New Sexing Method for Diamond Firetails

[Mickp]

once it cools down I'll be going to look at two juvenile diamonds in my aviary and try to work them out.
hope it cools down real quick though, otherwise my eyesight wont be to good, damn alcohol

[snap_point]

In the morning I will have a look at my pair, any help is great with sexing these.

I go on the head size with the male having a larger / wider head and the female having a slim / stream lined head. Works most of the time!

[dano_68]

thats really interesting dano, will have to get out and have a look at mine tomorrow and see what I can discover! will be good as they are by far my most difficult bird to sex. will let you know of results too!

Thanks Spanna - in fact you were the first breeder that popped into my head when I posted this! Would love to hear tyour thoughts!

[desertbirds]

Possibly combining the methods could see the results getting closer to 100% accuracy.The underside of the bill is broader on the cockbirds but its hard to pick unless you have several birds to view at close quarters.Still think its a great find given the numbers of Diamonds kept over the years.

[Redwing]

Snap point Using this method your Avatar looks like a male. What do you think ?

[snap_point]

Yes Redwing id say it is a cock bird good eye you have as its a small picture.

Below are pictures of my 2 Diamonds, the first one, is of both of them, I think the female is on the Left with the male on the right.



This is close up pic of her



I have a question about my cock bird, will the black in his chest clean up after his next moult? As he is very scruffy at the moment.



Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. As I've never bread Diamonds and is a goal of mine to successfully breed this lovely little bird.

[spanna]

thats a juvenile in moult now mate. should be fully coloured in another couple of weeks by the looks of it. been too warm/busy to check this sexing method on my birds today!! will get onto it tomorrow hopefully good news is that i have some more young out the nest today as future test subjects too!

[poephila]

Hello dano, I never had noticed this detail
is very interesting and I'll check.

I differentiate the cheek,
the males have cleaner
The male is usually more intense eye ring
especially in breeding season
looks

[GregH]

Well I only have a single pair and they are siblings so I know they have similar genetics and Dano_68's method doesn't ring true for this pair but Poephilia's method does. That said I'm sure that in a large population there would be intergrades for this feature but i think we're getting onto something. My pair's shows no overt dimorphism and my only way of telling who was who he holds the grass, dances and bulds nest and she lays eggs and incubales. Their only surviving younsgster started to be courted after 6 months so I assumed it was a hen and when I took it to a club meeting they all concluded it was even without my suggesting it but no one could actually definitvely say why they had concluded that she was. I'm sure we will come up with a syndrome rather than a character but it will serve the purpose 98% of the time and it's much bettter than a 50% male to female sex ratio that we aim for but unfortunately captive breeding often biases the sex ratio to male.

[dano_68]

Yes Redwing id say it is a cock bird good eye you have as its a small picture.

Below are pictures of my 2 Diamonds, the first one, is of both of them, I think the female is on the Left with the male on the right.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. As I've never bread Diamonds and is a goal of mine to successfully breed this lovely little bird.

Well, I hate to say it mate. but I would say you have 2 hens there.

But as I said, my method is not 100% (but I would put a lazy 50 on it that they are hens lol) ;)