sexing cockatiels

[Englishjodes]

purdy tiels and budgerigars

 

[egg-cellent]

I'm going to post picture of mine. Hopfully someone can tell me for sure.. I have 2. I was told one was a male, then later a female. The other I'm told his a male. I'm not going to say which one, because I want to get your opinions.

 

[egg-cellent]

 

[egg-cellent]

 

[egg-cellent]

There they are. I didn't know how to post them on the same page. But both photos are of the same birds. Just trying to figure out if anyone knows for sure what sex they are. The one on the left in the bottom picture is supposed to be 11 months old. The one on the right is supposed to be 1 and 1/2 years old.. That is if they told me the truth.

 

[AquaEyes]

There they are. I didn't know how to post them on the same page. But both photos are of the same birds. Just trying to figure out if anyone knows for sure what sex they are. The one on the left in the bottom picture is supposed to be 11 months old. The one on the right is supposed to be 1 and 1/2 years old.. That is if they told me the truth.

If the Pearl is over a year old, it's a female. Male Pearls lose their pearled markings by this age. The Pied gives me a "masculine" feel, but Pieds are hard to sex visually. I do see barred tail feathers, but if it is under a year old, that's not terribly unusual (if I remember correctly, that's about the last of the juvenile plumage to be molted out). If it keeps the bars past a year to a year and a half of age, I'd go with it being a hen, but there's just something "male" about that one that is making me think otherwise right now -- can't put a finger on it.

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Well I definitely won't be able to help; I thought my cockatiel was a male for about four years. Then "he" laid three eggs!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

If there over a year there both females since males loose the pearling and male loose the bar rings on the tail which the pied still has.

 

[egg-cellent]

Well that is just great. The pied on was supposed to be a male. I got him when he was about 8 months old. But I had another breeder tell me it is a hen. Then I showed him to the person I got it from and he said, well now he wasn't sure. So the pearl, I was told is definately a male... So now this makes me all confused again.

But I was worried you would call them the way you did.. The pied one is bigger and heavier. But,, I had my finger crossed

That I had a girl and a boy either way..

At what age do they start laying eggs? Thanks for you help!

 

[AquaEyes]

Whoever told you that a cockatiel over a year old with those pearl markings is a male doesn't know much about cockatiel mutations. ALL males start losing their pearl markings as they mature, and those claimed to "keep" them still aren't as pearled as the one in your pics.

The tricky thing with Pieds is that their markings are random, disrupting the dimorphic patterns in non-Pied cockatiels. If your bird is truly under a year, those bars on the underside of the tail could still be immature feathers. You'll have to either wait to see if they molt out in a few months, or get a DNA sexing kit to be sure. But there's also a behavioral difference (in general) between male and female cockatiels -- if your Pied gets very vocal and show-offish, it's probably a male. While there are some quiet males, very vocal females that try to talk and whistle all the time are very unusual. I've never heard of one, but I'm not dismissing the possibility. In any case, I can't give a definite answer based on two pictures of a Pied under the age of 1 year.

As to breeding information, I'd suggest you think hard on that decision. First figure out what you'd do with the offspring, then start doing some research. Cockatiels are easy to breed, can live to the age of 30, and are commonly passed around when people don't want them anymore.