DNA results

[murf]

Just received the latest batch of DNA results back and filling in time decided to check on the 2015,2016 and 2017 m/f rate. Average should work out at 50/50 or so everyone says. In the 3 years, Murphy's law hit me. Need I say anymore? Well the story ended up being 62 males and 48 females, so I should, according to averages, be expecting some great news in the coming year. If people ask me for advice, all I can reply is "Don't buy a tattslotto ticket from me!"

[arthur]

That's not too bad . .

If you toss a coin 110 times it is only about a 7.5% chance of getting . . 55 / 55

Even though it is the 'most likely' result . . or perhaps,better stated as, the 'least unlikely'

[E Orix]

In a perfect world you could possibly expect 50/50 but birds in captivity have other factors
coming into place as does birds in the wild.
If a problem occurs you could expect the female chicks to suffer as they tend to be smaller and
less robust than the male nestlings. It may be not enough live food for a day or so or a shortage of a
particular seed. The nest chamber could be too small, the causes are many.
My personal opinion is higher than normal temperatures do have an effect on the gender of the young.
If the gender variation is 3 female to 4 male over an extended period you are doing reasonable well.

[STUART WHITING]

In a perfect world you could possibly expect 50/50 but birds in captivity have other factors
coming into place as does birds in the wild.
If a problem occurs you could expect the female chicks to suffer as they tend to be smaller and
less robust than the male nestlings. It may be not enough live food for a day or so or a shortage of a
particular seed. The nest chamber could be too small, the causes are many.
My personal opinion is higher than normal temperatures do have an effect on the gender of the young.
If the gender variation is 3 female to 4 male over an extended period you are doing reasonable well.

Hi there Dave,

If yer don't mind me asking but what would yerself and others regard as being the most affective way of DNA, IE feathers, nail cutting and very very slightly into the vein or the use of micro needle and just a quick pr#ck say on the the wing butt for example,

Just interested as there's a very big discussion about this on the BBIA ( British birds in aviculture ) forum that I'm also on,

Any info wil be much appreciated

[E Orix]

I DNA quite a number each year and at first thinking it was the most efficient way was to clip
a toe nail and get my results from blood testing.
Today I simply pull 2 or 3 tail feathers and send them away.
The person doing the testing has not missed as yet and I guess it is less of a concern to the bird
and less risk as well.

[Tiaris]

Only ever done feathers & wouldn't draw blood for fear of possible infection, etc. - there are enough things to go pear-shaped without adding extra risks. Feather sexing is very dependable.

[STUART WHITING]

I DNA quite a number each year and at first thinking it was the most efficient way was to clip
a toe nail and get my results from blood testing.
Today I simply pull 2 or 3 tail feathers and send them away.
The person doing the testing has not missed as yet and I guess it is less of a concern to the bird
and less risk as well.

Interesting Dave as I'd personally rather just use feathers meself but quite a number of British bird fanciers here in the uk rekon that using feathers isn't good enough as there's often cases where the DNA test laboratories get feathers that don't seem to have any or enough blood content to give a proper and true DNA test reading,

Many are now cutting the nails or using a micro needles and just slightly pricking the birds to draw tiny amounts of blood,
I personally don't like this idea and would much rather use the feathers and I agree with Tiaris that we have enough problems as it is with adding more to it,

I suppose the use of feathers at least dosen't stress the bird out nowhere near as much and at least it's not having open cuts which could possibly become infected