# Beauty and Beast



## pearce (Jul 20, 2008)

Hello

I made a post here a month or so ago about my cockatiels genders.
Here is my male cockatiel, his name is beast.

Beast is about 3 years old and he is a normal gray I think.
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/6549/p1010032av7.jpg

Here is my female cockatiel, her name is beauty.
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/1072/p1010033ko7.jpg
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/9943/p1010034dh1.jpg

She is 1 3/4 years old. I think she is a pearl cockatiel but I'm not 100% sure.

They have bonded for the last year or so since I got beauty. Today in the avairy, I saw them mating. I want to breed cockatiels like I do budgerigars. I put them in my other avairy (2 meters wide, 7 foot high, 2 meters long) with a nesting box and beauty is already in their. 

Is beast definitly a male and is beauty definitly a female? Any other comments you would like to add would be greatly appreciated.

THanks


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## kimmikefids (Aug 2, 2008)

I ahve very limited knowledge of sexing tiels....but I would say Beast is a male as he has a clear yellow face which the normal grey males get when they mature....I don't know too much about pearls...and its really hard to see with those pics.....i know that mature females of some mutations have banded tail feathers which look striped and spots on their wing feathers....maybe some one else who knows about pearls can help with beauty...what about behaviour?? does she do anything other than squawk? How about whistle? Males are generally more vocal than females so if she is limited in the vocal area that could be another sign.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Yes beast is definitely a male and Beauty is a female Pearl. Since she is 1 3/4 years old and still has her speckles that would make her a hen.With this pairing unless he is split for something else or unless HE'S a pearl (when males mature they lose all the speckled feathers). You will get all grey babies. However all the males would be split for Pearl and half of thier female offspring would be Pearl. Half the male offspring would be split for pearl.
If he is split for Lutino for example you could get some Lutino females. Several mutations are sex linked. Meaning the male passes these genes on to Daughters. Pearl, Lutino and Cinnamon are among the sex linked mutations. However there are some reccessive mutations like Whiteface that both parents could carry the genes for and not show it. Both would have to have this split to have any of those in the offspring. Did I just make this more confusing?


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## kimmikefids (Aug 2, 2008)

oh DUH!!! i know more than i thought!!! I know males lose their pearls but it totally didn't register with me lol....ha least I remember one thing!! Pearce, it sounds like you're going to have some beautiful babies...and maybe a few surprises!!!!!!!!!!!! who knows!!!


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## pearce (Jul 20, 2008)

Hi

Good news.
I pulled beauty and beast out of the avairy and into the breeding cage 2-3 days ago and already beauty has laid an egg. I have never seen it done so quick even with budgies... It is so exciting.


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## pearce (Jul 20, 2008)

Does anyone know if budgerigar leg rings can be used on cockatiels. Do cockatiels have a bigger leg than a budgie?


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## Plukie (Aug 26, 2007)

Wow, they are exactly like my Dooby and Daisy....look....http://talkcockatiels.com/showpost.php?p=44511&postcount=27 

and yes, tiels legs are bigger than budgies. Good luck.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

You need a #9 or a cockatiel size. Maybe the sizes run differently in the UK but in some cases you can get away with a small conure band but a budgie band definitely won't work.


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## pearce (Jul 20, 2008)

Hi all.

Beauty is sitting on 5 eggs and the first egg is due to hatch in 2 days. I think they are infertile but I could be wrong. I candled one of the eggs today and most of the egg was a shaded grey colour and a small partition of the other side was clear. I still have my fingers crossed.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Aww. Well good luck, I got my fingers crossed for you and hope you get a couple of beautiful babies!


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## Cryren8972 (Oct 3, 2007)

pearce said:


> Hi all.
> 
> Beauty is sitting on 5 eggs and the first egg is due to hatch in 2 days. I think they are infertile but I could be wrong. I candled one of the eggs today and most of the egg was a shaded grey colour and a small partition of the other side was clear. I still have my fingers crossed.


if you have the clear portion, then they are probably fertile...they looked gray because the babies are so close to hatching.
Let us know how it goes!


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