Pelvic Sexing in Parrots
by Heike Ewing Ott
Is it possible to determine the gender of parrots by examining the pelvic bones? How reliable is this form of sexing? This article by an experienced breeder answers these questions.
Near a bird’s/parrot’s vent are the “ends” of the pelvic bones. It is usually/often/sometimes true that the pelvic bones of the male are closer together than the female’s, since the feamle’s have to allow for passage of an egg.
However, some males have widely spaced pelvic bones, and some young females’ are close together and spread when they get older or lay their first egg. So, “pelvic sexing” consists merely of feeling how far apart the ends of the pelvic bones are and guessing male or female based on that information.
I have been doing this with my cockatiels for many years, and on the 20 or 25% of birds that I am pretty sure what they are, I’m about 90% correct. On the other 75 – 80% of birds, the bones are not close enough together or far enough apart for me to feel confident guessing, and if pushed I’m barely more accurate than if I just “guessed.”
So-called “pelvic sexing” is NOT reliable or accurate enough to be useful, and should not be trusted. Oh, if you’re just curious about your pet and somebody offers to check the bones for you and gives you an “educated” guess – no harm done. But, I wouldn’t even CONSIDER trying to put pairs together or breed birds based on this! Your only real choices are surgical sexing or DNA testing.
now I was wondering.. I just adopted to very loveable Quakers, and the previous owner says that they are males.. but I really don’t know.. he gave me no proof.. they are the same age though, and One is larger than the other? does this possibly play the role in sexing?? they have been as pairs for the 4 years the previous owner has had them…And the larger one is more “soft-nippy” then the smaller one…I’m confused and new to this.. HELP! lol
I am pretty sure that as a rule of thumb that the females are usually larger than males… But if they are not breeders it does not matter too much if they get along and such.
I have a pair of Quaker Parrots that I bought from a Breeder that said they were male and female, They have been mating for about 14 days now and no eggs have been layed. They have a nestbox, twigs, beeding everything needed and no eggs, could they possible be 2 males, or 2 females? Please Help.
I thought cockatiels were sexually dimorphic. I’ve never had any problem telling them apart, though it looks like the differences can be subtle.
With regard to the pelvic bones, my guesses based on that in regard to African congo Grays has proven to be accurate.