sexing white/mix zebras

alwaysfullofjoy · Post by **alwaysfullofjoy** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:49 pm

The local pet store owner asked me to sex a bunch of white/mix zebra babies. There was only one true white in the lot and based on beak color it is a female. As for the others I believe they are mixed with normal greys and have come out with light buff spots on them. They have tear drop makings on thier faces but other than that nothing but muddled buff color. Three of them are very young still have black on their beaks so beak color can not be a good judge here. I have only had them in my care for a few hours so I have yet to hear any singing. Is the song the only way to tell or is there something else I can go one.

On another note I told the owner of the store to never take birds from this person again. She lied about them being sexed she doesn't even know how to sex normal greys she brought all males.

She said they would be banded, no bands. She lied all the way around and was afraid of her own birds. She would catch them with her hands in a transport cage she needed a net.

I am by no means an expert but know better then this woman. I had to tell her she needed to stop breeding them because the offspring would be weak and her hen would die from contunied breeding.

Sorry for the misspelled words, Any help would be nice. I'm hoping I can sex these babies by Friday and get them out of my house. I'm discused with the whole thing. People.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:28 pm

Unfortunately some people get in over their heads and then decide to unload the excess birds at the local pet store or think they can make some extra cash by breeding birds that probably shouldn't be bred.

As for sexing these birds... since they lack the orange cheek patches or usual feather indicators it is difficult to say. Song would be you next best bet. If you have a male zeb, record him singing or do a search on the web for a recording. Then play it for these birds, you might be able to tell if any are males by their response.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:35 pm

You can try going by beak color in the pieds too, though honestly it sounds as if they are still juveniles and won't have full beak color (and potential bits of cheek patches/bits of breast bar/splotches of side flanking) until they finish molting into adult colors, which could take weeks.

alwaysfullofjoy · Post by **alwaysfullofjoy** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:14 pm

Thank you so much for the responses. I was afraid that would be the only way to truely tell and the young ones are probably around 6 weeks old. They look to be the same age as the fledges I have here. Beaks still have a little brown black color to them and are molting.

I have them in quaratine so I will have to see if I can find a song on the net. I've run across one before but have to find it. Off to Google.

alwaysfullofjoy · Post by **alwaysfullofjoy** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:44 pm

Well, my males zebras have been singing all day and the white zebs are just making the female call. I guess that would mean they are all female.

I'm going to keep them over the weekend just to be sure.

One another note one of the white (only true white) zebs has all of its feathers plucked from its neck. It looks horrible. I removed it from the cage with and placed it in another with just one finch in it for company. I'm afraid this one is plucking at it too. Is it ok to remove the other zeb and give the white on a cage to itself? Also could this be a sign of illness that the other birds know about and has yet to show up? I'm glad I have them in quarantine.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:07 pm

Although they do not like to be without company, it is okay to house the plucked finch in a separate enclosure to allow it to grow back its feathers. Placing the plucked finch's enclosure close to the enclosure with the other birds in it may help the plucked bird to feel less alone.

alwaysfullofjoy · Post by **alwaysfullofjoy** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 5:19 pm

Well, all the zebs turned out to be female. I was so discusseded with the ladies lies that I opted not to keep two of the birds as I had planed. I want a CFW pair and I'm going to hold out for them.

As far as the feather picked white I told the shop owner to have the woman come and pick it up. I did not want to take on another charity case right now and frankly I was worried that the little bird might be ill.

Lessoned learned hear. Don't trust everyone, even when they tell you they are sexed and banded.