male or female

jennamarie · Post by **jennamarie** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:59 am

from the way my IRN was behaving towards me i expected she was female because she loves my dad but wont cum near me lol she just attacks me. However she has a little black feathers in a line towards her eyes from her beak do females get this or is it a sign of a ring. However shes only 6 months old so she's still too young for a ring. anyone???

also shes just had a moult, how many times do they go threw a moult a year?

julie · Post by **julie** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:44 am

Are you able to take a pic of the black?

jennamarie · Post by **jennamarie** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:06 am

these were the best i could get. its really fine hair, but does the colour of the beak mean anything too because her beak is going really dark

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floridamedgirl · Post by **floridamedgirl** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:22 pm

what diet is the bird on?

jennamarie · Post by **jennamarie** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:34 pm

she's on a seed diet and fruit and veg every day. i tried to get her to eat pellet food but she wont touch it.

Fah · Post by **Fah** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:01 pm

You will not be able to sex the bird at all feather wise really from that, when the males ring comes through its fast and furious most the time, or full feathers show solid black.

Regarding the eye thing, its very very common for hens to have a grey line there too, and in males it can be quite a strong black.

If the seed component of the diet is good quality (ie; proper small parrot to medium parrot mix) with the fruit and veg etc I would rule out diet as an issue. Pellets arent vital, if you have it on quality seed, dont have too many sunflower seeds, and give it a wide variety of fruit and veg each day, pellets aren't really required. Some prefer pellets, some prefer seed, pellets generally mean its easier, as less worry about 'what' the bird is getting diet wise.

Its also far too young to be worried about lack of sunlight effecting it at the moment.

However I would very much suggest a trip to the vet, its too young to have gone through a naturally progressive moult combined with the fact that beak is getting remarkably dark... bloodwork might be important.

jennamarie · Post by **jennamarie** » Sun Aug 09, 2009 2:56 am

o god i didn't think it was that serious. i was reading about it on the internet and someone had said their bird was the same and they suggested bruising of the beak? can the beak bruise? also she doesn't seem bothered by it she just uses it as normal but she does bash it around abit.