An illustrative story — the situation repeats in many lofts; names and details are changed. Not a customer testimonial.

Karim from Giza, second year of breeding. He bought a "hen" Ablaq at the Friday market — the seller said hen, the head was smooth, and Karim believed it. He registered her on Ghuzar as "female," paired her with his old cock in the Pairs tab, and waited.

One week: both were cooing. Two weeks: fights in the nest. Three weeks: no eggs. Karim said "they're still getting used to each other." The month passed — not a single egg.

What exposed the mistake

Someone from the Ghuzar community commented on Karim's post: "The one on the left spins around and drags its tail — that's a cock." Karim looked properly for the first time: both were puffing their necks, both were turning. Two cocks.

He went back to the cock-and-hen article: the cooing, the turning, the bowing — every sign had been in front of him from day one.

The most important part: the tree

Karim had registered the bird as "female" and linked it as a pair. If eggs from another pair had been recorded by mistake against this one, the pedigree tree would have said the squabs came from a "dam" that is actually a cock — an error that is inherited into every file afterwards and visible to any buyer who opens the tree.

The fix took a minute: bird's file ⇐ Edit ⇐ Sex: male. Then he split the pair in the Pairs tab. No eggs had been recorded against it — so the tree was clean.

How it ended

Karim got a real hen — this time from a verified ✓ breeder on Ghuzar, and he asked to see the date of the first egg in her file (a hen that has laid before leaves no doubt). The new pair laid after 11 days.

And the second cock? He became the best cock in the loft — he just needed a hen.

The lesson: a wrong sex is not a disaster if caught early — the disaster is when it enters the tree. Watch behaviour in the first two weeks, and record the first egg in the Pairs tab (part 3 of the guide).

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