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A: You may be asking yourself, is my green cheek conure a boy or a girl? There are many ways to tell the gender of a green cheek conure, though as green cheek conure breeders will tell you, DNA sexing is the most reliable way to tell a green cheek conure's sex. If you want to know how to tell if a green cheek conure is male or female, and don't want to (or can't) pay for green cheek conure gender determination by DNA sexing, here are some signs to tell the gender of your bird.
Is A Green Cheek Conure Male or Female - Look At The Feet!
I haven't seen this information posted elsewhere, so I'll put it out there. I looked at my green cheeked conure's feet one day and wondered why my bird has pink feet, while other identical green cheek conures have grey feet.
I looked up multiple pictures of green cheek conures on google images, and to my surprise - most of the female green cheek conures seemed to have pink feet, and the male green cheek conures more often than not had grey toes! I'm not certain how accurate this method is, but as one who spends way too much time studying birds, this seems to be a reliable way to Tell The Gender of a Green Cheek Conure in combination with other gender clues. An example of baby feet from hatching lies below:
(image courtesy of pamperedpeeps website.)
How to Tell if a Green Cheeked Conure is a Boy or Girl by Head Shape
This is another gender determination method for green cheek conures that should be taken with a grain of salt. However some will tell you that the more "soft" or "rounded" the head of the green cheek conure is, the more likely it is to be a female green cheek conure. The more "flat" headed green cheek conures are normally the male green cheek conure. However every green cheek conure is different, and some birds may be exceptions to this male or female gender identification method.
Boy or Girl Green Cheek Conure by Pelvic Examination
Some breeders will do a pelvic examination of a green cheek conure and attempt to find the gender of a green cheek conure before it leaves the shop. Again, this method to determine the gender of a green cheek conure is not always 100% accurate.
However if you wish to find out if your green cheek conure is a boy or girl, take your bird (gently!) in your hand and again gently feel down the breast bone until it the bone formation splits (or not) right before the cloaca (vent) of the bird.
The reasoning is that the hip bones will be wider and rounder in female green cheek conures, who have to pass eggs through their vent. In males, the structure will be closer together, and "sharper."
Myself, about to careful do a pelvic examination:
DNA Sexing Your Green Cheek Conure
As emphasized, the very best way to tell the gender of a green cheek conure is DNA sexing by your veterinarian, either by feather or blood DNA sexing methods. Veteranary surgery is an option for gender identification, but I don't recommend the surgery method to find out a green cheek's gender, as this can put unneeded stress on the bird.
Take these bird gender clues with a grain of salt, but if you notice one or more signs together that your bird is a boy or girl, you can probably start leaning toward calling your green cheek either "Joe" or "Josephina."
You cannot tell the gender of a green cheek by the foot color. Many mutations have lighter colored feet. Look at these pictures, there is no difference in foot colors between genders in the mutations and the wild colored birds all have dark feet. http://feathert.com/greencheekgenetics.html
ReplyDeleteFirst. I must say, I just loved your manner of your post.... really enjoyed that.
ReplyDeleteHere's my personal experience.
Lays an egg: FEMALE! :) (seriously, been there)
Secondly... if the bird goes into "macho mode", it's male.
By macho mode, I mean, some of the movements are ONLY by males..
i.e. moving the wings out to the right and left and kinda UP, then moving the body back and forth.... THAT'S MALE. That's the male dominate stance.
That being said.... we have a "new to us" green cheeked Conure.... ok, has the dark feet.. extremely sweet and cuddly... but, it's only been 1 week that we've had... *cough* him/her.... so far, no egg... no "male" movement! LOL
So we're not sure yet... But let me say this... we've had many diff. birds... this is our 1st Conure... and seriouly... WHAT A SWEETHEARD! LOL
We may never find out if our new addition to the family is Male or Female... but honestly.... WHO CARES? What wonderful birds they are... a welcomed addition to our brood! LOL :-)
oooops... sorry... that should be sweetheart
ReplyDeleteThis website isn't helpful to me at all!!!! I was wanting to get another green-cheeck to breed! I cant tell if the one i have is male or not!! I was also gonna check my freinds greeen-cheeck(the one im gonna use for breeding). Try to come up with more useful info. Thks.
ReplyDeleteDNA sexing is the only fool proof method
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a great article! Obviously, you're not taking yourself too seriously and "anonymous" up there should see a vet if they want a definitive answer. Why post anything at all if it's going to be negative.. :) I just purchased a second conure (our first came DNA tested and is male) - this one, although purchased at the same place - is unknown. Their personalities are totally different and this one is a complete sweetheart and cuddler! Our male is a paler shade (with pink feet) and this one has darker/brighter/more vibrant colors also with pink feet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! For now, her (we're calling it a her because we'd like it to be a Mrs. to our Mr. just because it's a cute idea) name is Kiwi.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell by the color of the feathers on those babies that they're different mutations. The one on the left is a normal, while the one on the right is a cinnamon. Normal GCCs always have the dark grey toes, regardless of sex, while cinnamons have pink toes (because they lack the dark pigmentation). Feeling the pelvic bones can be accurate only if the owner has "felt up" enough other birds to know the differences between male and female. It's particularly tricky with the little guys because the differences between the two are so small. Your best bet is always DNA sexing. It isn't terribly expensive; Avian BioTech is one of the biggest companies that offers the service and they're pretty affordable.
ReplyDeleteStill a fun article to read, though. :)
When they get old enough you can usually tell from thier movements. Girls put thier tails to the side and back their butts into things. Boys do this kind of hover dance. Most birds once they reach sexual maturity act out thier mating patterns.
ReplyDeletei have a gcc and he/she jumps up & down or back & fourth have a biting thing going on right now also with dark feet, acting like a male right now, so i'm wondering do u thinks it's a male or female.
ReplyDeleteHi, I think your conure is male green cheek conure based on the dark/grey feet. You might want to get DNA testing to be sure. Did you ever find out if it's a male green cheek or a female green cheek conure?
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