birds sex how to tell

[whitesnmore]

I bought an indicator from Foys and have yet to have it give me an incorrect reading. Of course be sure to read the directions but I can tell you I tried it on my know sexed birds and it was right 100% of the time. I was sure it wouldn't work but was pleasantly surprised.

[JGregg]

That isn't a valid test for your pendulum.

You already know the sex of the birds you're testing and this can cause you to move the pendulum accordingly. In other words your controls are not valid.

To validate your control set bring in a third party to "test" your birds that are already sexed. This will also act to give you a baseline for the error you can expect. Then when you have birds that are not sexed you'll need to have the third party test them too (so things are consistant). It would be good to have a batch of unsexed birds large enough for statistical significance so your data is actually conclusive. Then you'll know if dowsing for pigeon gender works.

I don't buy into the dowsing stuff, but if you can prove it works and your experiment can be reproduced I'll acknowledge it.

[ElDorado57]

Most amateurs like Animalrescuer131@yahoo.com and me have to rely on physical characteristics primarily, and behaviour secondarily.

Physical clues:
Male pigeons are normally slightly larger overall, with an iridescent coloring around the normally thicker-appearing neck, possibly larger nostril vents, and larger claws, with the middle claw being longer than the others -(unlike females, where claws are normally almost equal in length)-
Females are normally smaller, with no iridescent coloring around neck, more delicate beaks/nostrils, and thinner, finer-appearing necks and claws.

Behavioural clues:
Male are normally the ones chasing, or exhibiting dominant/courtship behaviour, such as fluffing of neck feathers, tail-dragging, light pecking of females on the back of the head, or 'Stepping' on females' tails...males also tend to chase other males away from 'chosen' territory, or 'chosen' females...
Females are the ones being chased, dominated, and overall less active.

Using the above you can pretty much determine pigeon sex with about 66% reliability...
Uncertainly creeps in due to birds being too young to exhibit any of the above clues, or being ill/sick.

Hope that helps...

ARockeagle

[feralpigeon]

Used to live in a town where everyone had their own well drilled for their home.
If you were wealthy, you didn't need a dowser, if not, why then you needed a
dowser. If you were a good dowser, you got calls for new wells to dowse for, otherwise, your name wouldn't make it to the word of mouth referral system. That's just how it was.

My dad built houses in general, and specifically built our house in that town. He
didn't dabble in tarot cards, psychic readers or even dreams let alone dream
symbology. Didn't like chiropractors even. But he did hire a dowser before
drilling for our well and was very happy w/the results. We hit the first time within the depth range as described. The man right next door to us told us that
he did not dowse and had spent a fortune looking for water by drilling where they "thought" it would be.

[epicdoom]

Thanx all for the replies!! I have eggs in my loft from a pair. hehe I know for sure whats what out of those 2 birds and have determined a couple others to be male. My friend has told me that the birds are young and not ready to breed yet so time will tell for the others. BTW the guy named halfwatt who posted is the friend who gave me the birds.


Thanx
Joe

[pig-eon]

you got a pretty nice friend then. Also I'm wondering, LEE did the beak thing work for you.??

[halfwatt]

I try.....lol

[rena paloma]

Originally Posted by 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 ..

hi, rena here, thought it was a wattle too. thanks for the correction lee

[feralpigeon]

Originally Posted by rena paloma

hi, rena here, thought it was a wattle too. thanks for the correction lee

How 'bout this?

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showth...ghlight=wattle

[JGregg]

If you look in an avian anatomy and physiology book it's called an operculum. Like the gill cover of bony fish (Osteichthyes).

On the other hand all of the veternarians I've taken my birds to (that's quite a few!) call it a cere.