# Females who act like males?



## socalcrochet (Jun 20, 2011)

*This here is "Henna". I bought her when she was about 4-6mo old. I was told she was a female. Of course at that time her pearl plumage was a lot more abundant. She then lost half of her pearl pattern after her first molt. She also whistle's, bobs her head and does heart-wings. I felt dooped. Since then I have believed she was a male. Not until recently when she paired up with my albino lutino did I realize he was a she. "Henna" is "Screachy's" momma. I am now hoping "Screachy" is a she.

So my question is? How many other's out there have females that behave this way. I plan on recording her behavior on my iphone and uploading it on youtube.*


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

henna is a male, especially since he is losing his pearls. pearl pieds take longer to lose the pearls than regular pearls 

was henna the bird on top when they were mating?


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

wow thats wierd I know there are females that can act like males and vice versa but to actually physically lose pearls like a male, I dont know are you sure the whiteface lutino is the male and not the female.....

p.s. omg my stupid question mark key is doing this...É


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

sarah, my laptop did that to me too but i figured it out

hold shift and control at the same time. it fixes it or causes it LOL

ééé?ÉÉÉ see?


yeah i would like to see what others say on this.

are you SURE he's a she? losing pearls and all male behaviour is a male thing.... if really stumped, i'd say get a DNA test.


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

YES!!!! Thank you! I get the birds walking all over my keyboard so theyre always pressing random keys and messing stuff up  ???


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## socalcrochet (Jun 20, 2011)

Henna is Screachy's mom


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

just curious how you know for sure. the father's sit on the eggs and feed the young too, sometimes more than the mother does.


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## socalcrochet (Jun 20, 2011)

Yes, the albino male is the one that does most of the work and yes he did mount Henna. They are actually sitting on there 2nd batch of eggs. I am uploading a picture of him right now.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

then i would honestly do a DNA test.


im lost LOL


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

thought, is it possible to have a three some pair? 2 males and a female? because that does happen too.... to me it doesnt seem logical that this bird is a female but things are really unusual here. personally the DNA test would tell you for sure

like a bonded pair of males who act like male and female nesting but there's a female involved that one of them is mating with and is sharing the box?

or is it even possible for the female to be on top and male on bottom?

all these are confusing lol this is weird


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## socalcrochet (Jun 20, 2011)

I was very confused as well. The only thing that would make sense to all of this is if Screachy's real mom abandoned all the eggs and let 2 males raise them? 

I do have 2 females on eggs with 2 males helping them.

I have a pearl hen with a white face and lutino mate, all 3 rotate on the eggs.

I also have a cinnamon pearl on eggs with a white face pide male and normal grey split for pide sitting on the same eggs.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

but also here... if the other bird is whiteface lutino and is male....

does that bird whistle or talk? act male besides mounting?

and do you know if he had pearl in his background? if he didnt, then your henna has to be a boy for you to get a pearl baby. but if you dont know if the WF lutino has pearl in its history then you cant go by this


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

it IS possible. im pretty sure henna is a boy


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## socalcrochet (Jun 20, 2011)

I am uploading his picture right now (Albino). Because the file is 18mp is takes a long time. I do not know his history. The breeder sold him to me when he was around 8 months old. I was looking for a female and she was checking sexing using the pelvic technique. Since all the albino's felt like male's, I opted to buy the oldest one. 

I am very interested in having them both DNA'd. Can you please post up a link where I can get order a kit?


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## socalcrochet (Jun 20, 2011)

*Here is the other parent, lol.








*


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

you'd be better off using avian biotech i think

http://www.avianbiotech.com/SexingCenter.htm

i am in canada, i used:

http://www.healthgene.com/avian-dna-testing/

but im in canada and while they do american too, it may be faster for you to do biotech... our mail system is on strike so no go for mail right now


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## socalcrochet (Jun 20, 2011)

thanks!!! I will try that.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

im very interested to hear the results  this will be interesting as theyre all very odd situations.


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