# My first Breeding male ?



## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

This is Zeus my first bird purchased for breeding, I did purchase from a local pet store, I have tried contacting breeders but many don’t even respond.

He was listed as having English blood lines, which I believe because he really is a big bird, he stood out he was sat so proud on the perch in the shop I felt he would be a good bird for breeding for many reasons, size, fantastic crest, good posture, he makes all my pet birds crests look small, lol, I think he is a WF Pearl pied, he could also be carrying cinnamon, all the others in the cage were wf pearl pieds some cinnamon and some normal, from my knowledge although very new all the others were hens, their tails had barring, his doesn’t, I believed him to be the only male there, we did ask the assistant and he said they were 12 months old, he didn’t think the male I have bought was pearl, but then he didn’t know that the males moult out their pearls so going on my knowledge I think he is Pearl plus the fact he was probably related to all the others in the cage which were all pearl hens I believe.

























Do you think I am right is he Pearl?

Did I pick well for my first breeding male?

I am quite excited about the prospects of breeding Tiels, but also need a hen now for him, lol

Jenny


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Ohh he's gorgeous!

srtiels will be able to help you with the other info. I'm only fairly new with mutations - congrats on your new boy, when you getting your girl?


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi Solace, 

Thank you for your comment, hopefully I will be able to get a hen this weekend there is a bird sale this weekend in Brisbane, so fingers crossed I will find a nice female for Zeus, I named him Zeus because I think he is quite impressive (a god among birds, lol) so I guess when I get his mate I will have to call her Aphrodite, I so want to do this well and make sure they have breaks from breeding and have the birds interests at heart, although they are not like my hand tame Tiels they will still be considered my pets who I will adore.

Jenny


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## dude (Mar 29, 2010)

Wow he is stunning.... good choice jenny !

What a handsome bird.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Ok...can you post a full back veiw of him? If he was once a pearl pied then by looking at him he has to be 2-3 years old now, because the pearling is not evident anymore. If he is under a year old then he may be split to pearl. From looking at his eyes he appears to be *split to* cinnamon.

Great name for him...he is a beauty. 

I would pair him up with a nice large normal *split to* pied and WF hen, or a pied split to WF. When you pair a split with a visual you will improve the next generation. Many times putting visual mutations together, you can go backwards in size and quality....especially with pieds.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi Srtiels,

Thank you, I have taken some pictures of his back only, are they clear enough? I am finding it difficult at the moment to take pictures of his back they were taken from above him, he is still very new, and as soon as I go near he is on the floor swaying, ready to go for me, lol
























I would not be at all surprised he if he was older than 12 months, it’s a shame I cant get a nice picture of him sat on his perch so you can sort of see the size shape better, even his tail is really long, lol.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

If you were in the US I would say that he is a Whiteface Single Factor Dominant silver (WF-SFDS) That is exactly how one would look. But you are in AUS and you mutations are different than ours. 

Can you find out more on what the person meant by: having English blood *lines?* The Dominat Silver mutation was first developed in England in 1979...But I don't know if any were ever imported into AUS.

Aside from the above I would say that this bird was split to pearl. And if so, the faded look could start when he was a year or so old. If he was a pearl pied them he would be 2-3 years old.

He is a NICE bird, and he holds his wings perfectly to a nice point of the tips just touching and aligned good.


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## Shadow10 (Apr 3, 2010)

Wow that's a beautiful bird!


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Shadow, Dude, Thank You

Srtiels, thank you for your help, I am trying to find out what English blood lines actually means, cant find nothing on google, as far as I was aware it meant exactly that English blood lines, I expect someone smuggled some in along time ago, lol

I have e-mailed a breeder in oz, quite a good one, asking and also if he may have a appropriate female, although it would involve shipping interstate, I don’t want to just pick up any old female and ruin any good breeding prospects I have with my male, I didn’t really know if I had picked out a good bird, just something in my gut told me he was, lol

I am very much a novice with not a clue what I am doing really, lol

I will let you know if I get an answer, back from this breeder, hopefully he will have a bit more of an idea on the English Blood line, lol


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

I expect someone smuggled some in along time ago, lol
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Yes...I would suspect that too. There are some US mutations (like Dominant Yellow Cheek) that may have been brought in from eggs via thru Canada.

But if your male is a dominant silver (DS) then it is best to pair him with the plainest normal or normal WF of good quality. You would like to get away from the pied, because pied masks too many of the visual dominant silver traits especially thru the wings, beak and feet color.

Or if wanting to work with pieds....In looking at him again he is also symetrical which is a BIG plus when working with pieds. By this I mean it looks like he has equal amount of white wing flights on each side, and the dark colored pattern on his back is symetrical, aside from the smuges of dark feathers on the rump and around the neck. If you prefer to work with him for pieds you want to find a hen that also has an equal number of light colored wing flights on both sides. It does not matter if it is a lightly pied (mean few light colored feathers) or a heavy pied (meaning lots of light colored feathers all over the body) 

Hopefully you can find out more info on his background. It would be nice if the pet store could give you the breeders name. Many times if a novice breeder they may not evven know what mutations they have because many times when DS are young they look like normals. It is with each molt that they progressively get lighter.


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

What a gorgeous guy


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks Spike,

Srtiels, thank you so much for your advise, I have heard back from the Breeder in oz, although I didn’t think he was that helpful, he just said he was a WF pearl pied, he didn’t comment at all on the English blood line, (maybe he didn’t know). He didn’t really say if he had a suitable hen, so think I will not bother with that breeder.

I have been doing some research, and if he is a DS, it is very rare in Oz and over here he is either a west coast silver or dominant edge, it’s a little confusing in my book to know which one, plus there isn’t any images, lol.

I really don’t know what the chances are of someone selling to a pet shop a bird that is rare, but I guess it can happen, have I just got super lucky, lol

I am going to contact another breeder tomorrow who is a member of the cockatiel society as well as president for the society in QLD , he also shows birds, he as a few hens listed for sale that are splits so he might be able to help me, plus on the show page they mentioned English blood lines but didn’t say what it meant so I am hoping this person will know and be helpful, the site says they are all interested in educating people on the birds and encourage new members, if so then hopefully they will be happy to help me, lol 

I don’t think there is much chance of the people in the pet store knowing anything; quite often the staff don’t have a clue in there, just kids really serving lol

I know it’s not the best to buy from pet shop, but something drew me to him.

I will let you know how I get on.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*I really don’t know what the chances are of someone selling to a pet shop a bird that is rare, but I guess it can happen, have I just got super lucky, lol*
*--------------------------------------------*

With DS it is very easy....I've done it several times. Many times when young they look more like normals than DS. And since yours is pied they would not have had the dark wing flights to look at as a reference point in regards to the mutation.

Keep us posted on what you learn


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks Srtiels, well I don’t intend to sell him on, so I guess I will be able to see how he changes if he does, I don’t suppose you would have a image of a bird that is DS so I can see what sort of colour he would change to if he does?

I will keep you posted, thou


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

My online album has some pix's of DS: http://s525.photobucket.com/albums/cc331/Mousebirds-and-more/Other%20birds/?start=all

Note...the page may be slow loading because there is alot of pix's. The DS pix's are about 1/2 way down the page. Click on each pix for a larger veiw.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks Srtiels, all I can say is Wow you have some really gorgeous birds.

Just a bit of a update, well we went to the bird sale today, and the breeder from the cockatiel society who specialises in WF’s was there, he wasn’t there selling any of his birds but with a friend, anyway, I did speak to him and explained a bit of my situation with Zeus and if he might be able to help me with a suitable hen for Zeus, and perhaps I could send him some pictures of Zeus to see what he thought about his mutation, he said no problem give me a call in the evening and he would give me his e-mail so I could send him some photo’s to have a look at to help decide with a hen.

So phoned him and have sent some pictures, he said he would get back to me tomorrow when he could have a look at his stock in daylight and see what hens he has that would be suitable for Zeus, but he said he should be able to help me.

So fingers crossed I will be able to get a good hen from this guy.

I will keep you posted on what happens.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi, 

Well I heard back from the breeder about a mate for Zeus he was very good, after looking at my images I sent him, he thought Zeus was a WF pearl pied male, so I think that is what I will have to assume he is for now, but I will keep an eye on him in case he changes.

Anyway I went down to the breeders place he said he had a few hens that would be suitable for him but it really depended on my preference has to what I wanted in the chicks mutations to help decide the best Hen for him. As I would like to still get good WF pearl pieds, but was concerned about loosing the size which was something I didn’t want to do, so he recommended that I went with one of his hens which was a WF cinnamon pearl, split to pied, he advised because she was split to pied I wont loose the size, plus he said she as good chest size, and is a good sized bird which is something you should always look for in a hen, he thought I would get good chicks from the combination, she is 12 months old at the moment he recommended not breeding the pair until they were 24 months old but I can house them together, just don’t give them a nest box, so I guess I will have to wait before I can have any chicks.

Anyway here are some pictures, and I will name her Hera as that according to Greek mythology was Zeus’s wife, lol

































she is a little fluffed up at the moment, not impressed with me and the camera, lol


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

She's gorgeous, congrats! looks like Mali.. only she's just a WF Cinnamon Pearl.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

WOW!...she is a beauty. He did not have any that were split to WF. The problem with WF to WF is that you might lose some of your size. 

Do you know if Tira is split to WF and pied?


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi Srtiels, thank you the Breeder did say he was thinking of putting her in the show coming up in June see how she did, but I just thought he may have been just saying that, lol, he also said he would have had people queuing up for Zeus, everyone wants a WF Pearl pied male, he said he is quite a nice bird.

Zeus is doing heart wings and singing to Hera already, and there not even in the same cage, lol

I have no idea what Tira’s background is, I could guess she may be split to pied, but I don’t think so, she doesn’t have any spot on the back of her head that I can see, when I bought her (hand raised) there was a normal pied there I believe they were from the same nest, and there was another normal grey, although she is hand reared I think she would breed provided she would accept a male, my only concern would be, would I loose my tame bird? she gets very jealous if I give Coco any attention (my other hand raised) and my hubby cant really touch her, she occasionally lets him give her a head rub, Tira is only around 7 months old at the moment, I think her wing alignment would be quite good but she hasn’t got all her flights on one side due to the awful one wing clip she was given as a baby, they are very slowly growing back in she keeps knocking them and causing them to fall back out. Here are some clearer pictures of her, front one is a little blurry but I think you will get the idea.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Kira, is a nice looking hen. She has a nicer topline (back) than the new hen. ALL your birds are beauties....you have a good eye for nice quality birds.

It sounds like Zeus is in love.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

I must get the eye for nice birds from my dad, he had avierys when I was growing up, but it was just a hobby he never showed any birds, he kept finches, Canary’s and Cockatiels, mainly grey and pearls, my Mum cant be bothered with animals so it doesn’t come from my mum, lol, unfortunately my Dad died when I was 10 years of age so my Mum gave all my dads birds to one of his good Friends who was also into birds.

The top line, not quite sure what that means, but if I am guessing correctly is it the angle of the birds back line from head to tail? I did think Tira’s was more the correct angle than Hera’s Zeus’s is very good, I think, I am almost tempted to put him in a bird show just to see how he would do, I don’t think he would win, but I don’t think he would come last either lol, I am planning to go to the show in June which is just Cockatiels and get a look at show birds and what makes a winner, back to top line, it was something I wasn’t really paying too much attention to when the breeder was recommending a bird, I wasn’t even sure which ones he was selling lol, but I guess with experience you begin to know a bit more some of the other things to look for.

Thank you for your help, and I am keeping in mind the things you are telling me, my Hubby is quite liking the Tiels too, although he bought some Gouldians which was what he used to breed, but they are not really breeding lol, he said that’s it, I am going into Cockatiels, lol but it is quite good because he does understand the genetics a bit more than me because he has that background in birds so hubby is also helping me to understand.

Jenny


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