Gender & mutation question

[aidan724]

I think that I have gender confused at least one of my poor tiels. I posted in the picture forum to have my suspicion confirmed that my poor Gracie isn't a she as I was told but a he. LOL I'm having doubts that I was told the correct gender on our other 3 as well. I am so bad at this. Is there a site on sexing and mutations for dummies like me? I get so easily confused by this stuff. :p
Draco & Gracie both Normal Grey males? They are aprox 11 months old. No tail barring and no spots under wings as you can see.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/aidan724/birds/100_0902.jpg
This is Guinevere. She is about 19 weeks so perhaps this may not be so easy. In the post in the pictures forum I believe they said she was a pied. Now would she be a she or a he?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/aidan724/birds/100_0909.jpg
& a side view
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/aidan724/birds/100_0910.jpg
This is Morgana. She is also 19 weeks so again I may be too early for this. Morgana has very clear spots and tail barring. Also a pied?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/aidan724/birds/100_0914.jpg
& a side view
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/aidan724/birds/100_0915.jpg
Now here is King Arthur. Also 19 weeks. A pearl and I'm hoping a male? I so hate to gender confuse my dear babes.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/aidan724/birds/100_0916.jpg
& a side view
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/aidan724/birds/100_0917.jpg
Thanks for any and all help. I am so hopeless! :blush:

[sweetrsue]

At 19 weeks there's no real reliable way to tell. Unless you do the nut on a string trick.

[aidan724]

That is what I was afraid of. I may just have to think on the DNA testing. Other wise it may just drive me nuts.

[huskymom]

I would say the first two are boys..

then the third could go either way as being young and pied.. I thought my Maui was a he and turned out to be a she :P

morgana is split pied and could also go either way

and king arthur.. seems more like a girl to me... the cheeks are a lil faint but could be as well as his/her age... but being pearl it is more likely to ge a girl unless you know what the parents were... if mom was the pearl then he´s a boy if none it means dad was split pearl so she´s a girl....

pretty birds nonetheless

[sweetrsue]

The two in the top 3 pics are males. You won't too much longer before the other ones will show themselves for what the are

[aidan724]

No I have no clue as to what the parents were on any of them. Draco and Gracie (the two normal grey males) are from 2 separate sets of parents but other than that I have no additional information. King Arthur, Guinevere & Morgana are from the same clutch but they were surrendered to a pet store due to the death of one of the parents as I was told. So there was no information given as to the parents then either. I don't suppose they will really care what their names are anyway.

[sweetrsue]

Morgana could be Morgan. Guinevere could be Glen. King Arthur (the Pearl?) could still be a male.

[Carrie~Anne]

Yep, only the first two are males. The others are up for grabs. The Pearl will be easy to tell, as if the Pearl is a male, he will lose most of his pearling at his first molt (and then more pearling the next molt). Sometimes with male Pearls it can take 3 or 4 molts before all the signs are gone and with some of them, they still show a bit of Pearling (I call it ghost pearls).

With the Pieds...well, you simply can't visually sex a Pied bird. I have a good deal experience with Pieds and they don't follow any of the normal tail barring, or wing spot theories. I've had some males with tale barring and wing spots and females with none. :D

So the only reliable way is DNA sexing. Considering the three birds are siblings, I'd pay to do the DNA test right away so you know where you stand. Out of these three birds, males/females should not be allowed to share cages or have unsupervised interaction. ;)

[aidan724]

So on the subject of DNA testing does anyone know of places that I can do that via mail? I have heard that it is cheaper than the vets office and I would like to comparison shop if I can. Technically I could have everyone in separate bedrooms (shhhhhh don't tell the kids they are cages) by the time everyone wakes up but if I could I would rather be able to save a little money and just put the boys in a bachelor pad and have the girls share a room. I promise I would go to the ends of the earth for my babies but if I can save and still get the same results I would like to go on the cheaper side.

[Danielle]

I believe www.avianbiotech.com is good for Americans.

[aidan724]

Thanks Rouille I took a look at the site and it does look promising. I'm still researching a bit and waiting for my young 3 to have their molt before I decide.