Surgical Sexing?!?!

[JaydeParrot]

I'm personally quite against the surgical sexing of parrots, it's idiotic, it's a pointless invasive dangerous procedure that will give you exact the same results as a DNA sexing. Why in this day and age do people bother with it? I regularly buy 'Parrots' magazine, it always contains the names of most if not all avian vets within the UK and other countries, each avian vet has a list of all the procedures it offers, I'd never go near any vet that says it does surrgical sexing.

Can anyone here explain to me why people would choose surgical sexing over DNA sexing, in this day and age I'd think surgical sexing purely for the purpose of finding the sex (male/female) would be out-lawed?

[liz]

I'm with you. That is a risk that does not need taken.

[Pajarita]

I agree. Absolutely unnecessary and highly stressful for the poor bird!

[Wyrmsroost]

From what I've read there are only two reason to do surgical sexing on a bird. Reason one is if you have a large number of birds to sex DNA testing could break the bank (zoos, breeders, etc.). Reason two is if you have a species for which no DNA test exists you would need to have their sex surgically tested, as there is no alternative.

Both of these cases assume that there's a need to learn the sex of the bird(s), most owners would be better off leaving their bird's sex unknown if there's no DNA test available for their species.

[Pajarita]

I've never heard of a parrot species that could not be DNA'd... as to surgical sexing, I would not do it to any of my birds regardless of the situation!

[marie83]

I can't imagine for a single moment that surgical sexing is cheaper or less time consuming than DNA no matter how many birds there are...

[Pajarita]

Well, actually, yes, it is. It takes only a minute, and just a few years ago, there was a terrible avian vet who travelled all over USA that was doing it for $5 a bird. He was doing it to baby birds at breeders' and without any anesthesia or sterilization of the endoscope, just one baby after another... and he was a board certified avian vet, too, which goes to show that a title or certification does not mean a good professional.

[marie83]

Well that explains why it was cheaper if the vet wasn't doing things properly.