New Owner of alexandrine parrot

hi everyone,

Sorry the post is going to be a bit longer

I am new to the site and was guided to alexandrine categaroy... i hope the post is showed in the correct category as i am new to the site ...

well i got my first alexandrine 4 months old (as told by the seller) he (not sure of the gender) was still on liquid diet.. but started weaning in couple of days after i got him. he is now 7 months old.

okay the questions i have are

1- if anyone from their expereince with these birds can give a guess if its a male or female

2- for how long these birds keep growing in body size? mine is slim and seems smaller than any female alexandrine i see at the stores. his beak is small and not as bulky as any other male or female adults have

3- he makes noises, copies the quaks of my rosella, rhymes "hello"... but still wondering when do they start talking proper words?

ill try to post some pictures. will really appreciate your help.

Going by the shape of the head in the first photo I would be guessing a female, But it's just a guess. There is only two ways to be 100% certain is if it's a male. First is when a ring develops. This can happen from 18 months old to 36 months, second you can get DNA sexing done.

There are 5 sub-species and each is a different size and like most animals each individual within the species grows to a different size. When the tail feathers have reached their full length the bird has reached it full size. Do you know what sub-species your Alexandrine is?.

Alexandrines have been known to start saying words at 4 months old, but 6 to 12 months is the normal. Not all birds will talk and may never talk through-out their life. The ability to talk seems to depend on what human interaction they had when young.

How old was your Alexandrine when you took the photos?.

the stores here sell all alexandrines saying it to be nepalees, but nepalees seem to be the biggest of all i think... so not really sure which one is it.

and the last photo was taken few days back.. others in the first week of april ..

i will post new pics of sonu hopefully tonight or tomorrow. how he/she currently look and the pic when i first got it.

Indont knw how to post more photos in this thread? It asks me for some url? Can anyone help me

Here, please have a look at this thread:

Hello, I've got a 22 year old male and I didn't know the sex when I got him but at about 8 months of age I saw one little pink feather on his neck. It looks like a little girl to me and a sweet one. As far as talking my boy talks a lot, I found in the beginning you must choose what you want them to repeat. Say the same things, sing the same songs, it's all about repetition. Early morning and early evening seem to be the best time for learning, it might have to do with that being a relaxing time of the day. Be patient and kind and she will begin to repeat things.

thankyou Deven,

Mine is around 8 months old and i think it has started to have its first moult... it has started to drop lots of small feathers... and for the past couple of days it has started to try to talk even more... he just learned to say meawoo...

ill wait and see if its a male or a female.. really hope it turns out to be a male but either way i love him/her

looks like female. usually female beak small than male.

Deven said:

Hello, I've got a 22 year old male and I didn't know the sex when I got him but at about 8 months of age I saw one little pink feather on his neck. It looks like a little girl to me and a sweet one. As far as talking my boy talks a lot, I found in the beginning you must choose what you want them to repeat. Say the same things, sing the same songs, it's all about repetition. Early morning and early evening seem to be the best time for learning, it might have to do with that being a relaxing time of the day. Be patient and kind and she will begin to repeat things.

Click to expand...

Hello, I was hoping if you can answer my question? I am debating on either getting an alexandrine or an amazon. As for noise level how loud are alexandrine? I live in a house so it shouldn't be a problem either way but its just to be on a safe side incase of angry neighbors. Also I read that they are not as cuddly and will tend to revert back to its wild habit if it doesn't interact with its human a lot.

My Alex can be loud if I don't answer him when he calls but if I leave a radio on when I'm going to leave for more then an hour or if I have a deadline and can't play when he wants to. I'm sure the bigger the parrot, the louder the noise.

My Alexes were not that much larger than IRNs when I got them (aged 6 months). I'm amazed at how much they have grown in the two and a half years since, though. I've always thought they were rather small compared to others' birds (especially Umar's, which are enormous and quite gorgeous), but they're finally getting a good bit of size on them, especially in the last six months. Your bird will grow in length and weight for at least three years, perhaps longer.

I think your birdie is just a baby and has a great deal of growing to do. If you put a lot of effort into building trust with him/her now, you'll reap the rewards in a year or two. Make sure s/he has good, nourishing food and plenty of time with you each day and you'll find you wind up with a beautiful and very tame companion. I agree with Delfin that the head shape looks kind of female (male heads are more massive in comparison and generally kind of flattish on top), but we could both be quite wrong! Only time or a DNA test will tell for certain. Originally, I thought I only liked the male Alexandrine with the sexy neck ring, but since getting my Barney and Madge, I find I love the look of them both: the plain green female is very pretty in her own right!

The number of words your bird says depends on how often you spend time saying words to him/her. My birds have just one word: 'hello'. Beside that, they imitate the local wild birds and make noises like our dog and cats. They are VERY loud when they want to be and can get quite shrill too, when the wild Lorikeets fly over, but I guess my Galah, Dominic, is rather louder. Alexes aren't as cuddly as other bird species, but they certainly make up for it in affection. Mine LOVE me and are happiest when they're somewhere on my person. Just because they don't like to be ruffled or tickled or scratched doesn't mean they don't like my company. And, of course, I LOVE them! Green birdies ROCK!

Thankyou betrish,

Your message was of great help my bird seems to be going more I can say that from its beak it's getting bigger & kinda bulky..
I saw other birds at store from amazong species.. I realised that the bird may stop growing in length or structure but still looks slim n young unless they get the true adult plumage. And i guess the same is with my bird.. If i compare him/her with its old pictures i can see the difference.. Especially the beak... Looking forward to see it grow
Gave him its first shower since i got it in February.. And to my surprise he looks soooo brighttt and groomed once the feathers got dried... Didnt kno shower helps with the coloring soo much.
Sonu is still dropping feathers and getting new ones... Lets see how sonu looks afrer first complete moult

Finally Managed to upload photos

If i am not mistaken, this is sonu's first picture on its first day at home when i got him i was told it was 3-4 months old, what do you think?



And this is how Sonu Looked recently.. You can see the difference from the pictures i posted at the start of the thread.

http://www.parrotforums.com/members/salvador-albums-sonu-picture14760-growing-up-more.jpg


And This is Sonu after first shower

http://www.parrotforums.com/members/salvador-albums-sonu-picture14761-first-shower.jpg

Ohhhhh! Your little Sonu is quite gorgeous. He reminds me of my Barney and Madge when they were little.

Try to let him have a shower every day in the warm weather if you can. Most birds like to bathe daily and that helps them groom their feathers and keeps their skin in good health. It's especially important when they moult because it washes off the nasty dusty stuff that comes out with the feathers. In cold weather, I only bathe my Beaks once a week or so, although our lovebirds will bathe themselves every day no matter how cold it gets. :22_yikes:

I wish there was some way to teach the Beaks to hop in their big water dish and bathe themselves! It would save a lot of rainy days in my kitchen. LOL!

Thanksss
I wish tht too of it would knw how to bath in a dish.. My rosella does it everyyydayyy..

Sonu got minor flu.. May b d water was bit cold r the ac may be.. No showers until its all sneeze free

Hi, betrisher,

I am not sure of my alex's age, i was told by the shop keeper its 4 months old. I already posted its pic whn i first got him. He had full wings, short tail n was able to take flights just to crash land.. He didnt seem to have very good balance n started to wean with in a week.. But was still on formula...
Do u think it was 4 months old? I feel it was younger ? Can u help