# New flock member - coming soon!



## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

I wanted to share this with people who will understand my excitement!
We are about to get a new addition to the feathered family, and writing about it will help me deal with the waiting (I am so not patient!) lol

So this weekend we finally found a breeder with babies, within a 30 minute drive! We went to see his babies on Saturday. He says they are all fully weaned, a couple of them are 8 weeks old and a few 10 weeks old (pretty young to be weaned, I know). They were all some variation of pied (normal pied, pearl pied, etc.). All very pretty colors, but a bit scruffy looking feathers, especially the tail feathers, but I guessed that they had messed up their tail feathers from learning to fly. He said that he has just clipped them that morning, but they were flighted just before that. I guess he let them fledge properly before clipping, a good thing. I also don't mind him being clipped, it'll help with bonding with him in the beginning and he can fly again when they grow out (we won't clip unless we have to). It worked well with Galilea. Generally I thought the babies looked healthy. 
We told the breeder that we want a male and he pointed out a couple of babies that he was sure are males. After some looking and handling of a couple birds, we chose one 'beaut - he's a pearl pied cinnamon. I particularly loved the pied cinnamon color on him. Pictures in a few days! He was very friendly (they are all hand fed) and calm sitting on our hands (me and my bf). To be sure that he's male we got a blood sample from a clipped nail and mailed it out that evening for DNA sexing. Can't wait for the results, hoping to get them in a couple days since the place is located practically in our city! (HealthGene)

We have also ordered this cage:
http://birdcages-naomie.com/for-sale/0460-double-horizontal-birdcage
(in black, the only color they had in stock)
I think this cage was worth the over-budget price since it has a removable divider, so if issues ever arise (mating, fighting) we can easily separate them but still have them beside each other and not change their cages. On a side note, I was very annoyed by how much more expensive cages from Canadian stores are, compared to US stores, and that most US stores don't ship to Canada. There is also much less choice form Canadian stores (or those that ship to Canada). It took a while to find this cage, and I'm really happy we did, I like the idea of the divider, the fact that it's big, long rather than tall, and the price is kind of reasonable relative to other stores.

I know we have to quarantine the new baby in the beginning. I think 2 weeks should be enough time to watch the new bird for any signs of illness. These 2 weeks will be so hard! To not be able to introduce them, when I can't wait to see them interact and Galilea's reaction. I'll need to use all my will power and patience to hold off on introducing them!

Thanks for reading my ramble


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

How exciting! I love cinnamon pearl pieds! So pretty. If mom is not some kind of pearl then the bird is a girl. If mom is he could be either gender.

I can't wait to see pictures and hear results!

And I wouldn't worry much about the scruffiness, seems to be pretty common in babies.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Congrats on the new addition. The tail feathers will grow back, babies have a tendancy to land on their butts when they first learn to fly. Can't wait to see pix!!!


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

Ama was quite the scruffer when he was a baby, but he feathered out wonderfully. He is my fluffiest. 

That's very exciting about your new baby.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Those were my thoughts about the scruffiness too. We were just caught a bit off guard with it because Galilea came to us all perfect looking when we got her, but I think that breeder didn't let her learn to fly before clipping her, and she had broken a lot of tail feathers with us when she started learning to fly as her flight feathers grew back.

I wish I had asked to look at mom to see if she was cinnamon and pearl (since these are sex linked), but my excitement made my brain melt and I forgot! lol The DNA test will tell us for sure anyway, and it's only $20. Can't wait to find out! Also I hope the cage gets here soooon. As soon as we have the cage and the results we can go pick him up  I'm hoping tomorrow, but likelier it will be closer to Friday.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Also thinking about names, me and my bf are having trouble agreeing on one name lol
Some ideas we've agreed on:
Tiko
That's it so far lol 
but still trying to think of more (I like Mango but my bf doesn't :blink: ) 
We want a name that's short and would be easy for him to repeat if he learned to talk  but also not too common. We're too picky. Ideas are welcome!


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

I like Tiko personally. lol.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

I like Tiko as well. But we also just came up with Moby, which I think maybe even better. It's so hard deciding on a name.


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

I love Moby! It seems like I have seen Tiko a lot as a bird name, never Moby!


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## Ghosth (Jun 25, 2012)

It is terribly hard when looking at a room full of birds to remember the 2 or 3 questions you have in the back of your mind. Sounds like you've found a good breeder. I know waiting is hard but the days go by fast if you give them a chance. 

As to names, LOL, my wife and I swapped lists of names for days when I first got Cara.
Google ended up being my salvation.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Got the DNA results... it's a girl. Even though the breeder told us he's 99% sure it's a male. I'm so disappointed, she's so pretty, but we really want a male. I feel guilty for being kinda shallow on that we're so set to get a boy, but we really want a bird we could successfully teach to wistle and/or talk. 
Now we have to go to see the breeder's other babies and wait for another DNA result, which we won't have until Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm so impatient. We already got the cage and spent 2 hours building it last night. It had no assembly instructions with it (only a hand drawn picture with numbered arrows pointing at a diagram of the cage), and even though we figured it all out in the end (with some re-doing), it was like one of those IKEA nightmares, but worse. It's very big and once we put the toys and perches and finishing touches in, it will be awesome. I just wish we could have our new occupant for the cage sooner. I'll see if I can get some pics of the birds at the breeder's tonight and post them if I do. For some entertainment, you guys can make bets on whether it's a male this time. lol


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

Awe. I'm sorry it wasn't a boy. I'd be happy to let you have both of mine.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Hahaha. I appreciate the thought  
This time I'm going to be more assertive (as long as my brain doesn't melt from excitement again). I'm going to ask to see the parents. There's a small chance it'll tell me if the baby is male or female. Like if the baby is normal/pied, which the second one we had in mind was, and the father is pearl/cinnamon/lutino, we'll know it's a boy. The breeder said he was only 99% sure of the one we tested, but is 100% sure of this second one. LOL I guess we'll see.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

lol. you should take pictures of the baby and the parents when you go. you know.. so we can be nosey and see them too.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Yes I will do my best with getting pics! I really hope that the grey/pied baby's dad is visual lutino/cinnamon and mother is not, so I can take him home tonight!  lol (fat chance, knowing my luck)


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Aww, sorry it didn't work out. I hope you get your boy soon!


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

So we went to see the other "male" yesterday. It was pretty late, and the birds were already sleeping, so the breeder only took out the one baby we were interested in. We couldn't see the parents because he told us that they're sitting on eggs (understandable). So I only got a few pics of the grey pied baby that we got a blood sample from last night. I actually went to the DNA testing facility this morning to drop off the sample in person, so it gets done ASAP, but we'll still have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday. In the meantime, you guys can take guesses on whether the baby looks like a male or not. This guy is a cutie, and aside from being a bit nervous, especially since he was just rudely woken up and taken out of his cage, he is well behaved and was totally relaxed with me petting him, he has no issues with being touched, at all, it's actually surprising. He's not good at understanding when you want him to step up though. He only does it sometimes, otherwise he just stares at you when you put your finger into his belly above the legs, ignoring it and probably wondering what you're doing. It's actually like he's Galilea's opposite in that sense. She's very picky about being touched, and really doesn't like her wings or body touched, but she steps up like it's a natural instinct for her. At one point the "male" baby got one foot on my finger and didn't want to lift the other, it was kinda funny. He did try to fly away a few times, but he has a pretty heavy handed clip and the way he crashed on his landings worried me. We'll have to be careful about that when we take him home (it will be a boy and we will take him home!). Here are the pics. 

























This is the new roomy cage, with a removable divider.


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

What a lovely bird ! very easy to fall in love with!I would be extremely careful if you decide to take he/she home due to the wing clipping,to avoid it falling on the floor and cutting the chest.It happened to our William and it was a nightmare.This is the reason why we dont like wing clipping at all.Both our birds are fully flighted,all windows in our apartment have got mesh,so our babies can do what Nature has designed them for- FLY 
Hope this little one is a boy - hes adorable All the best X x


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Fingers crossed that it's a boy! Your cage is as big as mine only mine is vertical rather than horizontal. Cool ^.^ 


Excited to hear the DNA results! Here's to good news!


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

He is very cute. He looks like a boy to me! And I bet he will be stepping up like a pro soon.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

fingers crossed hes a boy, but hes a pied so DNA may be the only way to tell!


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

I was looking at the pictures again because I was on my phone earlier and I am not positive but it looks like in the second picture there is a red reflection in his eye, which means split to cinnamon, which means boy!


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

but in the third there is no flash, i think its a trick of the camera. plus, split fallow has the eye flash too and both genders can be split... i would still lean towards male though, just got the vibe lol


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

JaimeS said:


> I was looking at the pictures again because I was on my phone earlier and I am not positive but it looks like in the second picture there is a red reflection in his eye, which means split to cinnamon, which means boy!


I just took a close look at the second pic, and I saw the red in the eye as well. But the third pic has flash and no red eye. It's hard to tell if it's actually red in his eye or a trick of the camera in the second pic. The breeder told us the parent's are "both the same" when I asked about their color mutations. So both pied I guess (isn't it not good practice to breed like to like?). That doesn't mean the father can't be split cinnamon and then 50% of his sons will be too. I didn't know fallow had the red eye as well, I guess he could be split fallow but I kind of doubt it since it's a rare mutation. I have the vibe that this one is male too. Hope we're right  
He's also the biggest of the babies that the breeder showed us. He said it's because he's older, but he also said that 2 of the babies including this pied one are 10 weeks old, and the rest are 8 weeks. One of the babies was 3 months. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly and this pied guy is 3 months (lol they were all pied actually). But I have a feeling the size has to do more with genetics. He's one of the biggest tiels I've seen, sort of like the bigger pet store tiels. Definitely bigger and heavier than Galilea. 
And I'm definitely not worried about the step up thing. He already kinda knows it, and it'll be really easy to teach. He just needs some practice and he'll catch on.
Really can't wait for the DNA results! It's really funny that I have to wait for the lab to do it when I technically could do it myself at my lab. If only I had the right reagent kit... Which is probably somewhat expensive and I'm sure my supervisor would wonder why I ordered an avian related genetics kit LOL 

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

It's. A. *Girl*. Again.  I don't understand my luck. 2 gorgeous 'tiels that I wanted to take home and each one a girl. Will be thinking of other options. I think this breeder has all females because these 2 that we tested are the only ones that he was sure are boys. With the second one (the one in the pics) he even said "don't waste your money on the DNA test, I know 100% that it's a boy". Well, I guess that's probably at least another whole week before we get our 'tiel. So incredibly dissapointed.


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Aww, I'm sorry. I really thought the pied was a boy.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

RedQueen said:


> It's. A. *Girl*. Again.  I don't understand my luck. 2 gorgeous 'tiels that I wanted to take home and each one a girl. Will be thinking of other options. I think this breeder has all females because these 2 that we tested are the only ones that he was sure are boys. With the second one (the one in the pics) he even said "don't waste your money on the DNA test, I know 100% that it's a boy". Well, I guess that's probably at least another whole week before we get our 'tiel. So incredibly dissapointed.


I'm sorry. It seems like you always get opposite of what you want. 

I wanted a girl. And I got two boys before I got them. 

Bailey always wanted a girl and consistently ended up with boys. 

Seems they elude us. If you were closer, I've got two loud mouths that would definitely talk your ear off.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> I'm sorry. It seems like you always get opposite of what you want.
> 
> I wanted a girl. And I got two boys before I got them.
> 
> ...


Hahaha that would be awesome, I need my ears "talked off" rather than "screetched off" 

I just contacted a couple other breeders and we're going to see their babies tonight. Turns out there are a lot of cockatiel breeders in Brampton, ON. Most of them non-registered and maybe not the most knowledgeable, but we got Galilea from such a breeder and she's healthy and friendly. As long as the birds are well taken care of, I'm not too particular on whether the breeder knows what the cockatiel color mutations are actually called (rather than "yellow and grey" which is what I got even after mentioning that I know the color mutations of cockatiels so can you tell me which one they actually are... yeah "yellow and grey" lol). 

This time we're getting 2 or 3 samples in one go, I'm barely able to calmly wait till next week as it is, beyond that is too much lol. I'll try to get pics too and post them here.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

RedQueen said:


> Hahaha that would be awesome, I need my ears "talked off" rather than "screetched off"
> 
> I just contacted a couple other breeders and we're going to see their babies tonight. Turns out there are a lot of cockatiel breeders in Brampton, ON. Most of them non-registered and maybe not the most knowledgeable, but we got Galilea from such a breeder and she's healthy and friendly. As long as the birds are well taken care of, I'm not too particular on whether the breeder knows what the cockatiel color mutations are actually called (rather than "yellow and grey" which is what I got even after mentioning that I know the color mutations of cockatiels so can you tell me which one they actually are... yeah "yellow and grey" lol).
> 
> This time we're getting 2 or 3 samples in one go, I'm barely able to calmly wait till next week as it is, beyond that is too much lol. I'll try to get pics too and post them here.


I'm sure you are about ready to explode! You will get your little man soon enough.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

It can be very frustrating to get what you want...in my experience, I've found girls to be BIGGER than boys size wise and I always figured this was because boys need to be smaller to be able to stand on the girl's back for mating. You wouldn't want a bird heavier than you on your back would you? So maybe the smaller pieds are the boys and the bigger ones are the girls.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> I'm sure you are about ready to explode! You will get your little man soon enough.


Hahaha yeah it's so surreal getting the two female results back. When I saw the email today I swear I almost punched the computer monitor. lol I'm definitely not a very patient person when it comes to looking forward to something exciting. 

Although looking on the positive side, we got to handle new birds a couple times, and will get to see and hold more today too, which is also really nice, I love looking at birds. Whenever I'm at a pet store with birds I'm always tempted to (and sometimes actually do) ask to have a bird out of the cage. I held a quaker parakeet last week, he was such a cutie! Although I feel really bad for the birds that are nervous to come out of the cage because the pet store employee chases them around the cage, and even when I say it's OK don't stress them if they don't want to come out they often continue to try to get them out anyway. I've even seen this happen with "hand fed" cockatiel babies, that were clearly not tame when it said they were. Either not hand fed or not given enough attention/training time with the employees... sad to see. lol I ramble too much


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> It can be very frustrating to get what you want...in my experience, I've found girls to be BIGGER than boys size wise and I always figured this was because boys need to be smaller to be able to stand on the girl's back for mating. You wouldn't want a bird heavier than you on your back would you? So maybe the smaller pieds are the boys and the bigger ones are the girls.


No I guess I wouldn't want a heavy bird on my back if I was a bird lol 
It's an interesting suggestion, I haven't thought of that before. I guess we'll look out for the smaller tiels today. The babies we tested the breeder had told us he "knew" they were males from checking their pelvic bones (reasonable, I've read this somewhere), also something about the shape of their crest (sounds unreliable). Clearly none of these methods are 100%. The surest way of telling with babies I think is just by sex linked genetics, but that doesn't always apply, so it has to be the few special cases. But it'll have to be the DNA test anyway, we want to be sure.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

O of course. And yes pelvic is definitely NOT 100%, I've had hens with male sized pelvises (and they lay eggs just fine too) so really DNA is about the only way to be certain.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

So last night we went to see birds with a couple different breeders. The first one we went to was kind of depressing. Most of the birds were in cages that are too small. They were all kept in one small storage type room, about the size of a bathroom. There was a stack of cages that I think should only be used as travel cages, with a lovebird in each one. There were breeding pairs of cockatiels, each pair in a cage meant for max of one bird. They had minimum cage furnishings, two dowel wood perches, one really badly chewed, no toys that I could see. One of the adults was plucked around her neck, it seems her partner may have been doing it (can a bird pluck itself around the neck?). The babies seemed pretty healthy and tame, but generally not too fond of hands, ie. not very well socialized to other people. He also handled them pretty roughly. He didn't seem confident about doing a nail clipping for a blood sample. He checked the pelvic bones of each bird in front of us and told us they are all female. We thanked him and left. I feel bad for the birds, if I had the space money and time I would have taken them all. But I guess they're not that bad off, since they didn't seem sick or undernourished, but I'm not an expert. 

Then we went to see the birds of another guy, and this was much better. He had the babies in a big cage (although the bar spacing was questionable but maybe that's being picky). They were all much larger than Galilea, more like the pied girl in my other pics, or even bigger. Definitely heavier too. I think it's just the genetics. They all seemed very healthy and happy and well nourished. They were all flighted (he said he only clips if his client asks him too), and the ones we looked at were good fliers. Most of the babies were pearl cinnamon. Although I'm now not so sure on the cinnamon part, it was late last night and I was tired so maybe I was misjudging. 
So here are some crappy cell phone pics of one of the 2 birds that we took a blood sample from:









































In this last pic he does look kind of cinnamon to me, but in the other pics he looks darker (especially the flight feathers), but I think it may be the effect of the shadow on him as well. There was one pearl bird in the cage with him that was clearly a much darker grey, which is why I was certain last night that the rest are cinnamon, but I find it kinda hard to tell with pearls. Galilea's pearls were also a bit lighter when she was younger I think and got a bit darker now. Maybe he's just a lighter shade of grey? Also I don't know if it means anything but the claws on the birds that I thought were cinnamon were not such a dark black, but a much lighter, in-between the pink of a pied and dark normal of greys.
The pearls are also very interesting. I think this may be the "lacewing" pearl that I read about on a couple threads here. http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=29780

The second bird was almost the same color. The breeder clipped the tip of one of the flight feathers on each bird, one on the right wing one on the left, to tell them apart from all the other pearls in the cage lol.

Whatever mutation they are, they are very pretty, and at least ONE of them better be a male lol


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

I really hope you get your boy. As you know both pearl and cinnamon are sex linked so there is more chance of them being girls but fingers crossed for you!

Did you find out parent's mutations?


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

They do both look like cinnamon pearls to me. They are both gorgeous!


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

JaimeS said:


> They do both look like cinnamon pearls to me. They are both gorgeous!


Hehe it's all pics of one bird. But the other one does look almost identical. I didn't ask the parent's mutations, but the guy isn't very knowledgeable on mutations and he said he doesn't even remember which clutch each bird is from (maybe it wouldn't have mattered if he has only one breeding pair). Oh well I'll just have to patiently wait for results. Maybe have a break down when they turn out to be both girls.

Glad I wasn't hallucinating when I thought they're cinnamon lol

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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Lol! I was confused. Well he is very pretty! If they are girls I will send you a sweet boy.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

JaimeS said:


> Lol! I was confused. Well he is very pretty! If they are girls I will send you a sweet boy.


...like actually send me one? is it even possible to do that?  or did you mean like send mental vibes to help me find a boy? lol


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

I would really send you one if we lived closer!! Unfortunately it isn't possible, but I will send you positive mental vibes for a boy!


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

No DNA results yet, hoping for them tomorrow! So excited, I had dreams about it last night lol. In the mean time we've already arranged and re-arranged the new cage. Good thing we have a "tester" for it! lol Here are some pics of the cage and Galilea thoroughly enjoying and claiming (she did bat bird in there) "someone" else's property. She did a break and enter in there, the door wasn't closed properly, she flew to the cage, pulled open the door and climbed inside. We decided maybe it's not a good idea to let her hang out in there anymore since she started doing bat bird and claiming it, to avoid territoriality issues later.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

LOL. she apparently approves of the new cage.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> LOL. she apparently approves of the new cage.


Hehe, yep, at least we know it'll be a fairly easy transition for her when we put her in the second half after the quarantine is up.


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Ah, I was hoping for results! Soon, I am sure. The cage looks awesome!


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## DannyA (Aug 11, 2012)

I'm kinda jealous..lol im looking for a female! and i love cinnamon pied! i woulda been a happy camper with the first baby! and especially that she was cuddly! you should just send her to me! LOL!!


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

lol to each his own I guess. They were all really beautiful birds, I felt so bad not taking them home after falling in love with them. They're just so easy to get attached to, even holding her on my hand for a brief moment was enough, and I held a lot of them in the past couple weeks, wish there was some way to take them all home


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

ummm... I don't even know if I trust the DNA testing facility anymore. Is it possible for them to get it wrong or BS us?? It's 4 for 4 females. The chances of that happening are 6.25% lol. We've already spent ~$90 on testing and will be getting samples from 2 more birds tonight, which will altogether come to almost $140. This is getting ridiculous. I would have never imagined I could have such bad luck. Are males rare or something?? lol. So another week of waiting it is...


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

I'm sorry, I was worried about that given their mutations. . Surely one of the next two will be boys!

Maybe stay away from lutinos, pearls, and cinnamons?


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

hahaha yeah I guess you're right about staying away from those mutations, but I really love lutinos and cinnamons! lol. I'm going to ask to see the wings on the pied one they had, to look at the spots, and pay close attention to the pearls' tails - going by the info here http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=18307
No more trusting what they tell me. I'm going with my own instinct and knowledge. I bet that normal pied that he told us was "definitely female" is actually a male.


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Probably lol! I don't know how he would know a pied is female without testing.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Umm yeah, apparently the color of their cheek patches has something to do with it  He was pointing out to us like "see that one has brighter cheek patches, he's probably male, and this one is definitely female". Sounds unreliable to me lol. But I just figured maybe since he has experience breeding he did actually notice something that helped him tell males and females apart. But I'm going to trust myself more now.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

So we went to the same breeder again, and got a blood sample from this gorgeous guy (sorry for the blurry cell pick)








He's the pied one that they think is a female. But I took a look under the wings and he has no spots on the feathers nearest to the body.








They also said that the father is normal grey and mother lutino. But she could be lutino pearl or even lutino pearl cinnamon and they would likely not be able to tell. I've thought through the genetics and think its possible for both males and females to be pearl and cinnamon if the father is split to these as well. But the pied to me seems most likely the rare male in this clutch. Fingers crossed! We're dropping off the sample now, and should have results by Tuesday or Wednesday.

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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

He is gorgeous!! Fingers crossed. Looks like a boy to me.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Thanks for cheering us on Jamie! It's been a long journey, hopefully we'll have our conclusion soon!


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## stevechurch2222 (Sep 25, 2011)

I hope he's a boy,I love it when they do the heart wings and beak banging and can sing and talk.


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## Debbie05 (Feb 9, 2010)

Well He looks like a male. I use wing spot sexing and haven't been wrong yet. I'd be surprised if he was a she. lol. I have that same cage. I bought it used in Toronto. I really like it. Good luck I hope you get a male.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> But the pied to me seems most likely the rare male in this clutch.


Sadly, pied is recessive so the baby could be either sex (both parents could be split to it and both have to be carrying the gene to get this gorgeous guy.) But the wing spots say boy, so I would definitely go with that!!! Hopefully the DNA proves you right!


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

Debbie05 said:


> I use wing spot sexing and haven't been wrong yet.


I must say that when I used wing spot sexing. It was wrong! lol. So, don't let it get your hopes up. 

BUT I still hope it's a boy.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> I must say that when I used wing spot sexing. It was wrong! lol. So, don't let it get your hopes up.


It was wrong for me too...but I think I got a fluke bird (Baby lol.)


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Bahaha don't jinx me guys! I'll have an aneurism if this is a girl! Lol

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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> Sadly, pied is recessive so the baby could be either sex (both parents could be split to it and both have to be carrying the gene to get this gorgeous guy.) But the wing spots say boy, so I would definitely go with that!!! Hopefully the DNA proves you right!


Yup, I know pied isn't sex linked, but if the rest of the clutch is pearl/cinnamon it's more likely for the one in the clutch that isn't pearl/cinnamon to be male, that's what I meant. He could be split to both, but I'm not good at identifying splits,unfortunately. So anxious to get results, picking up our boy tomorrow I hope!

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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Yeah, wing spot sexing was wrong for me too but I still think you have a little boy! I mean, what are the chances that the FIFTH baby tested is a girl?!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> He could be split to both, but I'm not good at identifying splits,unfortunately


Does his eyes reflect back red in a flash? This can be an indication of a cinnamon split in a boy (as only boys can be split to cinnamon). If he doesn't have it, it doesn't necessarily mean he's not a boy, it just means he's not carrying it. But if he is a boy and his mom is a visual cinnamon, then he should have this indication.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> Does his eyes reflect back red in a flash? This can be an indication of a cinnamon split in a boy (as only boys can be split to cinnamon). If he doesn't have it, it doesn't necessarily mean he's not a boy, it just means he's not carrying it. But if he is a boy and his mom is a visual cinnamon, then he should have this indication.


We didn't get the chance to get good pics, especially the eyes with flash 
And we didn't get to see the parents either. The guy that's actually the primary care-giver to the birds was not there, his father and brother were there (father also bred birds at some point) and they told us the parents were a lutino mother and normal grey father, but they didn't seem to be sure about it. So it's kind of a mystery. 
I guess we'll know if wing spot sexing is wrong again tomorrow or Wednesday! And if it IS a boy then I'll take LOTS of pics to show you the winning baby! lol


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I can't wait...I'm gonna be thinking about this til we know for sure!!!


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

We have a BOY! WOOHOOO 

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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

YAY YAY YAY *happy dance* Congrats!!!


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Picking him up tonight! SO EXCITED can't believe it's finally that day! Pics soon too! Thank you for all the support every one!

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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

YAY!!! I am so happy for you! We will need lots of pictures.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

Sweet! Finally. lol. I was about to tell you to never go gambling.


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## Debbie05 (Feb 9, 2010)

Congrats on the baby boy.


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## stevechurch2222 (Sep 25, 2011)

Congratulations on your new boy.Can't wait to see pictures of him after he gets settled in.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> Sweet! Finally. lol. I was about to tell you to never go gambling.


Hahaha you're probably right, I haven't had the best of luck. 

He is settling in really well! When we just got him home he was a bit in shock, not moving much, not making any sounds, didn't touch the millet I brought in the carrier cage. I held him on my hand for a bit, and actually got him to eat a bit of millet from my hand and then he nibled at seeds form the dish. He seems to have never seen millet before, and I'm not sure if they were ever given any seed since the cage he was in before had only dishes with pellets. At the breeder's he was fed Zupreem fruit pellets (the bright colored ones) but we have Hagen Tropican, so if he doesn't like the ones we have we may have to go out and buy the Zupreem pellets. He did pick up a few and try them so maybe he'll be OK with the different brand. He got sleepy pretty fast last night, it was late when we got home, and he didn't seem to have trouble sleeping in the new environment.

In the morning I got him out for about 10 minutes. He was already munching on millet before that. When I held him close to my face he let me nuzzle him with my nose and even started preening my face! He really is a friendly guy! He doesn't even mind when I try to give him scritches, but he just seems to not understand it and moves his head to get away. But when he started preeing and I tried giving him scritches again he actually enjoyed it for a few seconds  Then when we put him back in the cage he started chirping! It was nothing like Galilea has ever done, she only flock calls and screams. He made really cute chirping and chattering noises, I love it! He did a few flock calls too when we left the room, maybe getting attached already?? 
Him and Galilea haven't been flock calling to each other, I guess they don't consider that the other bird making noise is part of their flock. 

I will get a lot of pics tonight. I'm hoping for opinions on whether he's split cinnamon and pearl (or anything else). I think I see some ghost pearling on him. 
He also needs a bath, being with a lot of other birds in the same cage I think he got his tail in some poop, it has some stains on it. I don't think they ever got bathed at the breeder's place. We'll see how he likes water tonight  so excited to spend time with him! It will be a bit hard makig sure they both get a lot of attention, but it's twice the fun now 

Here's a couple quick cell pics:
















OOO just looking at these on my computer now I realize he has a red eye! Split to cinnamon!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yep it does appear he's split to cinnamon. Can't wait to see more pix!!


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Aww, he sounds and looks precious! Good things come to those who wait, huh?!


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

PICS!! lol

Can some one please tell me if that is ghost pearls I see on his back/wings? Is he split pearl?











































After his first shower  
I noticed a couple things about his beak - he has a very small red dot on the right upper part of his beak (his right our left), very close to the nares. Is that a bruise? Also he has a black strack on the left rower part of the beak, almost where the upper part comes together with the lower part, you can see in some of the shower pics. Is this a pied mutation feature? I've seen this somewhere on a thread on this forum about a black streak on the beak on pied birds.


































































Under the other wing lol


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> Is this a pied mutation feature? I've seen this somewhere on a thread on this forum about a black streak on the beak on pied birds.


Yes this is a pied feature. 

I'll have to wait to get home to be able to see the pix though, sorry.


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

What a gorgeous little boy! Congrats he is beautiful X x


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

OK now they show up lol. Yes it looks like he's also split to pearl, I can see ghost pearling on his wings as well.


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