I finally caught this odd thing Petey does once in a while on camera. I have always wondered what this little jig means. My guess is some sort of mating dance. There are currently no other birds or mirrors in the cage:
My uncle says the breeder he got him from was sure he was male, and the vet said orange cheek patches, vibrant yellow coloring, and no barring on the tail feathers all strongly indicate male gender.
If this is a bath dance, that's odd because he hates every form of water beside drinking.
So when he makes noise, it's more calling than whistling? Does he do heart wings or beak bang? To me your video looks like female mating behavior. Pied birds are very difficult to visually sex, so it is possible the breeder and vet got it wrong.
Whenever he chirps, it's a one tone chirp. Of course he has more than one chirp, but it's rare to hear him use more than one tone or pitch in the same chirp.
Bodily mannerisms I have observed:
-One foot, one wing stretch to greet anyone who walks in the door.
-Vigorous tail wag when happy or interested in something
-Full wingspan stretch for about 10 seconds
-Rubbing beak on perches and cage bars after eating (I think that's just cleaning)
-Shaking head when I whistle to him
-Beak grinding when going to sleep
I looked up what heart wings are, and I honestly can't recall if he's ever done that or not. I'd really hate to learn I've been calling a female bird Petey for 10 years...
I think you have a female. I can't be 100% sure, but that would be my suspicion. You could always do the Avian Biotech DNA test if you want to know for sure. It costs about $25.
19.50 to be exact if you do the blood card. And that's if you really want to know. Like enigma tells me, it's not like you can gender confuse your bird!
I think you may have a female too. The DNA test might be a good idea.
My friend's female used to do this type of thing...I never saw Jack do it in the 5 years I had him. I would be interested to find out his sex definitively though.
That looks like female mating behavior. Petey looks like she's waiting for a male to mount her. And also that the bird is quiet. I think Petey is a girl.
Yep definitely looks like female mating behavior. I think Petey is a girl. And just for future reference, cheek patch color has nothing to do with gender (that's a common misconception in pet store's.)
Bright orange cheek patches indicate a male in some colors/mutations, but not in pied and lutino. There is a general tendency for the males to have a more vivid cheek patch than females in those mutations but there are exceptions. I have seven males and five females, and the second-brightest cheek patch in the house belongs to Mims the lutino who is very definitely female (she laid some eggs).
Teela is also a lutino female and she has the more typical "female" cheek patch - sort of a pastel orange that is paler than the males in the house. The orange colors in my signature aren't very true to life.
As soon as I saw the video I thought, that's a girl doing a "mating dance", lol. And then my suspicion was confirmed by Enigma's comment.
The reason I thought that is that my girl, Candy, does exact same thing! I actually caught her doing that yesterday, and then Tony, my male tiel ,promptly climbed on her back
It looks like Petey is a female, and that is the sounds and stance of a female that wants to mate. I would start to monitor her weight 1-2 times a week....to have an idea of exactly what her average weight is. The reason why is that if there is a sudden weight gain of 5-6 grams it could be an indication that a hen is going to surprise you with an egg
I kept Luna's name when I found he was a boy. There are many birds who have opposite-gender names because they were named before they were mature. I'd keep the name as Petey, she won't be upset I promise.
Got back from the vet, and I will know the results in two weeks. They charged $47 for a DNA test....
I considered Patty as a name change in case he's a she, but will probably just keep Petey since I've been calling him that for 10 years now. Changing it seems too strange.
Petey has never laid an egg in the 10 years we've had him...
The results are in - Petey is officially a she. I've actually gotten used to saying "she" and thinking of her as a girl much more quickly than I thought I would.
I will be keeping "Petey" as a name though. Add me to the numerous others who were on the wrong side of the 50/50 chance when naming
Aww thats fun though! I had a femail tiel for several years and she was soooo cuddly and sweet. And Petey is still adorable for a she! I'm still trying to figure out the gender of my new tiel..haha!
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