# What my Hubby brought back from CA



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

He showed up late last night after driving 13 hours straight. And he surprised me with not one, but two tiels. The first one is Oreo. She's a five year old pied hen, very dark feathers almost black where the gray should be. She weighs 120gms (he weighed her before he left.) She is a third generation Culver bird (my father-in-law had some breeding incidents happen before he finally separated all his birds.) She is the first tiel I fell in love with, she didn't mind sitting with me or letting me pet or touch her, she's not nippy or bitey (first tiel I'd ever encountered that didn't bite) and I just thought she was gorgeous. Her cheeks are very dark orange, which a lot of times in the pied mutation indicates male but these she inherited from her mother, a lutino pearl, who also has very dark orange cheeks.

The 2nd tiel is one we got from a breeder near Sacramento. Hubby stopped to pick her up on his way home from CA. I was told the bird was three months old, but now that I have her home with me I believe her to be older, at least 6 months. Her beak has turned dark, which I think indicates a bird that is not a baby. She's a cinnamon pearl, possibly split to pastel face. Her mother was pastel face, father was whiteface and her cheeks are very light orange with indication of being split to whiteface. Please excuse her tail, she was kept in a small cage with about five other birds and tends to sit in the water bowl. I'm hoping to get her out of this habit lol. When hubby first got her she was very frantic and scared. He believes the lady said she hadn't been held in over 6 months which would explain the darker beak. She also said that yes she was handraised but not played with. Poor little girl in my opinion. Hubby was afraid she was gonna be a biter and when he let her out in his car the first time it took him 15 minutes to get her back in the cage. It was then he discovered she didn't bite. And then shortly thereafter he found out she likes to have her back rubbed right inbetween her wings. She hasn't said anything yet, at least around me, but she's settling in and is very sweet. Hubby's going to pull her tail feathers so that they'll grow back better than they are now. Sorry for the rambling, now the pictures!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Awwwww sooooooo cuteeee  you are so lucky


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I asked him today if he thought 20 was too many, just as like a general number and he said no lol. I'm only looking for one more bird though, I completely forgot about it, but he wants a lutino male so he can call him Chicken. Besides, Oreo needs a boyfriend, a lutino male would be perfect for her! O, I need help on names, the 2nd girl has no name yet, any suggestions?


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Crystal 
Ruby
Jasmine
Thats all i can think of 
How many you got now roxy 13


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yes 13...my dad says I have a flock which is true. We promised his dad that once Snowball and Hershey had their first clutch of this year we would hold a girl back for him because he gave us Oreo.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

roxy culver said:


> Yes 13...my dad says I have a flock which is true. We promised his dad that once Snowball and Hershey had their first clutch of this year we would hold a girl back for him because he gave us Oreo.


Guess you be looking for another as they say number 13 is unlucky


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yea that and I like even numbers, I'm weird like that lol.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Just like me ha ha yea cant have one feeling left out


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## DollyGirl (Mar 6, 2011)

So cute! Congrats on the new arrivals! Now you just need to get some babies from your flock. Wish I could have all the tiels I wanted, I'd be the crazy bird lady! I've even considered adding a sun conure one day. But i'd better see how things go with having 2 tiels, before I even consider a conure.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yes we had babies last year and this year I'm going to let hubby keep some. If he had his way he would keep all of them but I can't let him do that lol. It'll be interesting to see what we get.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Ha ha well i cant wait for the pics of babies lol


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

roxy, theyre so pretty! youre so lucky!


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

Congrats on the new additions their very cute!!!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Thanks guys, the cinnamon pearl is very skittish but she's learning. She doesn't have the balance for step-up right now because she has no tail and her flying attempts are pretty sad but we will be working on that with her. Both will be going to see the vet this week. If we hadn't gotten the new little girl Oreo would've just gone in with the others as my birds and his dad's birds have seen each other millions of times but I don't know what the breeders set-up was like so for now its quarantine and a vet check.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Awww does she waddle like a little duck  I loved when lucky had no tail Lucky duck or ducky i call her lol


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

She doesn't waddle but she walks very slowly and she has really big eyes. Funny thing in the light Oreo's look blue and her's look brown, so pretty.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i was wondering.... oreo's eyes glowed red in the flash. is she cinnamon pied?


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## 4birdsNC (Dec 4, 2010)

lovely birds! I want Oreo! I want a pied so bad. Its the one major mutation I do not have in my flock right now. As for a name for the little lady.... how about Lady, or Diva?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

No not cinnamon Dally, just a normal pied, but she's super dark. Her sister is almost black. There were five of them I think, three normal grays (2 boys, 1 girl) and 2 pieds (1 boy, 1 girl.) But she is super cute...her aunt was all black but she flew away as a baby. As for a name, hubby came up with an acceptable one (after many dumb ones and me threatening to call her Angel) he decided on Squiggles. Its different but its because she's so fast so there's a reason for it.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

thats adorable! one of my old turtles was named squiggles!

i was wondering about the cinnamon thing though because her eyes glowed red like she was a cinnamon in your photo you have up


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

They did? Weird lol...nah his dad has only one cinnamon and she has never bred. Her eyes look blue in natural sunlight I noticed it today while her and Squiggles were looking out the window. Never noticed it before, that's a pied thing right? I love the name, just gonna have to remind Hubby that's what it is until he remembers, he forgets things all the time!


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

lol. i would definately get a photo of the blue eyed thing and one with the red glow for srtiels... im lost as to why. i know its a pied thing with lutinos... but i dunno about regular pieds


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Interesting...ok plan for tomorrow, Oreo gets a photo shoot!


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

lol i cant wait to see  (you need a complete flock photo eventually lol)


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Yay more pics i cant wait


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## pknight1120 (Feb 9, 2011)

Congrats on the beauties! I cant wait to see more pics! And yes, you definately need an updated flock/siggy pic.  

I am curious, though. I believe that your tiels have free run of a room, correct? how do you set them up for breeding?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Well this year we are trying something new, similar to how an outdoor aviary would be set up with nesting boxes on the wall and such...I'm just going to use shelves. I bought some of the ventilated ones from Home Depot, I'm just peeling the plastic covering off as I don't want the birds chewing on it. They'll be hung up at about 4 feet high so that I can look inside the nest boxes to check on eggs and babies and such. Hubby is pretty good at measuring so they should all be the same height which will prevent arguments. And of course any pairs that have issues with this, I have two cages that can work as breeding cages. But I want to try it this way and see how they take to it. It will be interesting.


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