Sexually Dimorphic

One common question among new owners of caique is “Can you tell the difference between males and females just by looking at the bird?”. Until now, the answer has been “no”. There are some other methods of sexing that will be briefly discussed, but caiques are not sexually dimorphic- that is, there are no visual differences between male and female birds.

One popular practice among avian owners and breeders is to palpate a birds pelvic bone. The pelvic bone in a normal hen will be wider then a male. The hen’s pelvic bones shift to allow more room for the passage of an egg. This method of testing is not foolproof, though. It is generally recognized that trying to sex a young bird using this method is fairly unsuccessful, as the pelvic bones in a hen do not shift until her body is sexually mature and ready to begin the egg laying process. With caiques this generally does not happen until 2-4 years of age.

Another common method is surgical sexing. With surgical sexing, the bird is put under anesthesia, and a small slit is made in the muscle to allow a scope into the body. The vet carefully maneuvers a scope and is able to visually locate the reproductive anatomy. With the recent development of DNA testing, this method is not as commonly practiced as before. The site owner personally does not recommend the method of surgical sexing, unless you are considering breeding your birds and want to ensure that all the productive organs are healthy and functioning normally. This method is an invasive procedure and a pet owner has to be careful when deciding whether or not to put their birds under anesthesia.

DNA sexing is the newest method in identifying the gender of your bird, and the method that the site owner heartily recommends. It is not an invasive procedure, and samples are easily procured. DNA sexing works by taking a bit of blood- obtained by either a toenail clipping, or having your vet hold back a small amount of blood after routine testing procedures- or, more recently, some freshly plucked feathers from the chest of your bird. These samples are collected and shipped using the manufacturers collection kit. After the samples are obtained, they are sent back to the lab, where DNA is isolated from the samples and then ‘read’ to determine the sex of your bird. You receive your answer fairly quickly using this method, and it is extremely accurate.

There is a small bit of literature that suggests caiques perhaps can have visual clues that tell a bird owner the gender of their pet parrot. Appearing in an article in the British Magazine ‘Just Parrots and Parakeets’ in 1996, the following is written:
“Black headed caiques are monomorphic and need to be either surgically or DNA sexed to be certain of obtaining a cock and hen. However, it is generally recognised that hens appear to have more white frosting on their yellow cheek patches then cocks, so this is often a good guide.” Interested, a question was posed on the caique forum regarding this ‘generally recognized distinguishment’ and surprisingly, people with black headed caique females (DNA tested) that yes, their birds do appear to have white frosting on their cheek patches. The site owner reports a noticeable difference in the amount of white on her female caique in comparison to her male caique. Hopefully more data can be gathered so that this statement can be proved right or wrong at a later date.