Nita's Nest - Tiel FAQ Pg.1

COCKATIEL FAQ

(Frequently Asked Questions)

How can I tell if my cockatiel is a male or a female?

Certain mutations (colors) of cockatiels can be visually sexed, and these mutations include the normal gray, cinnamon, pearl, and lutino. This can only be done in birds that have their adult coloration. Cockatiels can go through their first molt as early as 4 months of age, but sometimes they don't molt and attain their adult coloration till they are nearly a year old. Before this first molt, these mutations will all look like females.

So if your bird has already gone through it's first molt, this is what to look for: Male birds of these mutations will develop a yellow face; they will lose the barring under the tail; and the spots that can be seen when the wings are extended will also be lost. Refer to the picture of the pair of normal gray tiels that is below.

Female is on the left. Note the lack of yellow on the face. Also note the barring under the

tail of the female which is absent in the male.

In the case of the lutino, it may be very hard to notice the barring under the tail or the yellow head, but if the wings are extended in a good light you should be able to note whether or not there are yellow spots in the feathers. Remember that only the adult females have these spots.

Also note that if you have a whiteface in these mutations, the same rules apply except the head will turn white instead of yellow.

What if my bird is still young and doesn't have his adult colors? Or what if I own a pied cockatiel?

In that case, you will have to sex your bird by its behavior. Starting as early as 10 weeks of age, males will begin "practicing" their courtship song and behavior, and almost all males will be doing so by the time they are 14 weeks old. The male will hold his wings out from his body, just a bit - so that when viewed from the back his wings will take on a heart shape (see pix below).

Front and rear views,

showing the male display stance where the wings are

held out slightly from the body.

(photos courtesy of Michelle Banfield and her tiels "Pip" and "Darcy")

While they are strutting along the perch holding their wings in this position, they often are "singing" their repetitive call - what I call "chortling". To me it has always sounded as if the male is saying "uppity, uppity, uppity" over and over again.

There is a sound file below, and while not the greatest quality you can hear this chortling at the end.

How could you tell the sex of the newly hatched babies on your "Baby Cockatiels" web page?

Nothing mysterious or magical there. There are some mutations, or colors, of cockatiel that are sex-linked. The common lutino, cinnamon, and pearl all fall into that category. A paper written by my son and dealing with the mechanics of inheritance can be accessed through a link on the Cockatiel Genetics page, so I won't go into a long explanation here. However, the fact that applies to this question is that if a male tiel of a sex-linked variety is bred to a female not of the same variety, all daughters will be that same variety visually. Sons will be split to that variety but not show it outwardly. The case on the Baby Cockatiels page involved a lutino whiteface male and a whiteface hen that was not a lutino. Any lutinos born to them had to be female. In the case of lutinos, you can see that eyes are red even before they open, hence I was able to sex the young at birth.

Questions on this page deal with sexing...

Anita M. Golden