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Have you ever wondered what sex your bird is?

Youve read/heard that you can feel the pelvic bones, or that the cheek patches are brighter on the males than females, or the pendulum method. Yet when checking birds that you know the sex of you are finding much of this info may be inaccurate or be classified as an old wives tale. Other sources will say if it lays an egg it is a female, but then again, some hens may not start to lay for several years if they are single birds. There are a few differences between the sexes, both visually and physically. As a young male matures, he will start to show male behaviors such as singing/whistling, which sounds similar to a Wolf Whistle. He will do heart wings by holding the wings so that they are raised at the shoulders and the tips touching forming a heart shape while bowing his head, hopping and rapidly tapping cage bars, perches and other objects with the beak. Females are quieter and less active compared to males. They vocalize by making soft chirps sounding like an eek-eek, or a squawking sound and pacing the cage when they want attention. Some females will like to hang from the top of the cage or a

perch upside down with their wings fanned out to display them. Wing Spot sexing can be done on any mutation. I have used the wing spot visual sexing for years and have had a 99% success rate in determining the sex with young birds, and it is very reliable with birds that have gone thru 1-2 molts. Thus the age of the bird makes the difference in doing this way. If an adult, many solid color females will be marked like young males because they will molt out the spots of the 7-10 feathers closest to the body. Many mutations retain the normal characteristics of dark eyes (consists of a black pupil, and brown iris), pale grey to black beak, pale grey to black feet/skin and dark or black toe nails) of the Wild-type cockatiel. The Cinnamon mutation will have brown toenails, and a slight brown wash to the beak color, and upon hatch red/plum colored eyes that turn dark within a few days, yet retain a wine colored pupil. Lutino, Fallow and the Recessive Silver mutations have pink to red eyes, pink feet/skin, white (clear to pink) toe nails and pinkish/white to horn colored beaks. Not only does an altered gene affect the body plumage it can also affect the natal down. Many times the mutation can be determined when the chick hatches. All the normal orange cheek patch mutations will have yellow natal down. The yellow down is a result of the lack of melanin pigment to thedown. The Whiteface mutation down is white as a result of the lack of both melanin and lipochrome pigments. Split to Whiteface and Pastelface will have diluted yellow, off white down. I have

observed that Emerald will sometimes have a dirty yellowgrey down, and Dominant Silver will have agrey tint to the yellow down. Eyes color can also give a clue to the mutation, which may be due to lack of, or suppression of, melanin per specific mutations. Chicks and juveniles of both sexes will feather out with the female coloration. The young of both sexes, excluding pied, display the following: 1Horizontal yellow stripes or bars on the outer side tail feathers. 2The primary flight feathers will have yellow spots (dots). On rare occasions, Dominant Silvers and Emeralds of either sex may not have any spots/dots to their flight when young. I have seen this with a few Emerald, Dominant Silver, and an Incomplete patterned Pearl. When this has occurred the bird was always a male. Or, if genetically the baby can be either sex, if it had yeast or health issues in the nest while pin feathering this can contribute to faint stress bars and faded spots.

3Solid colored crest and face, with a dull orange cheek patch, of the Normal Grey and appropriate color cheek patch for the specific mutation. Some young cockatiels of both sexes may also show a little yellow around the beak, nares, and forehead. The beak is light colored until 3-4 weeks of age and then it may gradually darken.

The first molt occurs between 5-9 months of age. The female will retain the same coloration throughout life. The male will molt the barring to the tail feathers and the spots to the wing flights. Actually the barring and spots not present after the first molt are a result of increased melanin masking them. The melanin pigment decreases on the head as the cock matures which allows the lipochrome pigments to become visible to the facial mask.

Note: The Solid color and Pearl variations are Sexually Dimorphic, which is the phenotypic (or visual) difference between cocks and hens as they go through a molt and mature.

Pied is Anti-Dimorphic, meaning that there are no visual differences between the hens and cock. Many Pied males can retain the barring to their tail feathers for several years.

Note: Pearls of both sexes will be shown the pearl pattern on their back. The females will retain the pattern and the males

will molt the pearl pattern out and later look like a Normal. Once the male fully molted then he can be visually sexed the same as the Normal or solid color mutations

If the male is a Pearl Pied it may take several years for him to molt out the pearling. Many pearl pied males will retain some

pearl to the top of the shoulders and along their sides above the white wing bar. The pearling will be faded or molted out on the centers of the back.

Many mutations can be visually sexed while in the nest as they feather out. How the parents are paired up and knowing their genetic background can help with sexing. My Cockatiel Genetics 101 goes into more detail: http://www.internationalcockatielresource.com/cockatielgenetics-101.html
Shown below are a few examples of pairings, click for a larger view

If unsure as to the sex the best way is to have the bird DNA feather sexed. This is especially true with Lutino Whiteface (albino) and some Pied.

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