Difference between male and female sun conures?

[~Drini~]

I'm trying to figure out if a particular sun conure on CL is male or female.

I know that in budgies and cockatiels, females tend to be more quiet. Is this true in sun conures too? Do females tend to be nippier?

Besides DNA testing.. what are some ways I can figure this out?

 

[expressmailtome]

There is no way to visually sex sun conures. The only ways are DNA sexing or if she lays an egg.

Matt

 

[cosmolove]

Agreed, only DNA or if an egg pops out

 

[cosmolove]

Is there a reason you really want a sun of the opposite sex as your jenday?

 

[Monica]

Agree with the others.


I had a male cherry head who was very quiet and didn't make very many noises, but then again he wasn't a normal conure. In fact, he had multiple health problems. My assumed male mitred conure makes a *LOT* of noises and he is very noisy! My female red throated conure (was told she was female due to eggs) can also be noisy and she makes quite a few different noises as well! And they are different to the noises that the mitred makes.

 

[~Drini~]

Is there a reason you really want a sun of the opposite sex as your jenday?

I'm hoping that if I ever decide that I want to in the future, I'd like to breed them once or twice. I just want to have that option available.

As to the others, I was talking behavior wise. I know that suns are physically identical. But thanks for the help

 

[cosmolove]

I wouldn't breed hybrids. If you're considering breeding at least please look into the same species

 

[~Drini~]

I wouldn't breed hybrids. If you're considering breeding at least please look into the same species

Can I ask why? I've seen Sunday conures.. they look fine and healthy. Or is it about keeping the two species pure?

 

[Pipsqueak]

Hmm, I read your intro and you talked about down sizing your flock, breeding is the opposite of that . Have you found homes for your cockatiels yet? I would not breed if you do not have homes for the babies, what if they don't sell?

 

[~Drini~]

Hmm, I read your intro and you talked about down sizing your flock, breeding is the opposite of that . Have you found homes for your cockatiels yet? I would not breed if you do not have homes for the babies, what if they don't sell?

I wouldn't be keeping the babies, and I definitely wouldn't be breeding if I didn't know people who wanted them. The cockatiel chicks DID have homes to go to way before they even hatched, but those 3 folks decided to back out for one reason or another. I didn't intend to end up in this situation, and I'm feeling very guilty now.

 

[birdle]

hopefully if you breed again you won't end up in the exact same situation again..always a possibility you need to keep in mind! i wish you luck. babies are just so cute

 

[CheekyBeaks]

I feel we have a duty as caretakers to do our very best to keep species as pure as we can, just because there are those out there that hybridise doesn't mean it is a moral choice it is usually driven by money. Many people who hybridise parrots will sell them on as RARE and try to get premium prices. One example I saw recently was a breeder who hybridised a galah and a Major Mitchell Cockatoo, not only is this immoral but also illegal here in Queensland. We need a licence to keep Majors in QLD and part of the law is to not purposefully hybridising them, they were trying to sell these babies for $1250 more than double what either of these birds would normally sell for handraised.

 

[cosmolove]

It'd be a lot like buying dogs of a different breed and breeding them. For example, Chihuahua and the Dachshund. The purpose is to get a "designer" breed which they can sell for almost the same amount as an AKC registered purebreed just because its a designer dog. Its all profit driven usually done by backyard breeders or puppy mills.

If you're going to breed please be responsible about it. When I read your intro I was also confused about why you were downsizing but then adding another. Breeding you never know if all of your babies will sell. You could end up with a whole clutch of people backing out. You always have to plan for the worst when you're doing anything. Personally I think having 3 leftover cockatiel chicks would be much easier and less demanding than 3 leftover jendays...Just something to think about.

Those conure babies will be LOUD eventually if they don't find homes. Plus if you breed your current conure you never know he could never be tame again if you decide to stop breeding, or well no where near like he was. I considered breeding Ralphie for a while and decided I couldn't handle it if I stopped breeding and he wasn't my main man anymore.

 

[~Drini~]

Thank you guys, for voicing your opinions. I know the dangers of breeding and I know that there is always the possibility that I'm going to end up in a situation where I have unsold babies.

However, I see that hybridizing can be an issue and is frowned down on by many parrot owners. I can see where things might become complicated.

I did not know that breeding can cause a bird to become dis-attached from his/her humans. I haven't encountered this with my cockatiels, as they still are as playful and loving as they always have been. But I guess every bird is different, and I would hate for Inca to become like that.

So I will still be getting a Sun, as I have wished for one for a while now, but I will definitely not be breeding and will do my best to get one the same gender as my jenday.

 

[petiteoiseau]

Actually, when you breed, is not only a matter of the possibility of ending up with babies that don't sell or for which you cannot find a good home even if you give them away (when you sell, it's to whoever has the money and you can't really put conditions), it's also the willingness to take back all the babies you produce because parrots are in overpopulation and lots and lots of them end up in rescues through no fault of their own and, personally, I would not want any of my grandbabies to end up in an orphanage.

 

[Monica]

Drini, I prefer seeing purebred birds than hybrids myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm fascinated by hybrids! However, when it comes to hybrids, if hybrids are going to be produced, I'd rather see it done responsibly. Not only that, but I want to see hybrids that are *CLEARLY* hybrids and could not be mistaken for pure birds. I see so many Sunday conures out there and people think they are suns or jendays! Heck, one person was even selling a sunday x jenday pair and as far as they knew, both birds were jendays! It's bad enough that people can't tell the difference between species (saw someone selling a "sun conure pair" - made up of a sun and a jenday. You could tell the sexes apart because the male was "greener" *major face palm*), but to not be able to tell that they own a hybrid or they are producing hybrids and selling as pure birds? It irks me!


I wish breeders would actually ring their hybrid birds with a band that read *HYBRID* on it, so there is no possibility that anyone could think the bird isn't a hybrid, unless that ring was removed.


As far as the comment goes about breeding conures... well, it could go either way. You could end up with tame breeders, or you could end up with two birds who absolutely hate you and will attack you any time you get close. Generally speaking, pets don't make good breeders and breeders don't make good pets. That is to say that rarely can you have the best of both worlds.

If you want to breed conures then get a breeding pair. That way, you wont have to worry about your tame birds possibly going wild!

 

[Nano Felle]

so, SUNDAY CONURE or HYBRID only about keeping the two species pure and responsibly and sell the offspring as what they are Hybrids..?

 

[karen256]

Hybrids can be very controversial. Hybrids between more distantly related species - say a conure and a mini macaw - can sometimes have health problems. And some species have genetically programmed species-specific behaviors that become confused in hybrids (an example is hybrid lovebirds - peachfaced lovebirds tear off strips of nesting materials and tuck them into their feathers to transport them to their nest - hybrid lovebirds will tear off nesting material but do not understand they need to tuck it into their feathers to carry it back to the nest). And of course, hybridizing of rare species should not be done; rare species need to be genetically preserved.

That said, suns and jendays are so similar that I don't know of any actual health or behavior issues in hybrids, and both species are fairly common. The main issue, really, would just be finding quality lifetime homes for the babies, and making it very clear to the new owners that the birds are hybrids.