Sex of a parrot

[digdum]

How do you tell what sex a parrot is

[pixytink1]

i guess it depends on how it acts and the shade of color but mostly u can tell because of their beak

[digdum]

What is the difference in the beaks between the male and females?

[Doolallygirl]

If your parrot talks you could always ask it!! hehehe

[wildwood]

It all depends on the species concerned. Some parrots - especially australian - are sexually dimorphic, meaning the cocks and hens are easily identified by the difference of the colour of some of their plumage. Many of the cockatoos can be sexed by the colour of their eyes. With Budgerigars the adult cock has a blue cere (nose) and the hen a brown one.
Most parrots however have no visual sexual difference and would need to be surgically sexed whereby a small incision is made in the side between the 3rd and 4th rib and a scope is inserted so the internal organs can be examined. For this procedure to be effective the bird would have to be close to adulthood as it is hard to tell the difference between immature ovaries and testes.
A recent unintrusive method of DNA testing from feathers or droppings is now becoming quite affordable and is the most reliable method because DNA testing can be done even with a young bird, as soon as it grows feathers.

[New Forester]

Wildwood -- how can even a small surgical procedure possibly be justified ethically? Are there any health reasons why you need to know the sex? If not, surely this would be carrying out a significant operation just to satisfy curiosity? What about X-rays? Or looking at the W & Z chromosomes? Quicker and cheaper than DNA, and could likewise be done from a feather-base. Or asking another parrot of known sex -- do they not know immediately, and give it away by their behaviour somehow? European starlings also have the decency to be colour-coded, and they do it even better than budgies -- the bases of their beaks are blue-for-a-boy, pink-for-a-girl.