Regarding my Alexandrine

Hello everyone!

Could you please help me figure if my Alexandrine is a male or a female? I am extremely curious and waiting until the ring appears requires a lot of patience :"D
I would have gone for a DNA Test but I come from a developing country and there aren't places in vicinity to go to.

Nice looking bird. Also glad to see that someone in a developing country actually has a healthy looking weaned juvenile and not a sickly unweaned baby for once (that happens a lot on here). To be clear, without DNA, or in the case of alexandrine parrots- being old enough to either have a ring or not, everything is a TOTAL GUESS. My GUESS is on your bird strikes me as male. Of course, you’ll have to wait until sexual maturity to find out for sure in the absence of a DNA testing facility

If your wanting to pick a name, you could choose either a gender neutral name (naming birds after fruits is popular) so it wouldn’t matter the gender as your bird matures or choose a name that has a male and female version that could easily be switched up if the bird turns out to be a different gender than you initially guessed. For example, naming a bird Valentino and being able to easily change it to Valentina if it turned out to be a girl. I think most cultures have some names that have similar sounding male and female versions of.

There's absolutely no certain way to tell the gender of Alexandrines until the neckring comes in at around age three. Having said that, though, the males often have proportionally larger and somewhat flatter heads than the females. Your bird (who is so handsome and healthy-looking) looks like a boy to me. I guess it'll be three years till we find out if I'm right. In the meantime, enjoy him and teach him to do things. Alexes are *so* clever and very easy to teach.

Kiwibird said:

Nice looking bird. Also glad to see that someone in a developing country actually has a healthy looking weaned juvenile and not a sickly unweaned baby for once (that happens a lot on here). To be clear, without DNA, or in the case of alexandrine parrots- being old enough to either have a ring or not, everything is a TOTAL GUESS. My GUESS is on your bird strikes me as male. Of course, you’ll have to wait until sexual maturity to find out for sure in the absence of a DNA testing facility

If your wanting to pick a name, you could choose either a gender neutral name (naming birds after fruits is popular) so it wouldn’t matter the gender as your bird matures or choose a name that has a male and female version that could easily be switched up if the bird turns out to be a different gender than you initially guessed. For example, naming a bird Valentino and being able to easily change it to Valentina if it turned out to be a girl. I think most cultures have some names that have similar sounding male and female versions of.

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Thank you for such a helpful reply! We've named our Alexandrine Mithu, it happens to be the most common name around here. And you're very right about the state of pet birds in developing countries. It has been no less than a rocky ride with Mithu and despite living in the most developed city my country has to offer, I am yet to find a vet I can trust him with. The surrounding myths don't make it any easier but the internet has made things a tad bit liveable. I guess every day will be a new learning curve.

Betrisher said:

There's absolutely no certain way to tell the gender of Alexandrines until the neckring comes in at around age three. Having said that, though, the males often have proportionally larger and somewhat flatter heads than the females. Your bird (who is so handsome and healthy-looking) looks like a boy to me. I guess it'll be three years till we find out if I'm right. In the meantime, enjoy him and teach him to do things. Alexes are *so* clever and very easy to teach.

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Thank you for complimenting my bird. I have tried teaching him tonnes of things, he has learned to say his own and my name, and to climb my study table

PRani said:

Thank you for such a helpful reply! We've named our Alexandrine Mithu, it happens to be the most common name around here. And you're very right about the state of pet birds in developing countries. It has been no less than a rocky ride with Mithu and despite living in the most developed city my country has to offer, I am yet to find a vet I can trust him with. The surrounding myths don't make it any easier but the internet has made things a tad bit liveable. I guess every day will be a new learning curve.

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Well I hope you will participate on the forum so you can learn more about proper care and socialization! Don’t be shy about asking questions. We have people from all over the world who participate here and it makes for a great community. I hope even more you’ll share what you learn with others who own birds or are interested in owning birds in your community. It seems the biggest issues for the developing world in regards to bird care is the most current information on best practices hasn’t reached a lot of people yet. I think most pet owners everywhere want to take good care of their beloved animals

PRani said:

Thank you for complimenting my bird. I have tried teaching him tonnes of things, he has learned to say his own and my name, and to climb my study table

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Target training is a great idea, especially with a young bird. You can look on YouTube for videos on how to do it. Basically, you get a stick (chopsticks are perfect) and reward your bird when he bites or touches the very end of it (give him half a sunflower seed or a piece of peanut about that size). Move the stick to different places and reward him every time he touches the end. It's very important that you ONLY reward when he touches the END of the stick, otherwise he'll just try and take the stick from you. Before long, you'll find he'll go wherever you want him to, just by pointing the stick at where you want him to be.

Don't punish or yell at him if he doesn't touch the end of the stick. Just wait until he does the right thing and then reward him. My birds learned to do this in just one session, but yours is young, so it might take a little longer. It's SO very useful because you can use the bird's willingness to touch the target to put him into his cage or to move him away from something dangerous or off a person who doesn't want him on them. It's a LOT easier than having to pick him up by the body (which most ringnecks don't like).

Alexes are very clever and learn quickly. They like to do clever things and mine always seem very proud of themselves when they get it right.

Welcome to you and Mithu, thanks for a lovely introduction!

Another option for determining the sex of Mithu is mail-order service. Collection kits with detailed instructions are available; this is one of many: https://vetdnacenter.com/dna-tests/avian-dna-testing/

Locating a lab in the nearest available country would reduce shipping costs.

My guess would also be that you have a male from the head shape. I know what you mean about struggling to be patient! I was thinking about DNA for my boy, but then those dark feathers started to appear so I knew. Looks like you have a potentially long wait on your hands!!