# Spring is here, finally a hatchling



## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

It looks like this little guy is bringing in the new breeding season with a bang. Since daddy is a cinnamon pf split pied and mama is split pied. This little guy is a male right? A female would have paler eyes. I can't wait to see pins to see if he is pied or not. 

I do have a question, I will be taking out birds for the spring in two weeks, about the time tomato plants go out. I have never had problems moving boxes before, but I'm wondering is there a trick to it if I do have a problem this time with refusal to set.


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## Budgiegirl14 (Feb 15, 2012)

I don't have any experiance in cockatiel breeding. I do in budgies, but budgies are a totally different species so I wont put in imput. But hopefully someone experienced will help you!


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## RexiesMuM (Sep 7, 2011)

What a cute little ball of fluff !! Congrats on the hatchling . Not sure on the mutation question tho


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## rainfeather (Jan 26, 2012)

Just want to congratulate you also. It must be exciting to have those cuties hatch!  Hoping to see pictures soon!


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Egg #2 hatched out and mama and daddy are doing really well so far. 2/4 eggs were fertile. I am really happy I picked out the male, he just started right in as soon as he was put with the rest of the flock. I hope the next pair is so easy going. 

I'll have to get a picture of #2 as soon as mama and daddy decide to come out of the box.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

If he has dark eyes he is male, if he has plum eyes he is female. I have a hard time telling the difference though.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Congrats on the babies! : )


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

roxy culver said:


> If he has dark eyes he is male, if he has plum eyes he is female. I have a hard time telling the difference though.


I wasn't sure what color I was looking for. I just knew it wasn't pink. Thanks Roxy! The other one looks to have the same color eyes. I'm going to have to pull them out into the light to see for sure.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Below is a collage I just done up showing the eyes of a cinnamon hatchling. Since the father is a cinnamon the dark eyed chicks eyes should look similar to the one in the illustration. The light grey area will darken within days, and if a male the pupil will always have a wine/red cast to it.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Thanks! It looks like I have two little boys. Now does the wf/pf affect the eye or down color any?


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Split to PF and/or WF will lighten the down color.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I took a few more pictures. It looks like one could have a lighter color eye than the other, but the down color is still confusing me.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

same pictures of the eyes, only less of a zoom.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

The pix's are too blurry to see...BUT, whaty you can do is to *not use the zoom*....just take the pix at normal distance (18"). When you download the pis use the crop tool to just crop the head of the chick. This will give you a larger version of just the head.

I downloaded one of your earlier pixc to look at the down color. I adjusted the lighting....does this look closer to the down color?


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

srtiels said:


> I downloaded one of your earlier pixc to look at the down color. I adjusted the lighting....does this look closer to the down color?


Yes, it does. I'm sure if I had a comparison chick from another pair, I'd see a difference, but these are the only two I have at the moment. I know these two are either split wf or split pf because daddy is visual pf. I'll see if I can get better pictures tomorrow.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

* I know these two are either split wf or split pf because daddy is visual pf. I'll see if I can get better pictures tomorrow.*
------------------------------------

Since the father was a visual PF, all the babies would be split to PF. In order for the PF to show up when paired with a visual WF next year, the split to WF also has to be passed to the babies. Many times to know if it has you have to examine the cheek patches when they feather out.

The 1st pix is Rascal, and he is split to PF and WF. As he matures he molted in the white edging to the facial mask with is an indicator of being split to WF. You can't visually tell split PF from the cheek patches....only WF....so you have to know genetic background, such as your pairing to know that it was passed to the offspring.

The 2nd pix is a collage showing cheek patches. If your babies are solid color mutations the patch area will be like the young female, and if a male, the yellow facial mask will molt in lighter (young male), with a white edging by the time he matures.


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## SuzieQueue (Mar 12, 2012)

wow so cute babies, and Susanne you are such a wealth of info  

they are gorjus!


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I have one last question does this work with a wf/pf pf also, will all offspring be split to pf or just half of them with the other half split to wf? How does the wf x pf work in future generations? Does the pf negate the wf in a breeding making all offspring pf or is it still pf/wf genetically?


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

ALL should be split to PF. I can't answer on how many may also inherit the split to WF


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Thanks so much! That's the part that confused me most. I'll keep my eye out for some nice wf birds to have on reserve for next year season. From now on they will be known as split pf.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> How does the wf x pf work in future generations? Does the pf negate the wf in a breeding making all offspring pf or is it still pf/wf genetically?


I was confused about this as well at first. From what I gathered, PF is a form of WF and is dominant to WF, which is why we get visual PF babies when pairing a PF with a WF. Which would mean when it comes to inheritance the PF would take precedence. Its very interesting to think about!


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

roxy culver said:


> I was confused about this as well at first. From what I gathered, PF is a form of WF and is dominant to WF, which is why we get visual PF babies when pairing a PF with a WF. Which would mean when it comes to inheritance the PF would take precedence. Its very interesting to think about!


That really messes with everything I've ever learned about genetics and co-dominant/Co-recessive genes. :wacko:

On a lighter note and hopefully less confusing I have another egg. My lutino hen has finally decided to stop playing house. Unfortunately she's got two males in the box with her.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Gonna have to play who's your daddy huh?


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Who's your daddy indeed. There are now three eggs in nest #2 and each one has someone sitting on it. No getting cold for this bunch, eh? 

Baby #1 & 2 are doing great, they are the talk of the whole bird community, everyone has come to see them at one time or another. Even Dixie, one of my African Greys has decided she wants to take a peek. Unfortunately she eats babies, so she's not allowed near the boxes.


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## CockatielFace (Mar 25, 2012)

Aww so cute!


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Baby #1 & 2 are doing great, they are the talk of the whole bird community, everyone has come to see them at one time or another. [/QUOTE]

That's so cute!


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Egg # 4 today.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I have a pied baby.  The other one looks like a normal grey, but one of them was cinnamon at hatch, now they both look grey to me.:blink: I'm not sure when the cheek patch color comes in but I'm not seeing any color in the pins on the face.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I've made that mistake before too and ended up with normal looking babies so maybe they're split cinnamon and are boys? Very pretty though!


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I'm still confused about this one. If you look at the picture with the red arrow, the pins coming in look cinnamon, but the rest of it looks like a normal grey. I guess time will tell.


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## RexiesMuM (Sep 7, 2011)

It looks cinnamon to me also but more then just what your pointing at on the picture . I notice cinnamon all over the chick


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I thought I had a cinnamon chick, but it didn't look like one in it's pin feathers. Too bad the pied isn't a female also. Mom and dad are getting busy again, so maybe the next pied will be female. I need more females. Plus another pair is striving for the box too. I guess it's time to go to Lowe's and get particle board & paint so I can fix the roof of the aviary. The bird mart is in two weeks and I really want to sneak in an olive cockatiel. I can't do that with everyone inside.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Another baby hatched tonight. 3 down, 3 to go (so far) one was damaged and I didn't notice it. The air sack is huge, so I think it's DIS. Emperor's mama found a new mate so she's in the other box now. 

PF male was caught breeding with both a WF pied and the normal grey mama, so I may have PF babies this year after all. Silly guy doesn't know which hen he likes better.  My English budgie was caught breeding with my 7 month old hen. (yes I do have two budgies with my baby cockatiels. There's not any room for another cage. atm)


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## Storm (Aug 29, 2011)

Lol a budgie cockatiel cross-over ! You have some randy rascals there


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Not completely randy yet, it's not fully spring, but it does tell me the budgie needs a girl that's interested in him. I suspected the other was a male, but can't tell by the ceres.

new baby


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I gave the second clutch it's own thread. This is for the pied & cinnamon baby. I can finally see the cinnamon color, she is going to be a beautiful hen, she has one white feather in her crest. I am much happier with the ZuPreem hand feeding formula than Kaytee. For the first time my babies are within the weight suggested and not extremely underweight. 

Pied: 25 days 80 grams
Cinnamon: 23 days 75 grams

Their daddy is a gigolo, he has three hens he's been caught breeding with, this is going to be an interesting year. I may have pf babies soon after all.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Looking at this cinnamon I am seeing a paler cheek patch. Could this be? The only way I could get a visual PF is if mama was split to WF. I'll have to get better pictures of the baby. I can't seem to get a good picture in good lighting.



Mother:Grey Split To Pied Whiteface
Father:Cinnamon Split To Pied Whiteface Pastelface (*this bird will appear to be a visual pastelface*)

male offspring:
6% Pied Whiteface Split To {X1: Cinnamon}
6% Pied Split To Whiteface {X1: Cinnamon}
6% Pied Split To Whiteface Pastelface (*this bird will appear to be a visual pastelface*) {X1: Cinnamon}
6% Pied Split To Pastelface {X1: Cinnamon}
6% Whiteface Split To {X1: Cinnamon}
6% Grey Split To Whiteface {X1: Cinnamon}
6% Grey Split To Whiteface Pastelface (*this bird will appear to be a visual pastelface*) {X1: Cinnamon}
6% Grey Split To Pastelface {X1: Cinnamon}
13% Whiteface Split To Pied {X1: Cinnamon}
13% Grey Split To Pied Whiteface {X1: Cinnamon}
13% Grey Split To Pied Whiteface Pastelface (*this bird will appear to be a visual pastelface*) {X1: Cinnamon}
13% Grey Split To Pied Pastelface {X1: Cinnamon}

female offspring:
6% Pied Whiteface Cinnamon
6% Pied Cinnamon Split To Whiteface
6% Pied Cinnamon Split To Whiteface Pastelface (*this bird will appear to be a visual pastelface*)
6% Pied Cinnamon Split To Pastelface
6% Whiteface Cinnamon
6% Cinnamon Split To Whiteface
6% Cinnamon Split To Whiteface Pastelface (*this bird will appear to be a visual pastelface*)
6% Cinnamon Split To Pastelface
13% Whiteface Cinnamon Split To Pied
13% Cinnamon Split To Pied Whiteface
13% Cinnamon Split To Pied Whiteface Pastelface (*this bird will appear to be a visual pastelface*)
13% Cinnamon Split To Pied Pastelface


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The cheek patch looks normal to me, but it will be easier to tell after the feathers have grown out more.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I can't seem to get a good picture, but it is definitely paler than the other one's cheeks, maybe split to PF would do that?


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## Cryren8972 (Oct 3, 2007)

That's what I was thinking....the split may be causing the lighter patches. Also, cinnamons can be lighter or darker sometimes. Perhaps the lighter cinnamon is producing a lighter patch. Can't wait to see how they turn out.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I have never seen a cockatiel without a bald spot. I was looking at the pied's head today and there are pins all over it head. I haven't checked the cinnamon yet, but I was surprised that some cockatiels actually do have a full head of hair.


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## Pumpkin (Apr 26, 2012)

Great information, I just got two new born, both have yellow fluff... eyes are dark as far as I can see.


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## mitch2006 (Jan 15, 2011)

hows baby?


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

The babies have just graduated from the brooder to a cage. The other birds aren't too happy about it, but I did catch a male feeding the little cinnamon hen this morning, right after I fed her. lol


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