The eyes of the ringneck

mica · Post by **mica** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:35 pm

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I have a question.
I bought a new IRN 3 days ago and the salesman said that it's 2.5 months old. I can load up a pic if there is speculation, but to describe it, it looks adult to me. I've been reading some of the info on this site and heard they develop into adult size quite quickly after weaning. I had a lovebird before and remember it turned into adult size after 6-8 weeks so I'm guessing it's the same with the IRN.
Anyway, my question is - is there any way to tell if they're young by their eyes like the african grey? The African grey has big black eyes when it's young, so I'm wondering if it's the same with the IRN. Mine doesn't have white around it. Only the outer orangy ring and only a teeny ring that's pinkish around the black but not fully white.
Also i know it's too young to tell it's sex, so I won't even ask that question. But i'm just concerned about the age. I heard that if it's already an adult, you can't teach it anything. It's better to get them when they're extremely young. true or false?
Thanks for the help.

Fah · Post by **Fah** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:48 pm

Getting a bird at any age you can still teach them... just can take more effort / time. You can start fresh with a young baby bird and it might just have a personality that wont want to learn much at all... yet you can get adult wilder birds learning new things in a heartbeat. Its basicly a mix of the bird and the owners efforts.

Regarding the eyes, only a pic can tell really, they dont get adult eyes just after weaning at all but its a gradual progression... at around a yr of age they have lost those bubby eyes.

If you can get a pic of that would be great just so everyone is clear on what we are talking about.

maloney · Post by **maloney** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:21 am

hi my irn has orange round the outside and black in the middle.

can u tell how old they are from this /

mica · Post by **mica** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:27 am

To tell you the truth, i don't have a camera set up at the moment so I can't take pics of the bird. I had my nokia N76 which had a good camera in it, but it broke recently so I'm stuck with nothing to use.
I was thinking of the webcam , but don't think it would be clear - might be blurry.
So what exactly do you need to look at to see the age of the bird?
If i can find pics on this forum or online that look identical to how my bird looks like right now, i can do it that way and upload it here for u to see. Maybe that can help in making an estimate of how old my bird is.

mica · Post by **mica** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:00 pm

Ok, so i found some pics from inside this forum that might help with my question. Thanks to the owners, these pics help with this message.

First one is from OmSeth who posted -

and from vgonline -

These images of these birds look very similar to the eyes of my current bird. There is no hint of white on the eye, only orange colours. Could you please tell me the age according to these pics?

Omnicromm · Post by **Omnicromm** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:25 pm

My Kiwi has his/her eyes just like the eyes of that one, but my Daikiri has the eyes really different like the ones with white, anyway, if the IRN that you have has the peak color like that pictures, he is around 10 months, as far as i know and if i am wrong i hope someone could correct me, the IRN´s change the peak color at that age, from coral red to black or brownish in some color variations, so that could give you a clue about his/her age, maybe someone with more experiance could give you a better idea but as far as i know the peak gives you an standard with the age

Alex

Fah · Post by **Fah** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:41 am

Really there is not 100% way ot telling the age as the eyes take a gradual (and a slow gradual at that) shift to the adult eyes starting from around 4-6 months of age up until around a year depending on diet and rearing progression (quality).

I have had birds that looked quite young thanks to a slow hormonal change as well that looked only about 5-6 months of age for a full year.

I would safely say under 1 year but above 5-6 but thats about as much as I would be game enough to offer.

CalamariBaby · Post by **CalamariBaby** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:41 pm

My bird is 4 months old. His eyes still look very much like that of my Avatar pic.

U.S Marine · Post by **U.S Marine** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:27 am

When they get older, their eyes get bulkier and more orange.