# Do female cockatiels ever display male mating behavior?



## pyogenes (May 27, 2010)

One of our cockatiels (unknown sex) has been standing on the back of one of the other cockatiels. The one acting like a male is probably around 6-9 months old so showing mating behavior now seems appropriate. A few weeks a go the suspected male began singing which further suggests it's a boy, but he(?) probably still has juvenile feathers so he physically looks like a girl. We don't know his age or whether or not he went through his first adult molt so we can't rely on feather patterns on the tail and wings to sex him.

However, I know that birds of the same sex can become bonded and try to mate with each other. I assume two male cockatiels would mount each other but do female coacktiels do that also? My pet ducks (yes, you read that right - and they live indoors) which are all female will mount each other as a display of dominance when establishing pecking order. Do cockatiels determine pecking order in a similar way?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> My pet ducks (yes, you read that right - and they live indoors) which are all female will mount each other as a display of dominance when establishing pecking order. Do cockatiels determine pecking order in a similar way?


Not that I know of but I do know that females will try to mate with each other although both may lay eggs and they wont be fertile.


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## CindyM (Jun 10, 2008)

Yes both males and females will do that.


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