# caught my male pied mounting male wf grey pearl.. is this common?



## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

left to right.. male, male, female, female

today was the first time i caught my pied male mounting the male wf grey pearl.. and that grey pearl is like the old guy, bigger too, always pushing everyone else around.. kinda surprised by this behaviour.

is this common? does it happen to you guys alot?

i guess i have to do the light restriction thing to 10hrs a day to lower their hormones.. but just curious.. never happened before after so many months.. although i might have missed it as i will split up the males & females whenever i go out of the house


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Yep! It's pretty normal among cockatiels. Males will mount males, females will mount females, both will mount everything from bowls to feet. Depends on their hormones and who's willing


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

vampiric_conure said:


> Yep! It's pretty normal among cockatiels. Males will mount males, females will mount females, both will mount everything from bowls to feet. Depends on their hormones and who's willing


that's a relief..


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

i'm pretty sure i got the sex correct.. but just in case, here's a pic of their undertails.. 
and the pied is less than 1yr old, i think.. the rest are older


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I used to have a male who would do the same thing to another male. You have some beautiful 'tiels!


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

Vickitiel said:


> I used to have a male who would do the same thing to another male. You have some beautiful 'tiels!


good to know.. and thx


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If the second "male" is over a year old, it's most likely that he is actually a she. Pearl hens have a lot more yellow/white on their faces than hens with other mutations, and can look a lot like a male as far as face coloring goes. This bird doesn't seem to be pied - those mostly-white feathers under the tail are pearl feathers not pied feathers. But I don't see any sign that "he" is losing any pearls. If the mating behavior keeps up, don't be surprised if "he" lays an egg.


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

tielfan said:


> If the second "male" is over a year old, it's most likely that he is actually a she..


hang on.. you're saying my male WF grey pearl could be a female? the 2nd from the left?

the first on the left is the pied, who's been mounting all 3 of my WF pearls


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Yes, I think the WF grey pearl could be a hen. Pearl hens have less grey on their faces than other mutations, and sometimes people mistake them for a male because of it.

The bird on the far right is a good example of this. You've identified this bird as female, but the face looks like a male!


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

tielfan said:


> Yes, I think the WF grey pearl could be a hen. Pearl hens have less grey on their faces than other mutations, and sometimes people mistake them for a male because of it.
> 
> The bird on the far right is a good example of this. You've identified this bird as female, but the face looks like a male!


i thought the barring on the undertail would mean its a female.. and that wf grey has no more barring.. that's why i thought it was a male

well, that explains some stuff that's going on.. hmmm

like why when i only had 3 tiels, there were no issues with mating, until this pied came along

so i have to split them up 1 by 3, instead of 2 by 2 now when i go out of the house

btw, thx for pointing it out

darn it.. first, i got the sex of the 4th one wrong, now the 2nd one too.. i got more observing to do.. sheesh


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

When I read the title, I was almost definitely sure it was a female.



> i thought the barring on the undertail would mean its a female.. and that wf grey has no more barring.. that's why i thought it was a male


Well, you are partially correct. The only thing is that it doesn't apply to pearls. The tail feathers will all vary, and both sexes will have variations of the pearl tail feathers.

The way to sex pearls (if they aren't pied) is to see the yearlings. Males will completely molt out the pearls, and look like a normal grey. In this case, a whiteface.

Since your pearls are over a year, and don't posses and pied gene, they are girls.


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

I think second from the left,what you call ""male WF grey"''is a girl. Adult bird if male-would develop a prominent face mask and the tail underside would be mostly grey or partially grey if pearl,so like Tielfan said eggs may be on the way


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

thanks all

darn it, the centerline of the tailfeather is indeed black.. really explains alot.. haha


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I think all of your pearl birds are hens. The pied bird is obviously not a girl!


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

tielfan said:


> I think all of your pearl birds are hens. The pied bird is obviously not a girl!


boy, i sure got it wrong.. 
that pretty much settles it.. looks like I'll have to separate pied from pearls when I'm out.. no breeding for me.. or maybe i should get a male pearl to breed instead.. hehe


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

actually, if i do let them breed, which of the 3 should i allow the breeding? cos the pied has mounted all 3 but i've been almost always there to stop it from going further, so unlikely anyone of my hens are fertilized.

or should i just let it be, kinda like a harem for this lucky pied?

and what kind of babies would i be getting for a wf pied and wf grey/cinnamon pearl?

or should i get another male wf pearl for breeding?

darn, i've got more questions than answers.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

You should breed the male with the female that is most bonded to him. I don't recommend breeding all 3 together, since you won't know who is mom which can cause confusion later on. 

You'll definitely get whitefaces from this pair. You won't get any pearls or cinnamon unless dad is split to it too. You won't get pieds unless mom is split to it.


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

Haimovfids said:


> You should breed the male with the female that is most bonded to him. I don't recommend breeding all 3 together, since you won't know who is mom which can cause confusion later on.


thx for that.. no harem 



Haimovfids said:


> You'll definitely get whitefaces from this pair. You won't get any pearls or cinnamon unless dad is split to it too. You won't get pieds unless mom is split to it.


so it'll be wf grey or wf pied then.. hmmm.. decisions decisions

thx again


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I also don't recommend getting a pearl male...it's better to see if you can get a male split to pearl. Honestly, let the male pick a mate and keep a male baby from that clutch to breed to one of the other hens later on. 

But if you aren't ready to breed, I would hold off on that. Breeding is a lot of work.


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

roxy culver said:


> I also don't recommend getting a pearl male...it's better to see if you can get a male split to pearl. Honestly, let the male pick a mate and keep a male baby from that clutch to breed to one of the other hens later on.
> 
> But if you aren't ready to breed, I would hold off on that. Breeding is a lot of work.


thx for the suggestion.. you're right.. but most likely i won't breed.

was contemplating letting go the male, and just keeping the hens, so much less hassle.. but have decided against that.. sad to break them up.. think one of the females has bonded with this male even though he's been mounting all 3 hens.

guess i'll just have to live with the hormonal thing and the male/female separation until i get the hormones thing down.. i'll have to if i wanna get more, can't be keeping a whole bunch of hens only right?..


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## yokobirdie (Jul 9, 2014)

philiplolc said:


> i'm pretty sure i got the sex correct.. but just in case, here's a pic of their undertails..
> and the pied is less than 1yr old, i think.. the rest are older


unrelated, but your 'tiels are stunning!!


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## philiplolc (Sep 20, 2016)

yokobirdie said:


> unrelated, but your 'tiels are stunning!!


thanks..


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