Sex?

[Yenrabaa]

So I was told when I got maverick that he was a boy, 6 years later I am starting to wonder. His cheek patches are alot smaller than Daz's who has the same colorings just different sized orange patches. Would a female who is not in the same cage as a male lay eggs like a chicken? I am so confused atm. Any help would be appreciated before I buy mav. a girl friend, just to find out he is a she. I know daz is a male because he has mated 5 times with his deceased gf.

[srtiels]

The bird in the pix is a male. Cheek patch size and color has no difference between males and females...or a way to determine sex. it is the yellow facial mask (part around the cheek patches) that shows if a bird is male (yellow) or female (gray)

A female that is in the same room and heres the males singing and whistling can be stimulated enough to start laying eggs.

Do you have pix's of your other tiel?

[Yenrabaa]

Since his girlfriend died, Daz doesn't come out of his cage. He used to every day, he just sits by his mirror and talks to himself now :( I will take a pic and put it on this post actually...... one sec... :D Sorry, he wouldn't let me get a good one, so it is a bit blurry but there is one of both

[atvchick95]

You have 2 boys, Maverick actually looks like he is split to pied

I'd remove the mirror from Daz's cage He may not like it at first but after a few days to a week he should be back to his old self again

I don't use mirrors in any single birds cage I do have them in cages with several birds to a cage but most of the time they just play with the toy the mirror is attached to and can careless about the mirror

but mirrors have been known to cause trouble - They've caused sweet birds to be aggressive - they see the "friend" and get angry when it doesn't respond to its jesters (rather its preening, talking, etc) and some have been known to beat up mirrors and in turn hurt their self

[Solace.]

Definitely males, cute ones at that. :D

[Yenrabaa]

Well thank you, So how would I be able to tell at the pet store which birds are females so I can get them some gf's?

[atvchick95]

if your getting normal greys, and they're at least 6 months old the females will have grey faces some have a little yellow in them but Nothing like a full facial mask yellow of a male

[Catherine]

The pet store will tell you any old rubbish to make a sale. Stores usually have only very young birds. You cannot tell the sex of a cockatiel for sure under six months old. I would advertise for a hen. I would check out the seller and the conditions under which they keep their birds and make my decision about their trustworthiness before buying.
With some mutations, it is not possible to tell sex visually. What you'd want ideally would be a grey hen or a grey pearl hen at least 8 months old.
You must be sure to quarantine a new hen for 6 weeks. You do not want to cause disease in your two by not taking this precaution.

[Yenrabaa]

Ok I know I need to quarantine new birds, really the only problems I have is 1. pet stores are only looking for the sale, and the pet stores around where I live all get thier birds from the same "breader" And she never gets rid of her females. So I am going to have to drive over an hour to find a store that she doesn't supply. But it might have to be a while before i get one. Should I try to find a new gf for daz, he is nearly 19 years old and has already lost one love. But maverick on the other hand is almost 7 yo and I think he would appreciate a "friend". Thanks again,

Barney

[Yenrabaa]

Thank you for the advice to remove the mirror. He was kinda mad for about an hour after I took it out. But since then he has became much happier. He has been singing almost non stop since, and he even came out of his "Home" and flew around the room for a while. That is a big step for him. In the 10 years I have had him he has only came out of his cage when we moved houses. I leave his cage door open all day and he would never come out. Hopefully this makes him a little less agitated and he will actually start hangin out with maverick and our family likke he did when my friend had him before his gf died. He also loves to bite, and grind until you bleed and put him back in his home. Ouch, I have some really nice scars from him on almost all of my fingers. But I still love him :D


Thanks again

I had no clue that the mirror would have a bad affect on him. It came with him and his cage when I adopted him and has always been in there

[tielfan]

Mirrors are controversial - some birds are OK with them and others aren't. If you wanted to, you could try using a peek into a hand-held mirror as a reward for things like sitting on your finger without grinding you up.