whats the best method for sexing your bird?

[opticstang]

whats the prefered method to sex your bird. so far i only know of 2 types the surgical and the dna test. i was told by someone that the surgical is a little bit more accurate than the dna and that they mark the bird for you based upon what sex it is on a specific wing. but whenever i hear surgery i do get a bit nervous. is the surgery safe? will it hurt a bird in any way? as for the dna i know they can do blood or feathers. what dna test is preferred? is it accurate? also is it even recommended to sex a bird? and finally whats the price difference between the different types of sexing methods? thank you all for your input.

 

[Rio Mom]

I did DNA sexing with feathers, it cost about $25 and is supposed to be very accurate.

 

[Parrotmamma]

I think DNA would be pretty accurate but you have to wait for the results. As for surgery , it's done endoscopic and it's results are instant , but there would be some risk involved just because of the anesthesia being used and also it would be more stressful for the bird as opposed to DNA testing. Not sure of the cost for the the surgery but I think it would be pretty costly.

 

[MikeyTN]

DNA would be the best way to go. I didn't sex any of my birds but I know all their sex because of sexual characteristics when they tried to mate with me. Some are simple by the eye color, dots under wings, different colors or marking between the sexes, etc.

 

[Grenage]

DNA tests can also be dond with blood, which I favour over feather plucking. Horses for courses, I suppose.

 

[paulhanlon]

The best method for dna sexing is by the feathers just take 2 or 3 feathers from the chest and send them of you will have the results back within a week

 

[henpecked]

I have my breeder zons laproscopically examined. yes surgery is a risk ,but never had a problem.The benefits are that you can see so much more and tell alot more about the birds sex,age and health, not to mention reproductive value. I don't agree that is more stressful because they seem to "wake up" and not have a clue as to what just happened. They wake up in their cage and have forgotten every thing that happened earlier. It also allows a much better physical exam. It's also cheaper for me than even a simple DNA test. I have several birds done at one time for 20$ @ ,DNA is at least 25$ and more if you go though the Vet. I don;t really trust the feather test but i'm sure it's fairly accurate, just not accurate enough for my situation. All that being said,,if your interested in what sex your fids is, have the vet do a DNA test, or wait till maturity. Oh yeah,,, the tattoo the wing thing is pretty simple,MR is a Male ,Right wing bend, ladies ,left wing bend.

 

[Oedipussrex]

you didn't specify the type or age of a bird.
Sometimes (not in all species) it can be quite easy to tell (with ekkies as the most extreme example) although many other species don't show their sexually dimorphic differences until adulthood.
you can tell budgies by the blue colour above the adult males' beaks, cockatiels by the banding on their tail feathers, galahs by the colour of their eyes... and so on - it really just depends.

i guess the methods you have mentioned would be best if it were a more subtle species, or you wanted to know while they were a baby - so before you can tell.