Can you sex a gouldian in juvenile plummage?

[societyspice]

I was just wondering if this is possible. I got a juvenile gould back in June and the person I bought him(?) from said he was a male. At the time, I really didn't care if I had a girl or boy, and even now I still don't care. However, I'd like to get a 2nd gould and would like to get the opposite sex this time.

My current gould has yet to start his adult molt, so I was thinking of waiting until after this happens. Also, I don't know how soon males start singing, but I've noticed is that most of the sounds he makes sound like the female gouldian call recording on this website, which makes me wonder if Sam Olive (my gould's name) might be a Samantha Olive?

I've included a picture:



Here's the link to the same picture: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b117/ ... ive001.jpg

Thanks for your help!

[Hilary]

The yellow looks bright enough (in the picture) to be a male, but the breast is more lilac - do you know if either parent was lilac?

[VM0572]

I'm not sure you can...usually the beak is how I can tell if it's a male or female, but it usually takes about 6 months for the color and beak to really show. Maybe our resident expert Crystal might know though. If there's a way, I sure would like to know too. Beautiful bird though.

[TammyS]

I think it is still to early to say for sure if your Gouldian is a hen or a cock. Cocks will start to sing before they have started to color up...but mine usually start singing when they hear the older males in the flight starting to sing.

The breast color is starting to come in...so you should be able to tell soon.

[societyspice]

I'm not sure if the parents were lilac breasted or not. At the bird fair, since I wasn't really looking for any particular color variation when I got him, I never really thought about asking. (Now I wish I did!) I think the one I have will have a red head though because I can see little bits of reddish color on some of his facial feathers near his eyes. I've also noticed two near his head that were part blue and part black. I'm guessing that's that thin blue "lining" around the face?


This doesn't really have to do with the topic, but I'm curious if anyone here thought that the red apple-shaped vitamin block behind the spice finch in my picture was a bird? All the non-finch people I've shown this picture to thought it was another bird!!

[Dario78]

I'ts hard to say cause you did this picture using the flash of your camera...so the colours are not reals.
Can you post other pics done without flash?

[Sally]

He's too young for me to tell--I don't have enough experience with juvie Gouldians. And I think finch people would realize right away that was something other than a bird in the background--the shape is wrong, for one thing--but I can see non-finch people getting confused.

[societyspice]

I will try to post a better picture soon.

[Hilary]

That would help (plus he'll have more color - we like to cheat). I've never found it to be at all difficult to sex mine once they get a couple of adult feathers on their bellies - bright yellow is a male, soft yellow is a female.

Oh, and at first glance I thought "that spice has a bright red belly!" Then I saw the apple shape and knew it must be one of those mineral blocks....

[Crystal]

To me (so far) it looks like a hen--but you'll know for sure in just a matter of weeks :) Feel free to post more pictures in the meantime.

For whatever it's worth, my juvenile boys have always tried to start singing by about this age (if not sooner); next time I have a juvenile boy I'll try to get a recording of their silly fist attempts at song for the website.

[societyspice]

To me (so far) it looks like a hen--but you'll know for sure in just a matter of weeks Feel free to post more pictures in the meantime.

For whatever it's worth, my juvenile boys have always tried to start singing by about this age (if not sooner); next time I have a juvenile boy I'll try to get a recording of their silly fist attempts at song for the website.

That recording would be helpful! The main sound my bird makes is a repetitive "cheep cheep cheep" or sometimes just "cheep cheep..."

I took more pictures without a flash, but I think they're about the same, quality-wise, as the initial picture.

[Hope]

I thought my one juvie was a female because he would tweet with my hen. Just about 4 months of age he decided he wanted to be a male and started posturing and singing his little song. Sounds like a little humming bird.
Does your little one stand up straight and puff up his chest when he sings

[Hilary]

This is what I love most about gouldians - the wait to see what their colors will be, and are they a boy or girl. I have a yellow juvie that according to my genetics calculator HAD to be a hen, and had to be a red head. Well, Marigold is showing orange feathers on the head now, and today puffed out "her" chest and started singing! Dad has to have been split to white even though both parents were purple for that yellow bird to be male, and must have had orange somewhere back there as well. Aren't they full of surprises?!

[raghavan88]

interesting thread.

[societyspice]

My gouldian finally started heavily molting (for about the last week or two). The chest is still a light lilac color, it's head is red with black and then some blue outlining the red. The beak hasn't appeared to lighten any at this time. It's a very quiet bird. haven't heard any singing and the only sounds I do hear sound most similar to the hen calling sound on the gouldian page of the finch info center. However, until yesterday, this is the only gouldian I had in the cage, so I don't know how this would affect a bird learning its (own species') songs and calls. (I also have a society and a spice finch.) Currently, I believe my gouldian, Samantha, is a female, but...

Yesterday, there was a bird fair and I went to get a second gouldian, so that my first would have a buddy to hang out with. Presently, my spice (male) and society (female) finches seem to exclude the gouldian from perching/roosting near them. The spice finch seems almost territorial at times, chasing off the gouldian if it gets to close to the society.

Anyways, I picked out a red headed male, one that I definitely knew was a male. (His beak was light colored and his colors were significantly brigher than my gouldian at home.) Since I've had the two together (less than 24 hours), I've noticed that my first gouldian (the one with the lighter colors) has exhibited a new behavior. I've only seen it happen twice, but this is what it is:

When Samantha (the lighter colored gould) is near the new guy, she will lower her head down some and shake it rapidly. Then, she'll jump up and down on the perch 3 or 4 times. She doesn't make any sound when she does this. The new male doesn't fly away, but he doesn't seem interested either. Does this mean Samatha *is* a boy or do gouldian hens have their own little dance? ...Or, could this be a health problem?

I've attached some more recent photos of my original bird. The first photo also shows the new guy (brighter colors and no black around the face.) Sorry about it being so blurry, but they just wouldn't sit still!!

Thanks for your help.