# Brothers & Sisters Breed?



## Adoril

Can brother and sister cockatiels breed if they are in teh same cage?


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## birdieness

Yes they can but it should not be done. This can create problems with the offspring. I suggest seperating them. I currently have brother and sister and i have them seperated for this reason.


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## sweetrsue

They will because they don't know any better. The offspring will have shorter lifespans and can have a wide variety of genetic disorders.


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## Adoril

Well, I just have a male cockatiel right now and I just asked that for the future. Oh and if we do have to separate them, how old should they be separated?


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## allen

i would seperate them before 1 year old


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## atvchick95

I don't mean to hijack this thread, But me and my b/f are having a debate about "line breeding" and since this is about brother /sister breeding i figured I'd just ask here

According to him (he gets his info from his dad who has bred pigeons for over 30 yrs) (sorry but to me They are raised/bred/ and everything differently then companion parrots so what works for them or can be given to them Can't be done with Parrots)

It is fine to breed a pair of birds that share 1 parent (as in half brother/ sister) 

I said NO that is still too close and can still cause the same problems as breeding a Full Sister/Brother 

then i get told " go look up Line Breeding" 

then when I said we've been through this argument before and I HAVE looked it up and I pointed out all the reasons NOT to do it. and you still think it is fine 

I really don't care if thats how people get their line they want I don't want to do it because it is not safe and I will NOT do it 

I told him if your going to line breed it is best to do it with Grandparent/grand kid or Aunt/nephew , Uncle/Niece 

and even that I don't like to me its all inbreeding 

so who wants to put this argument to rest and it would help if i have cold hard facts to show him (like a website that lists all the possiable illness, disease , etc that the bird(s) could end up being born with if their half sister mated to a half brother


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## Bea

Inbreeding and line breeding are useful tools when breeding show birds, but usually it's done by breeders who have extensive information on the birds they're using such as any diseases or faults that may be likely to show up if line bred. Care is taken to only use THE BEST specimens of the species in order to enhance certain qualities in the breeders stock. The offspring are often out bred to widen the genetic pool for future breeding and to lessen the chance of undesirable traits affecting the birds. 

That's for show birds though, i don't like the idea myself and there's certainly no reason to do that kind of thing for our regular pet birds.


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## xxxSpikexxx

I don't like the idea of line breeding but from what I thought was that line breeding was done with Grandparent/grand kid or Aunt/nephew and Uncle/Niece and never brother/sister or other close relations. I think line breeding is done to get new mutations as well as for show birds, am I wrong? Anyway I don't see a need for it.


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## skthurley

I think line breeding is appropriate in dedicated breeder situations, where they have a long documented history of their lines, along with the knowledge of which disease and deformities are in their lines. I do not agree with sibling to sibling, whether that be half or full... cousins I think are ok.... but for your average backyard breeder, I think it is best to stay to unrelated birds.


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