# Sexing Babies



## Rainbow (Mar 23, 2011)

Hey there,
I've been doing a bunch of research to try and work out how to sex the babies of my breeding pair but it is doing my head in and I just don't know how to figure it all out. Can anyone tell just by looking at them? I think the mother is lutino (the yellow one) and the father is perhaps a grey pied (because he has a white ring around his neck, otherwise wild colours)??

Parents (yellow is the hen, grey is the cock):









Babies (#1 has grey wings but yellow on it's back and tummy, #2 looks pearl/lacewing and has grey and yellow speckled over it):


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Well, the pearl looks to be pearl and pied. Beautiful babies!! The Pearl would most likely be a girl as mom is lutino and not pearl. This means dad is split to pearl and she is a girl. The pied baby I believe could be either because in order to get pied babies, both mom AND dad have to be pied or split to pied I believe. Although this doesn't make sense to me because I'm not sure if a pied lutino is possible. lol I'm also wondering if it's possible for a Pearl Lutino. I am still learning about genetics so I am unsure about some of this. But as I said, if mom is not pearl, dad has to be split to pearl and so the pearl baby is a girl. The pied could be either I think. Let's see what the experts say. Beautiful babies though!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

A clear shot of mom's back is needed to determine whether she is a lutino pearl or not. If she's not then dad is carrying the pearl split and the pearl pied baby is a girl. As to the other pied, you can try wing-spot sexing but its not 100% and pieds are really hard to sex visually.


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

The white at the edge of your males face mask is because he is split to whiteface......but he has to be also split to pied obviously because he had pied babies, the signs of being split to pied are white feathers on the back of the head, different coloured toenails or feet, and/or a striped beak.


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## Rainbow (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks so much guys, my guess has been that they are both females. They both also have very obvious grey faces over the yellow and I thought that was more common on females. The cock has black feet and toenails, and white feathers on the scruff of his neck so I'm guessing he must be split to pied. The hen is pure yellow on her back, no pearl pattern or white shading anywhere. Does this mean she is not a pearl lutino? Gosh it is confusing!

This is a better shot of the babies from today:


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

It sounds like she may be a pied lutino! The grey face doesn't count in pieds as male pieds can have the grey face too, this is called a dirty faced pied. So the non-pearled one could still be a boy.


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## Rainbow (Mar 23, 2011)

Oh my goodness...So in proper light today I checked the mother's back and she has faint pearl patterning in white and yellow (reeaallllyy faint, but there). So she's a pearl lutino right? Does that mean the pearl baby may not be female now? I'm starting to think the grey and yellow baby is a male...It's very cuddly and whistling away already, so cute! Is the pearl gene linked to the X or Y gene? Or is that only the lutino gene??


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## 4birdsNC (Dec 4, 2010)

Your hen sounds like a Lutino Pearl split to Pied or a Lutino Pied Pearl. That means the pearl baby can be either sex. The little pied can also be either sex. get us some pictures of the underside of their wings when they are open, and we can try to see if we can tell buy wing spots.


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

Cute little birdies!


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## Fortunate (Oct 31, 2011)

this whole genetics thing is so confusing!  your babies are adorable tho!


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

They are definitely little presents..


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## Rainbow (Mar 23, 2011)

They are both gorgeous and have such adorable personalities. The oldest one is sitting on fingers now and giving a sweet little trill here and there when it gets excited.

This is the right wing of the oldest - on the left wing it has spots clearly on only two primary feathers, but no spots on the right wing as you can see.









I'll try to get a photo of the pearl baby's wings asap. Thanks so much for your help! This was our breeding pair's first clutch with us and they really are two beautiful babies.


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

Based on wing spot sexing im going to say that ones a male because there are no spots on his gray feathers close to the body and you cant wing spot sex a pearl so that baby will be a mystery until he/she shows boy or girl behaviour or moults.


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