dna,feathers,age and why cant i use flight feathers

[gaza]

hi,i have been told i have to wait till my peachicks get body feathers before i can pluck them and send them for dna testing?.
they are now 4 weeks old,and just getting real feathers on their bodies.
my question is==
why can i not just pull 1/2 tail feathers,or flight feathers that they already have?
i thought dna was determined by blood?,which i thought all feathers would have?
or maybe,as they were born with these feathers,the blood supply is cut off?
REALLY want to sex these guys ASAP,as they are growing SO fast
i dont have a real computer,so cannot upload pics,as suggested in an earlier post
i guess i could take real pics,and if someone would give me a postal address,i could mail them?
have looked at the pics from other posts,but ALL MINE LOOK THE SAME!!!lol
thought i had gotten 6 indian blues and 2 black shoulders,BUT
of the 6,4 have different patterens,and 2 have white in the wing feathers!!!,pied?
the 2 "black shouldered,well one seems all white,where as the other has white,baige,brown all over its body and wings!!
SORRY,am new to this
any help??
thanks
gary

 

[deerman]

Gary, the feathers only have blood in them ,when they are growing. You should be able to sex them at 3 months, by the barring on the feathers.

Blood feathers will have dark shafts, you can see the blood inside. Also look for feathers that are growing in new.

 

[Kedreeva]

If you want to mail me real photos, I can scan them at work and post them here. Send me a PM for an address if you want to try this. Otherwise if you have a kinkos or something they may be able to scan real photos to a thumb drive or something and you could take it to a library or a school. However, I would give it another week before taking photos, four weeks can still be iffy. If I may ask, why the rush for sexing? I mean, I know how exciting it is to have them and how much not knowing may drive you crazy (especially if you want to name them) but it won't be too much longer before you can tell by feathers and won't have to pay for DNA sexing. It's not like the birds have to be separated to keep them from having babies, and it sounds like you're keeping them not selling them.

The two india blues with white primaries may be split to white- which means they will look like india blues, but carry white genes. They may also be dark pied, which will also look like india blues but carry other genes. The only way to tell what they are actually split to or what genes they are carrying is to breed them and look at the offspring.

As for the blackshoulders, well, blackshoulder is a pattern. I am not sure, but it's possible blue blackshoulder chicks look different than, say, purple blackshoulder chicks. Both are technically blackshoulder, but they are different colors. It's also possible they all look the same and one of yours is younger.

Here's a pic of a very young blackshoulder: http://database.amyspeacockparadise.com/bs2weeks.jpg
Versus a pic of a very young whites: http://photobucket.com/albums/bb128/cdeerman/peachicks/peachicks044.jpg (hehe! I think this is deerman's photo, it showed up on google search)

 

[deerman]

1st pic BS....... 2nd pic white chick........ Yes BS do look different if not same color.... yes save yourself some money and wait another month.

 

[gaza]

hi,thanks for your repies.
have sent a PM to the reply from michagan,hopefully it gets there.
i have no rush,other than,that i want to devote as much space as possible to the birds i will have remaining after i know for sure if they are males.
these birds are in my bathtub,with a heat lamp,and are SO CUTE!!!!.
but have to distance myself from this!!!,and focus on the long term goal.
to have 3-4 peacocks,that are some what tame,with the hope i can have them roaming free in my reg suburban nieghbourhood.
form internet sources,still see that they have enough room,but can sence that these birds want more,.
i have MANY birds[parrakeet/parrots/doves/quai],and have kept peacocks for many years ,but never have had chicks,so this is ALL new for me
thanks
gary