Lovebird maturity/behaviour question

So Jello is 7 months old now and I was wondering approximately when hey hit sexual maturity? I am 99% confident she is a SHE, but she acts like a male to me. She does her "itchy, scritchy happy dance", tries to "feed" me and will actively masturbate like a male on my hair if given half a chance. What's up with the hair? It is the only place she does it. Does the hair resemble feathers to her?

I also wondered if she acts male because she has never been around other birds before (she was 10 weeks when I gave her parents to a rescue), so just does what she feels is natural for her?

Also, when I say 99% sure a girl its because of her pelvis width, her leg resting stance and her cranky attitude! I had a breeder sex her and all things point to female.

Thanks for any info!

What color were her parents? Since lutino is a sex-linked mutation, you MIGHT be able to solve the mystery of gender from her parents' colors alone.

My lovebirds hit maturity between 8 and 9 months when I had them (they live with my ex who will not part with any of them).

Lovebird puberty is fun times.... especially the girls (5 of 6 of my lovebirds were girls - they all laid eggs!) when they decide to bond to each other and create crazy communal nests of unfertilized eggs. They can be so funny yet so angry during this time.

My male on the other hand didn't change at all! He was super mellow and sweet all the time. And one of the females didn't get bitey but the rest sure did. Especially my Lutino female... used to call her the fluffy yellow velociraptor. She earned that nickname.

Thankfully you only have one so no worrying about that for you

OOwl said:

What color were her parents? Since lutino is a sex-linked mutation, you MIGHT be able to solve the mystery of gender from her parents' colors alone.

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Both parents were peachfaced lutinos. I am probly lucky to have gotten a single healthy chick from the clutch as I know they were both genetically recessive. For the record, they were a bonded breeding pair when I got them. I got alot of flack for having them as a breeding pair ("not ideal" "will produce weak, unhealthy chicks"....etc)

So, unfortunately the colouring won't help, as her parents only produced lutino babies. The breeder I deal with has been bang on sexing all her babies, so I trust her judgement (she dna sexed them after and was correct everytime!)

I guess I'm super lucky. I have a 14-year-old creamino hen that is just really, really sweet. She IS cage territorial, like most females, but has never once bitten away from her cage. I just open the door, let her come to me, and she's a gem. We do not create battles over her hard-wired passion to protect her cage/territory. She's also only laid a couple of eggs in her entire life (and I KNOW I'm lucky there because I know some hens just can't stop). My male doesn't protect his cage in any way. I can stick my hand in and he just is happy for the ride out.

TweeterKat, aww, darn. I guess you will need to DNA then. Does she stuff nesting material in her rump feathers? If so, she's probably a girl. My male will shred paper but never sticks those in his rump feathers. My two pets aren't a pair and, in fact, hate each other, but they are REALLY different in personality and temperament.