BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds asking for gender identification...

hi! i also like to buy a couple of lovebirds & cockateils... but my problem is... how can i know their gender? except DNA testing... thanks!

It is very difficult to sex many birds when they are babies.

With Cockatiels, you can sometimes tell because the males often start to sing at an early age. Otherwise, once they have had their first moult (depending on the colour), you may be able to tell.

With Lovebirds, you may be able to depend on the breeder. Within his own birds, a breeder "may" be able to tell by looking. The males & females have slightly different postures and head shapes and the females often perch with their legs slightly further apart. The differences are very slight and unless you are looking at both sexes in the same clutch, it is extremely difficult to see a difference. To be sure, it might be wise to pay a little more to have the birds sexed.

hmmm... can u give a glossary cuz... im just a new bird breeder... <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Instead of me writing up a whole glossary, could you tell me which words you don't understand?

There is no sure way to sex a lovebird yourself, unless you have a baby that is a sex linked mutation (unless both parents are visual). The best way is to have the bird DNA sexed. This is only 99% accurate, but it's the best you can do.

what do u mean by... weaning? clutch?
thanks...!

When a baby is weaned, it is eating and drinking on its own

A clutch is the eggs laid in one nest by one bird. For Lovebirds and Cockatiels, 5 or 6 eggs normally make a clutch.

oh... thanks... now i know... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

i put some seed left-overs inside the nest box... but they not yet going inside of it... do i need to put them inside of it? or they will just go there by themselves?

and... do they require right size of nest box? cuz i bought a box from a different market... and it seems like it's small for them to go in? do i need to change it?

OK - I didn't realize that you have only had these birds for a few days. Please stop what you are doing and take the nest box away.

They have to have time to settle into their new home before you can expect them to breed and you have to make sure they are old enough to breed.

The birds should be approximately a year old (especially the female) before breeding. The nest box should be large enough for both the parent birds to fit comfortablely in and if you think it is too small, it might be a finch nest that you have.

I have quite a few articles on budgie breeding and taming your budgies on the site, so read these over.
http://bellaonline.com/subjects/3048.asp is where I have links to articles written by myself as well as other websites that have budgie information.

Please remove the nestbox and read much more before you try breeding them!