the twin birds. Make sure to check the number of docked feathers each time you (or your parents) have the bird out, and if one of the docked feathers comes up missing due to molting, you can simply dock a new one so the count always stays at three. It doesn't have to be a huge amount off the end of the feather like you would do when you clip a bird, but rather just enough on a flat, clean cut to make no mistake that the feather has indeed been docked.

It's not harmful to the bird, and no worries over an open band getting hung up on something...

- Eric

P.S. - :pics:

[butterfly1061]

Kaye,

I have 3 babies who are 6 wks old and I was beginning to not be able to tell them apart. I wanted to keep the oldest and youngest and I have a home for the middle. So before they got any older, I clipped the first flight on the two I wanted to keep just a tad. Now I can tell them apart. Two of the babies have identical coloring and the other is a bit different. Luckily the two I wanted have the different coloring. :2cents: I think the tail feather clipping recommended by Eric is a good solution. Good luck!

[Ducky]

I wouldn't do an open band. From what I know, it's either a closed band or none at all. I do like the feather docking idea.:)

[Kaye]

Thanks. I'll try that. I'm open to any more ideas too. ^^ I'm just trying to make this as easy on my parents as possible since I kinda unloaded the boys on them and they went and fell in love with them.. hehe.

As "requested".. http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2102635846

I'm going to upload the new, grown up piccies in a moment. So check in an hour or so.

[LauraO]

Those are some cute boys:D :D . Am I correct in remembering they are parent raised and socialized by you? If so, you did a GREAT job! They look very fun and social:D .


I agree with Eric's suggestion, but since they are completely clipped just let one of the boys keep a smidgen of one pair of flights to help tell the difference. Until they grow out you could take a non-toxic marker and just put a tiny dot on one of their heads. I've done this for petsitters in the past to help them tell the difference between birds.

[Keltoth]

I agree with Eric's suggestion, but since they are completely clipped just let one of the boys keep a smidgen of one pair of flights to help tell the difference.

That's why I suggested the tailfeathers. You don't need to clip them a whole lot to be able to tell the difference.

- Eric