Is there a good reason to get my bird DNA-sexed?

YSGC

New member
Jan 6, 2019
205
0
USA
Parrots
Pico, gender unknown, is a hand-fed Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, born 2015.
Since Pico's not in a breeding program I don't care about "his" gender.
I got Pico after weaning from a breeder, with no DNA report.

Justified or not gender assignment seemed necessary so I just flipped a coin.
Heads for male.
Tails for female.
It landed on heads.
If I ever see an egg he will become she. ;)

But now I'm wondering.
Are there times when knowing Pico's gender can help me make better choices on Pico's care?
 

Jen5200

Well-known member
Mar 27, 2017
1,874
Media
23
Albums
2
249
Washington State
Parrots
Baby - Sun Conure;
Tango - GCC;
Bindi - Sun Conure;
Stanley - Pineapple GCC;
Screamer “Scree� - Cockatiel;
Tee - Pineapple GCC; Jimmy - Cockatiel
The only reason that I got my birds’ DNA done was so that I would know that egg binding was a possibility if someone was feeling off. I felt like it was worth knowing only for that reason - and it might be good to know if I was ever going to have 2 share a cage. I can’t think of any other reason that it would matter (someone please correct me if I’m wrong). I’m glad to know since it turns out that I have 4 females and one male in my flock.
 

chris-md

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2010
4,349
2,119
Maryland - USA
Parrots
Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
^^^^^this

It is so important to know everything that is knowable. This can prepare you for all possible challenges ahead.
 

Tami2

Well-known member
Aug 18, 2017
5,088
2,454
New Jersey
Parrots
Levi - 6 yr old CAG

DOH-4/2/2016
I didn't think it was a big deal when I first got Levi. But, than I realized I was wrong. I had to know. I was finding it difficult with the pronouns when spaeking about him. I had no idea about egg binding until I joined the PFs. But, I had done Levi's blood test many months before joining.
 

Watters7

Member
Aug 27, 2018
31
11
CT
Parrots
Green Cheek Conure
We thought Booboo was a boy, but blood work because of medical reasons, we asked for DNA testing and am glad that we found out Booboo is a girl!
 
OP
YSGC

YSGC

New member
Jan 6, 2019
205
0
USA
Parrots
Pico, gender unknown, is a hand-fed Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, born 2015.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #6
Thanks all.
I've already learned about the signs of egg binding and we have a good local avian vet so knowing Pico's gender will not make him/her safer on that subject.

I've already addressed to pronoun thing.
Neither Pico nor I am concerned with gender-pronoun rules.

If anyone knows of a reason for a DNA test (other than curiosity or the human's discomfort with not knowing) I welcome hearing it. :)
 
OP
YSGC

YSGC

New member
Jan 6, 2019
205
0
USA
Parrots
Pico, gender unknown, is a hand-fed Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, born 2015.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
^^^^^this

It is so important to know everything that is knowable. This can prepare you for all possible challenges ahead.

I'm already prepared to address egg binding if Pico's female.

What other possible gender-related challenges are you referring to?

FWIW my avian vet has never suggested I need to get a DNA text for gender.
 
Last edited:

SunnyGirl

New member
May 8, 2012
280
2
Jesenice, Slowenia, Europe
Parrots
sun conure - Sunny
read my tpanic-filled thread about my Sunny... I think it's reason enough... I was told by the breeder that he ''thought it was a female but was not sure'' and it never really mattered to me, it wasn't important... till the day that fluffbutt ended up with a huge egg in her rear and me in a complete panic attack...
 

Allee

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2013
16,852
Media
2
212
Texas
Parrots
U2-Poppy(Poppy lives with her new mommy, Misty now) CAG-Jack, YNA, Bingo, Budgie-Piper, Cockatiel-Sweet Pea Quakers-Harry, Sammy, Wilson ***Zeke (quaker) Twinkle (budgie) forever in our hearts
For all the reasons already mentioned, I like knowing. First and foremost though, I like being able to tell my CAV the gender of the bird I’m bringing in for an exam or treatment.
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
No idea about the green cheeks, but I really wanted to know because of behavioral differences in male/female birds.


small example: I got Sunny-a rather bitey bird in the beginning when we got to know each other.
I knew (mature) male macaws will bite their partner in certain situations as a warning "you get out of here and be safe ... I got this" --> so for me knowing if Sunny was a male or female was important to predict/ avoid bites in certain situations.
(I was relieved she turned out to be a female, no protection/warning-bites!)


Gender does matter, not just healthrisks like eggbinding, it also predicts in a small way how the bird is likely to react in certain situations
(Forewarned is forearmed ;) ).
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
As someone who was a breeder/hand-raiser for over 20 years, I can tell you, with the utmost respect to you and no disrespect meant at all, that you are being extremely naive if you think that "you know all the signs/symptoms of egg binding" and you think that you will be able to tell if your bird is carrying Follicles or partially/fully formed eggs. That's just not how this whole thing works unfortunately, I wish it was but it's not...Not at all in ANY way...

If your Green Cheek does happen to be a female, she could be carrying/forming Follicles at any time and you'd have absolutely no idea at all. And the fact of the matter is that the typical amount of time you have between a bird forming an egg and dropping it into their Oviduct that is way too large for them to pass, OR having any size of egg, even a normally sized one, miss the Oviduct and drop into her Peritoneal-Cavity (100% fatal without surgery in both of these situations, Sunny's experience above that just happened last month is the perfect example) is less than 24-hours, depending on the situation it can be less than a few hours before your bird is dead.

And that's only one reason to know what your bird's gender is, there are knowing different hormonal-behaviors between males and females, what they mean, and how to quell them. Then there are the many different illnesses, diseases, and physical conditions that your bird can develop that are strictly gender-related, such as different reproductive cancers, different hernia's of the lower abdominal and pelvic areas, etc.

***I could go on and on, but the bottom-line is that I have seen/heard about/read about hundreds of situations (a lot right on this forum) where someone's bird has become ill or suddenly started suffering from type of hormonal issue, and because they didn't know what gender their birds were, they couldn't immediately rule-out certain things such as egg-binding (which can look like a hundred other medical conditions and illnesses too, keep that in mind), an Inguinal Hernia, certain reproductive cancers, common growths such as Ovarian Cysts and other female reproductive tumors/growths whose signs/symptoms are exactly the same as a hundred other issues/illnesses, etc., and BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T KNOW THEIR BIRD'S GENDER, THEY WERE FORCED TO HAVE EXTRA DIAGNOSTIC TESTING DONE TO RULE-OUT EVERYTHING THAT IT COULD POSSIBLY BE, INSTEAD OF JUST BEING ABLE TO SAY "WELL WE KNOW IT'S NOT THAT BECAUSE HE'S A MALE", OR "WE KNOW THAT IT IS PROBABLY THIS BECAUSE SHE'S A FEMALE"...

****SO if you want the best answer I can give you as to why it's very irresponsible to purposely NOT have your bird DNA-Tested so that you know their gender, it's because in the future, whether it's tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or like in Sunny's case 7 years from now, your bird could become sick or be suffering pain from a physical/medical condition, illness, or disease, and simply because you chose to NOT have your bird DNA-Tested to determine their gender today, which you could easily do for less than $50 with no risks at all, you could not only be potentially paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars on diagnostic tests that you would NOT have to have done if you would just spend the $50 or whatever it is today, BUT ALSO YOU WILL HAVE TO PUT YOUR BIRD THROUGH THESE DIAGNOSTIC TESTS THAT CAN BE PAINFUL, STRESSFUL, AND VERY RISKY AND POTENTIALLY FATAL BECAUSE THEY REQUIRE ANESTHESIA, simply because you are choosing to not have a simple, non-invasive, cheap Blood or Feather DNA-test done now so that you'll know your bird's gender 100% and can IMMEDIATELY RULE-OUT a dozen or more possible medical issues/diseases/illnesses immediately....

I'd say that's more than a good enough reason to always get all of your birds DNA-tested ASAP...Hell, you can even order a test-kit online for $20-$30 and simply pluck a few chest-feathers, send them in the mail to the lab, and you'll have your answer a week later...And I can't imagine that having it done by your Avian Vet for one bird by a Blood DNA-test, which only requires literally a drop of blood which they can get by doing a simple toenail-clip, they don't even have to do an actual blood-draw, that it would cost more than at the very most $50-$75, depending on whether they charge you an office-visit in addition to the DNA-test cost...You can even order the Blood DNA-test online and do it at home as well by simply clipping a toenail, putting a drop of blood on the little cardboard-card they supply to you in the test-kit, and have the blood-result in a week or less for around $30 total! And all you need is a pair of nail-clippers and some corn-starch or Qwik-Stop!!! Painless, stress-free, easy, quick, and could potentially save you hundreds and hundreds of dollars in diagnostic testing in the future, if not more, and more importantly save your bird from having to have these diagnostic tests done in the first place, save them from possibly having to go under anesthesia, save them all of the stress, AND YOU WOULD ALSO BE GETTING A DIAGNOSIS AS TO WHAT WOULD BE WRONG WITH YOUR BIRD SO MUCH MORE QUICKLY BECAUSE YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO RULE-OUT SO MANY POSSIBLE CONDITIONS, ILLNESSES, AND DISEASES BECAUSE YOU'D ALREADY KNOW YOUR BIRD'S GENDER...And when a bird becomes seriously ill, every second counts, let alone minutes to hours of risky diagnostic testing...

So I think the better question here would be "Why the hell wouldn't you get your bird DNA-tested for gender ASAP?"...
 
Last edited:

mrs.pants

New member
Oct 23, 2018
89
Media
2
9
new york
Parrots
Sgt. Nanners - white belly caique
this thread def caught my attention! i desperately wanna get nanners gendered if only for the egg binding risk, but all the methods seem absolutely terrible!

my CAV said theyd do it for $100 and it would involve sedating him and taking blood from his neck which ive read here and elsewhere is a HUGE nono.

the other options are get a test kit and quik him (which can lead to a vet visit), or pluck his chest feathers which can break trust and be traumatic.

are there no non-aggressive ways to gender a bird??
 

chris-md

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2010
4,349
2,119
Maryland - USA
Parrots
Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Yes, they can pluck a feather. No decent CAV should have to sedate a bird to draw blood. It can absolutely be done without sedation.
 

MMARC234

New member
Nov 20, 2018
73
0
Louisiana
Parrots
Male Pineapple GCC- Leo * Male Blue Quaker- Bluebell * Male Green Quaker- Avocado
As I literally just sent the swab to a lab the other day and just got the results in few hours ago for Bluebell, I think I have some experience with this lol...

What I did was clean their nail with water and grab them gently, grabbing their foot and quickly cutting the nail to the quik— squeezing it a bit to let the blood flow on the card. Once I had enough blood, I grabbed a damp paper towel, dipped it in the quikstop, applied to the nail, and squeezed until the bleeding stopped. Over and done in maybe two minutes.

Bluebell was a bit pissed, but after some praise and safflower seeds she was back to normal in thirty minutes. Honestly it’s more traumatizing to the humans in that situation.

And that’s how I found out I have two lovely young men I share my life with! :)

The company I used: https://www.animalgenetics.us/Avian/Test-Now.asp
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
There is absolutely NO REASON AT ALL for an experienced Avian Vet who knows what they are doing in the least to have to "sedate" or put a bird under any type of anesthesia AT ALL to do a blood-draw from one of the two Jugular-Veins in their neck...And I'm talking for regular Blood-Work, like an entire tube of blood being taken...I have done it many, many, many times at the Rescue to send to my CAV (I was trained by Veterinarians at Penn State University years ago, and then again by our CAV who works with the Rescue)...The entire process takes about a minute or two, and simply involves toweling the bird with a hold on the sides of their head, using something like a dab of water of Mineral-Oil to wipe the feathers away and keep the skin over the Jugular you're using exposed, then simply drawing the blood from the Jugular and you're done...That's it. No sedation needed at all, and I've not once seen any bird become any more stressed by a simple Blood-draw than they do when they have their toenails clipped, in fact that's usually much, much more stressful to them than a blood-draw is!!! So forgetting the blood DNA-test for a minute, an actual blood-draw for an entire tube of blood to run full, routine blood-work doesn't require ANY sedation or anesthesia...And if your Vet is telling you that they cannot take blood from your bird without putting them under sedation or anesthesia of ANY KIND, THEN YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED A NEW AVIAN VET WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING!

***As far as getting blood for a gender DNA-test, they don't have to do an actual blood-draw from the neck, as to do a gender DNA-test you only need literally a tiny little drop of blood! So all they have to do is clip a toenail right at the very tip of the vein in a toenail, just enough so they can collect a little speck of blood on a collection card or swab. That's it. So obviously this doesn't require any sedation or anesthesia, especially since they shouldn't ever be using sedation or anesthesia to do an actual blood-draw of multiple cc''s/ml's from the one of the Jugular Veins in their neck!

As already mentions above by MMARC234, you can simply order a DNA test-kit online from several different well-know, reputable laboratories and do this at home in a matter of a couple of minutes, either by fresh feathers or a blood droplet for a total cost of around $30 or less, and have your results in a matter of days to a week, depending on whether the lab you use sends the results to you in the regular mail or by email or log-in to their website, or by phone-in result checks...

The blood DNA-test is always going to be a bit more accurate than the feather test, and actually the main reason the blood-test is better is because sometimes the feathers that are sent-in do not have enough or any genetic material on the ends of them, so sometimes you end-up having to do it again, which is why they usually ask for several feathers from the chest to be freshly plucked right before you mail them in (just like plucking hair-samples from people for DNA testing by law-enforcement)...But the best reason to do the blood-test at home is because it's extremely easy, quick, and will not at all result in losing your bird's trust. I have clipped my birds toenails myself forever, and even when they hate it, it certainly doesn't result in any issues at all between my birds and myself...And if you're clipping a toenail for a blood-drop, you don't clip it way-short so it gushes blood, you simply clip the very, very tip of the toenail until you see blood appear, then you take the swab or card and touch it to the end of the toenail, make sure you've got a enough blood to fill the spot they specify needs to be filled (very small), and that's it...If you just take the very tip of the toenail off until you first see a little blood, then it's not going to bleed badly in the first place, a lot of the time it will clot itself quickly without you doing a thing...But all you need to do is wet the end of a Q-Tip and dip it in either Corn-Starch or powdered Qwik-Stop (Corn Starch works well and doesn't burn at all), and have this Q-Tip ready to go, and simply dab the end of the toenail with the Q-Tip covered in the Corn Start/Qwik-Stop, wait a minute to make sure you don't see any blood coming through the Corn Starch/Qwik Stop on the end of the toenail, and you're done...It's not barbaric or even painful for them, and it won't ruin your relationship with your bird...

However, if you're worried about doing it yourself then you simply need to find either a Certified Avian Vet, an Avian Specialist Vet, or for just a blood DNA-test even an Exotics Vet who tells you that they will be collecting the blood sample for the DNA-test from your bird's toenail by simply clipping the end and then stopping the bleeding after collection of the drop with Qwik-Stop. That's what you need to hear from the Vet's office before you take your bird to have it done...Well, that and that they aren't even considering using ANY TYPE of sedation or anesthesia to do it. That's it, that's all you need to find, and then you won't need to do anything.{/B]

****Again, forgetting the small drop of blood needed for a DNA-test for gender, it doesn't matter if they are collecting a drop of blood from a toenail or doing an actual full blood-draw from one of their Jugular Veins in their neck to collect multiple milliliters of blood for full blood-work to be run, a Vet should NEVER have to use any type of sedation or anesthesia at all to do ANY TYPE of blood-draw from a bird!!! and if your Vet tells you that they "have to" sedate your bird or put your bird under any type of anesthesia to take blood from your bird's neck or a toenail, you need to find a new Avian Vet immediately!!! Now if you are ALSO having an X-Ray done at the same time, that's a different story, because they DO usually have to sedate birds to take an X-Ray to keep them from moving and ruining the X-Ray, and to keep their stress-levels low. So if you're having both an X-Ray AND blood-work done, then of course they will usually sedate the bird first, then take the X-Ray and quickly try to get the blood taken from the bird before it wakes up just to make it easier on the bird if they can. But if you're ONLY having blood-drawn then there is absolutely NO REASON AT ALL to sedate the bird or put it under anesthesia, and it's a sign that your Vet doesn't have much Avian medical experience, or just isn't comfortable with birds...

And just another FYI, when they do have to "sedate" your bird because they're taking an X-Ray, they should be using either Isoflurene Gas or an Intranasal liquid anesthetic, because both are ultra short-acting, they go to sleep quickly but also wake-up very quickly, and all traces of these are eliminated from their body in a matter of minutes, so there are no lasting effects at all...
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Since you can do a DNA-test by plucking a few chestfeathers yourself and send them to a lab, why all the hassle?
No blood is needed at all!
 

mrs.pants

New member
Oct 23, 2018
89
Media
2
9
new york
Parrots
Sgt. Nanners - white belly caique
yeah i'll probably do the feather thing lol. i really wanna get the gender thing sorted.

thanks for the info about sedation ellen! yeah i didnt agree with the vet on this (or his love of soy), but of the 2 choices i have remotely close to me, via reviews, this one was the best option. a lot of what he said/did was spot on though. and i've had disagreements with vets before. my dogs vet tried to prescribe her meds that are toxic to a GSD :\. gotta arm yourself with knowledge sometimes.

i'd post more but i feel bad hijacking someone elses thread >_>.
 
OP
YSGC

YSGC

New member
Jan 6, 2019
205
0
USA
Parrots
Pico, gender unknown, is a hand-fed Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, born 2015.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #18
... i'd post more but i feel bad hijacking someone elses thread >_>.

No problem.
I started the thread but wherever conversations go is fine with me. :)

Thanks to all for the info.
 

Tami2

Well-known member
Aug 18, 2017
5,088
2,454
New Jersey
Parrots
Levi - 6 yr old CAG

DOH-4/2/2016
yeah i'll probably do the feather thing lol. i really wanna get the gender thing sorted.

thanks for the info about sedation ellen! yeah i didnt agree with the vet on this (or his love of soy), but of the 2 choices i have remotely close to me, via reviews, this one was the best option. a lot of what he said/did was spot on though. and i've had disagreements with vets before. my dogs vet tried to prescribe her meds that are toxic to a GSD :\. gotta arm yourself with knowledge sometimes.

i'd post more but i feel bad hijacking someone elses thread >_>.


I used this lab.
https://vetdnacenter.com/dna-tests/avian-dna-testing/
 

RemiBird

New member
Feb 26, 2019
271
3
We ordered a test kit from a place called IQ biotech/ IQ birdtesting - something like that. Anyway, it cost only $15 and was done in a week.
I plucked a few chest feathers from Remi and sent it off.
He wasn't thrilled, but we wanted to know whether to call him a he or a she. To me, it was important.
Anyway, the guy who sold me Remi estimated him as a "he" (he was feeling the bird pelvic bones or something, though I really had my suspicion about the accuracy of that method:rolleyes:) and the test just confirmed that guestimate.
Either way, female or male, Remi is a great bird. I wasn't looking for a particular gender when I was getting him, I just wanted to know what to call him, lol.
 
Last edited:

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top