New IRN with pics plus a question!!

[MGA828]

I recently lost my very young female lutino ringneck and have been wanting to get another one. I just adore ringnecks and cannot live without them, I was just not ready for a new one as I was still missing my friend.

I have recently been going through very bad ringneck withdrawl and took the plunge and got a new one. This one is a blue and is 7 months old - sex is unknown at the time. S/he has not been handled much since weaning, but is still very sweet. We will be working together lots to get her or him used to me.

I do have one question for everyone though - Would you say my new addition is a male or female. I am asking for a visual guess - I know it will just be a guess and there is no way to know other then the ring or DNA sexing, but I am just looking for guesses at the moment.

I could be wrong, but I am guessing possibly male as you can sort of see an indent around the neck where a ring might come in, but it is possible that is nothing. I am also just guessing and asking for other guesses.

Here are the pics -

[julie]

pretty birdie its hard to tell because they all have what looks like their heads have been stuck on. My baby spike is only a couple of months ols and check out what looks like a ring.

[MGA828]

Oh hmm - that is interesting! I have actually never noticed that before in other IRN. My female who I lost recently had NO indent or anything at all that looked like a ring. She was DNA tested and in fact a female - since she was female and nothing that looked like a possible ring on her I thought maybe this way a possible ring coming in, but if other birds have this I am obviously wrong.

[Lauren]

What a gorgeous birdie!

Sometimes the females can also have a slight faint ring. Might be just me, but I see it more in blues. I'm going to take a stab and say female!

So sorry you lost your lutino.

[Melika]

I can't tell you what sex he/she is. But- that birdie needs some major chewing time to get that beak back into shape! Poor thing, I'm glad you have him/her now. Cuttlebone and softwood toys/perches. ^_^

[Ohana]

Gorgeous bird! My female has a slight ring so DNA is the best way until they reach the age of sexual maturity and then the male will have his ring.

Also, be careful with that wing clip. I have known some birds to get broken wings because they have that type of clip.

[Fah]

The darker mutation birds like blues can (rarely) have a slightly darker ring than their body feathers.

My BlueTurquoise Hen to an untrained eye looks like a 2yo male just starting to colour up, but she has now had her second clutch and is most deffinately a girl

[catschair2]

My Magellan, who is also blue, has a very definite white ring, but we are still waiting to see if she gets more color and turns out to be a boy!