birds sex how to tell

[epicdoom]

Hello

I am new to this forum and new to pigeon raising. A friend of mine gave me some really nice birds and helped me build a loft for them. I asked him how to tell the birds sex and I get mixed answers. I want to breed the birds as most of the ones he gave me are show type. I will have my loft seperated in male female sections to control the breeding as he sugested. I Just need to know if there is a definitive way to tell the sex of the birds I have.

Any help would be great some of the birds he gave me coo and fight one another. He said both sexes coo and fight but not all the time. I would like to find some books on raising and breeding if anyone has good sugestions. The friend who gave me the birds has been raising and showing them for 4+ years. He knows alot it seems on like how to care for them and showing.

Thanx in advance for any help
Epic

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Epic,

Welcome to pigeons.com. It is not always easy to tell male from female and many members have been fooled. I found a previous thread which provides some information on sexing birds that you may find helpful. Just click on the link:
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=5146

I'm sure others will be along to offer you some good advice and opinions shortly.

Linda

[upcd]

Hi, What kind of show birds do you have? Yes, many of us do get fooled. Even me. Males can be larger and coo more. Thier coo come with a dance and fanned tail scapping the ground. They like to chase other pigeons. They tend to hold more property than girls. Girls can be smaller. They respond by dropping their wings when accept a male. Some Breeders use the vent or hip bones to tell male or female. Male bones under tail close together. Females wider 1/2 inch. But watching behavior will help. GOOD LUCK.

[alaska]

Yes, definately the bowing and cooing can be a big give away of a male, plus the hip bones. Also a good tip I got previously was to place the pigeon in question alone with a mirror, if they bow and coo at the mirror they are male, if not they are female, again this is not 100% certainty but will give you a good indication.
It is quite difficult sometimes to tell, but following the above should help you have a rough idea

[Jiggs]

Now that I am getting to know my pigeons and which are Male/female I have noticed that the white thingymajig on their beaks (I still do not know what this is called?) on the males are exceptionally larger than on the females. Is this an indication or not?

Check my revenge post of Cocky and Piet (Cocky is the male) (really bad photo I know excuse me)

Or is it just luck and/or circumstance. I would also think the age plays a part in this like elephants tusks??

Good thread that Lin reccomended I printed it for my file and future reference. It show excactly how much more I need to learn. BUT I will get there someday

[cooingsosweetly]

the male has a big, round top o the head, and a big gullet and he may flair up when he is in mating mode
the female, coos less, and has a flat, smaller head. press on the lower back where the white fearhers are where the wings cross, if it is a coo sound that comes out, it is male. if a squeek sound comes out, or a peep, it is a female.

[ilovemydragon]

My Piper acts just like a boy (cooing and bowing) and is on the large side compared to ferals I see but that whole theory went down the tubes last night when SHE laid an egg.

That goes to show you that you cant rely on just behaivor

[Lee]

Lee here,
The thingamagig is called the cere same as the white around the eyes.. it should be white in color and soft to the touch it playes a small role in the courtship of the birds as the cock bird sticks his beak down into the wing feathers during the courtship it is believed that the cere causes sexual stimulation at this time.An off color or dirty/greasy looking cere is an indication of illness hope this helps ..

[pig-eon]

I not sure but I've done some visual comparance on a few of my adut pigeons. I took and seperated all the pigeons into groups of males and females. I only tested on the ones that I already knew the gender. But what I noticed was all my females had thin and longer beaks, while my males all had shorter and thicker beaks. I don't know for sure but that Is my tech of sexing. I was really interested in trying to identify my younger pigeons that dosen't know how to coo correctly yet so I tried to do some visual instead of waiting for the coos and actions the the young birds.

Well I hope that works for some people because it works for me. Give it a try and tell me if that way works for you.

[Lee]

Lee here,
Yery intresting and i will of course look at my birds to see if mine are that way thanks for posting that ....

[RoundAbout]

I don't have one myself, but noticed that at Foys Pigeon Supplies they have a sex detector that they say works even on little squeakers. Not sure how it works, but it isn't invasive at all for the pigeon.

[feralpigeon]

<ilovemydragon My Piper acts just like a boy (cooing and bowing) and is on the large side compared to ferals I see but that whole theory went down the tubes last night when SHE laid an egg.

That goes to show you that you cant rely on just behaivor>


I have a small feral female who also coos and bows

<pig-eon I not sure but I've done some visual comparance on a few of my adut pigeons. I took and seperated all the pigeons into groups of males and females. I only tested on the ones that I already knew the gender. But what I noticed was all my females had thin and longer beaks, while my males all had shorter and thicker beaks. I don't know for sure but that Is my tech of sexing. >

I used the search engine and see that another member also describes this technique for determing sex.

<RoundAbout I don't have one myself, but noticed that at Foys Pigeon Supplies they have a sex detector that they say works even on little squeakers. Not sure how it works, but it isn't invasive at all for the pigeon. Yesterday 08:54 AM>

It works on a system known as "dowsing". Some people swear by dowsing, and others think it is hocus pocus. fp

[rena paloma]

white thingymajig on their beaks

this is called the "beak wattle" in a show, three points are given for this

[halfwatt]

the birds he has are young, not really old enough to tell, not finished moulting

[halfwatt]

oh, the birds he has are bastine racing homers, with one that placed 1st in the last show it was entered in, and several young off another first plcae bird i use to show, he has started off with some excellent stock. the blood line has been raced with good results in placing rather high