# Is my 5.2 month old cockatiel male of female (with photos)



## muso (Aug 31, 2011)

Hi, I have had this cockatiel since it was 10 weeks old (it is 5.2 months old now) it hand tamed very quickly, the pet shop owner felt that it may be a male but at 10 weeks it's hard to tell. It's behaviour points at being female, it squauks loudly in your ear (like my wife does LOL) cuddles up to you, always wants to sit on your shoulder or head, pecks very lightly all the time, hisses a lot and can be rough and bad tempered but never pecks hard enough to hurt, but at the same time it is very affectionate as well.

But you only have to put your hand in the cage and call and it will jump onto your hand to come out to spend some time with you. It does not bob up and down or whistle much at all but will call (squauk) to get your attention if you are near the cage.

I bought it for my 12 year old son but it has really bonded with me...I love it to death. It has the classic female (or juvenile male) colouring with tail bars, some yellow on the face but not bright yet, it is getting brighter yellow feathers on the back of the head behind the crest, perhaps it is a pied variety? I have posted a picture of my "Girl???" but she is called Oskar because I thought it was a boy LOL...Oskarette...maybe? I love it no matter what and probably won't be able to tell the sex after the first molting, any tips would be much appreciated (my vote is girl I was wanting a boy) 

Thanks in advance


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

What a cutie!! The yellow on the back of the head means your bird is split to pied. Take a look at the wing spot sexing thread for help on gender, http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=18307.


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## muso (Aug 31, 2011)

Thanks so much xoxsarahxox, going by the wing spot method my Oskarette is actually an Oskar, the secondary feathers closest to the body on the underside of the wing are solid grey, only the primary flight feathers are spotted, the bird has not molted yet, so it's a boy


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## muso (Aug 31, 2011)

I'm looking at bigger cages for him and may get another cockatiel later as well.

There are some nice cages on Ebay, there is a particular make which has an opening roof with a perch so he can sit on it or go back inside if he wants.

They are all about the same size (quite large and on a stand with wheels) but I don't know which is better for the bird as far as the roof shape goes there are three different roof pitches 1/ flat and square but a bit lower in height. 2/ a rounded dome type top but still a square cage. 3./ Gable pitched like a house is. (All three cages have the opening roof with the perch)

Does it matter for the bird which one I get, I like the look of the rounded dome shaped roof. They have a 1.6 cm bar gap some had 2.0 cm bar gap which I considered too large (a cat's paw may fit through that)

Any tips would be much appreciated


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

and i can see some darker feathers in the vent area so birdy is a boy im pretty sure 

can you post a link to this cage  and i would go for the smaller bar spacing if you have cats. i got 4 kitties so i like the 1/2" bar spacing... not that my bunch bother with the cages lol


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## Raheel (Aug 22, 2011)

my bird looks just like urs, but i cant tell if mine is male or female either. I think its a female since it stays quite most of the time but then again i just got him/her so it could be the new place.


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## muso (Aug 31, 2011)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PET-BIRD...6?pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item2565d4b366#shId

This is one of the domed shaped roof cages on Ebay Australia.
Raheel, like xoxsarahxox said look under the wings, if the spots go all the way to the body it's a girl, but if the outer feathers only have spots with the inner (close to the body) feathers are a solid grey colour it is a boy, this only applies to juvenile birds prior to their first molting 6-8 months old.


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## Raheel (Aug 22, 2011)

yea dont know the age to tell if its still molting. Plus it never been handled to ill need to tame it first to check the wings


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## muso (Aug 31, 2011)

Raheel said:


> yea dont know the age to tell if its still molting. Plus it never been handled to ill need to tame it first to check the wings



Well going by the photo it is either a female or juvenile male but I guess that's not much help!

Put some gardening gloves on and hold the bird and have a look under the wings, but hold the bird gently for a while after so it is not too stressed, that's what I did when i got mine at 10 weeks old, my son had it tame within a hour, but we were lucky, if he were an older bird it may not have been that easy.


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