# New Pastel Face Baby



## Eileen (Mar 11, 2011)

I am getting a new baby cockatiel.  It is only about two weeks old right now (hatched 3/31), so it will be a loooong wait unil it is weaned, but I have a picture. I do not know if it is a male or female, but I expect it to be a Pastel Face Pied...I believe Cinnamon. The breeder said it looks like it will be heavy pied. Here is my first baby picture. The breeder will be sending more photos as the baby grows, so I'll post those as I get them. My baby is the bigger one at the top. The other one is a white face baby.

I have been having a really bad day, so this picture definately made me feel a little better.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Congratulations on your new baby 

You might want to contact the breeder. The WF baby is showing signs of stunting and dehydration. If they are still in the nest she/he might want to supplement feed them a few times a day.


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## Eileen (Mar 11, 2011)

Thank you!

What exactly is stunting? I've never heard that term before.

By the way, I believe these babies were in the nest, but are now going to be hand fed.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

How old are these babies now? the ones in the pix look like they are 4-7 days old. Is this a recent pix? If so they do not look like they are even close to 2 weeks of age. Can the breeder send some recent pix's?

If you are in contact with the breeder by email you might want to send her a couple of links.

http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/watch-me-grow.html They can use it for a comparioson to see if their babies are developing right for their ages. Weights veary between birds, so the ones in the pix's at the bottom of the page are for larger boned babies, but deveopment should be the same regarless of size.

http://s525.photobucket.com/albums/cc331/Mousebirds-and-more/Other%20birds/Babies%20in%20Trouble/?start=all The 2nd row shows a couple of stunted babies. Stunting can be caused from several things. It ususally happens to the youngest chicks in a clutch because when they are little they are fed the same consistency of food as the older ones. Many times it is harder to digest and absorb nutrients, and does not contain much fluid which compounds the problem by causing dehydration which further hinder digestion. Stunting can also result if the diet fed to the parents isn't varied or not enough food available all the time. It could also be a result from the gentic background of the bird.


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## Eileen (Mar 11, 2011)

I'll have to ask, but I might have the wrong hatch date. I looked through my emails and it looks like they hatched the first week of April. 

I am guessing it is older than a week, but not two weeks.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Very cute! I was wandering...do PF babies have yellow fuzz or white fuzz since it is a type of WF?


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## Eileen (Mar 11, 2011)

Thank you. I'm very excited. 

It is my understanding that only white face have white down, because the white face mutation removes the yellow pigmentation. I believe PF and WF are two different mutatons.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

They are...PF is a form of WF. If you paired a PF with a WF you would get PF babies to my understanding.


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## Dreamcatchers (Apr 17, 2011)

The WF mutation removes the color, the PF mutation just limits it, to my understanding you should get a pale yellow fuzz. I have one PF baby here and it has a very pale yellow down next to the WF babies of another clutch.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

OK thank you, that answers my question!


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## Eileen (Mar 11, 2011)

That's correct. The White Face mutation removes the yellow and orange pigmentation and the Pastel Face mutation dilutes it.


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## Eileen (Mar 11, 2011)

My baby has started getting some feathers. He has two gray tail feathers and a tiny bit of gray on the tops of his wings. The rest of his body appears to be yellow. I think he will look similar to this photo except with a lighter face.

<img src="http://www.cockatiels.org/images/ncs-cockatiels/heavy-gray-pied-hen-ncs-cockatiel.jpg">

http://www.cockatiels.org/images/ncs-cockatiels/heavy-gray-pied-hen-ncs-cockatiel.jpg


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