Gabe's a girl!

[asterroc]

DNA sexing results came back today on Gabriel. She's female!

As mentioned before, Gabe's a lutino cockatiel, which cannot be visually sexed with complete reliability, though there can be clues. The things that led me to guess so were faint spots on the undersides of flight feathers, faint stripes on undersides of tail feathers, and faint pearling on her back (so she's actually lutino pearled). DNA sexing confirmed my suspicion: it's a girl!

Now I know to keep making sure she doesn't get triggers to lay eggs, and to make sure she gets a calcium block in case she ever does start laying. Her name is remaining Gabriel though - gender of name doesn't make a difference to her, and I find it amusing.

Gratuitous photo!



Doesn't she look all sorts of coy there? You can actually see the pearling in this photo pretty well - it's the yellow splotches on her shoulders.

X-posted to my blog, parrot_lovers, and cockatiels.

Comments

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

What a pretty girl!

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

Yes, your Gabe-girl is gorgeous! I love how clearly this photo shows both her character and her phenotype.

For a year I thought that Ernestine was Ernest. Then I learned better. It's okay if she decides to lay eggs; I just hope that they don't get stuck, which can sometimes happen (shudders at the thought).

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's exactly why I wanted to know Gabe's gender - it's called egg-binding in birds. You can prevent egg-binding through a good diet, and most importantly through removing environmental cues that could trigger egg-laying in the first place! For example, putting her to bed on time makes her think it's winter b/c of getting little sunlight, so she's less likely to lay. If Gabe'd turned out male, it wouldn't've been an issue.

[weirdlilfaechld.livejournal.com]

Gabriel can be a girl's name anyway. Now she reminds me even more of my Diana! I know the pearls are usually a good indication of a female, but considering that Jesse was three, DNAed male, and still had most of his pearling, I know it is far from perfect! How old is Gabe?

[weirdlilfaechld.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry for the double comment, does she have the typical lutino bald spot?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's how the first vet guessed her age - she said it was like male pattern balding in humans in that it gets bigger with age, but both males and females have it. Here's a photo of her from last summer that shows it. :-P

[weirdlilfaechld.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Diana is about three (I have to guess ages and "assign" hatchdays to my birds too, I only knew Jesse's true age and hatch date, everyone else I guess according to comments from previous owners if possible, changes in weight and the area around the keel [since even healthy cockatiels start to loose muscle there at about 16], coloration of feathers [since geriatric birds and birds with kidney or liver problems will have yellowing or browning in areas that should be white] overall health and how stubborn they are) but has a huge bald spot, and it is all smooth pink skin with no sign of ever being plucked or feathers ever going to grow there, so it is nice to be able to compare hers with another lutino's head. Diana's is about twice the size of Gabe's though, I will see if I can find a picture that isn't of when I first got her when her mate was plucking her and she had a series of bald spots.

Sorry for being long winded again!

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Aren't birds wonderful? I just picked her up to try and see if her bald patch is any bigger than last year, and she pooped on my arm. :-P (Answer: it seems the same to me.)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Since she's a found bird, her age isn't known exactly, but the best guess of vets puts her at around 7-8 years old. I think I'll just pick a date that I can remember to celebrate as her hatch day, like June 21, 2000, and from now on tell everyone that's it.