IRN age question

[doipac]

Hi guys

Two weeks ago i have bought an IRN but i'm not shure what age he has.
The birder who sold me the IRN, told me that he has around 1.3 years.
When i bought him he had the ring around the neck already grown (black under the beak and orange up) and the birder told me that the IRN didn't had it until the last month.
Now, i've read many posts and the opinions are splited.
Some say that the the male's ring appears arround 3 years, some say that is possible to be complet visible around 1 year.
What is your opinion about that: Is it possible to has only 1 years or i have been fooled.

Thank you

[smallworld]

Hi They mostly develop rings at the age of 2 and up. I know some birds that only had it toward their 3rd year. 1 year is reasonably odd but I'm not sure if its impossible. The ring develops as a males sign of maturity. So its related to hormonal changes as well among other things. If you draw a loose correlation to humans, you could use human males reaching puberty as an example. Facial hair growth may develop at 11 for some boys and after 17 for some. So its really hard to say, in my opinion but I personally dont know any birds that got their ring on their first year. Maybe other users here might. If he has a ring, it would be a good way to check. But it depends on your country, I guess. Over here, the rings have the year of birth and sometimes even the month of the birth, as well as the clutch number for the parents.

[doipac]

Hi again. Here are some pictures of my IRN - I made them 10 minutes ago. It seems like he isn't afraid of the camera.
Those of you who have an IRN like this, could you kindly please tell me how old was yours (approximately) when he looked like mine?
The person whom I bought it from says it is 15 months old.
http://pbckt.com/sR.rX5

[Shane7285]

Hi there

Smallworld is right in that the age the ring comes in varies between each bird, and it normally isn't like yours until 2 years. Most of the time the ring will begin in the first moult at around 1 year old. Then the next year it should come in fully at around 2 years. There are always exceptions though, as a friend of mine had his and it didn't show any signs of a ring until after 2 years, and came in fully in one moult.

I don't think there is any real way to tell other than to say your bird could be the age that you were told or could be up to 3 years old.

Regards

Shane

[doipac]

Hi there!

Thanks for sharing me your opinions!
Cezar (my IRN) is deffinetly not 3 years old. It doesn't even know how to fully arrange its feathers yet and still does some "moves" specific to immature IRNs.

Nevertheless, with respect to the age, the ones of you who have green IRN (male), could you kindly please send me some pictures of yours, when it was approximately 15 months old? I would like to make an overall comparison.

Thanks a lot & have a nice day!

[bec]

on of our irns (riku) got his first black feathers at about 14 months old
but i was told that was very early