# Male or female lutino?



## dimplez (Oct 21, 2009)

Do you think it's possible to tell whether Dimplez is a male or a female by the appearance in these pics? I want to know for my future reference in case I want to get another tiel & don't want them to mate.

He/she is about 8-9 months old now.

Dimplez is a very active bird, pretty quiet for most of the time unless he/she wants to get out of the cage then will call for attention. Doesn't whistle or sing at all.


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## guatemama (Jan 30, 2010)

Of course your best bet is mailing in a DNA test - it's not very expensive - $25 or so. I ended up doing that because the tiel I was told by the breeder was "DEFINITELY male" was quiet (like yours), also had no interest in mirrors - my male is fascinated by mirrors and does everything he can to impress the tiel in the mirror, but the other "male" wasn't interested much at all - the DNA test proved that the "male" was female. So maybe try the mirror thing, but I'd do the DNA test if I were you.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It can be hard to tell with lutinos. If you definitely see tail bars in a mature bird, she's a girl. If you don't see tail bars you can't be sure. I don't see any tail bars, so based on the picture I'd say male but this might be wrong. There could be bars that would be more visible with better lighting (try looking at the tailfeathers close to a window). Also, some females don't have enough contrast between their white and yellow tones for us to see the bars no matter how good the lighting is.

Lutino is a sex-linked color and there are more females than males. But male lutinos definitely do exist, so your bird could be one of them!


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

My last lutino was a female (b/c she laid eggs) and she had no visible barring on the underside of her tail. She was also very quiet and only had the one note call that is typical of female cockatiels. No complex vocalizations or talking. If your bird doesn't have much interest in a mirror, then I'd say you have a female. Males go nuts over their reflection (usually taking on the "heart wing" pose and vocalizing), and they are usually noisy little fellers from the get go!


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Weird.. none of my males go crazy when infront of a mirror, guess all males are different though.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

From the pix of the tail feathers you have a lutino pied. Pied feathers will not have any barring and they would be a solid buttery yellow color.

Since the wing flight feathers are not clipped you can look at the underside. If there are pied feathers they will be a solid buttery yellow. BUT, what you want to look at is the 10 lower flight feathers closest to the body. If they are not pied feathers, if a male they would not have any yellow spots, and if a female they would have yellow spots.

Also if the bird has no balding or minimal balding behind the crest I'd lean towards it also being a lutino pied. When both of the birds patrents carried the pied gene, and the father was just split to lutino or a lutino you would get lutino pied daughters. 

If the mother was a lutino them the bird could be either sex. Can you find out what color the mother was? if not a lutino them you have a female.


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## dimplez (Oct 21, 2009)

Thank you everyone for your replies. 

I don’t really have any mirror toy in the cage, but I always let Dimplez play in my room & there’s this huge closet mirror in it. I’d let him see his refection sometimes but he doesn’t have any reaction so far 

And for the tail feathers, yeah I don’t/can’t see any barring. I’ll try to look under his flight feather if he lets me (that’s the one thing he hates, lifting up his wings)

He also has a small bald spot behind his crest. I forgot to save the breeder’s number so I can't find out about Dimplez's mother info (I saved the text message from the breeder, but then that got deleted automatically after a few months)

Thanks again for all your help. In the end if I’m still not 100% sure what sex Dimplez is then I’ll probably get a DNA test.


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## McNugget (Feb 12, 2010)

Sorry for bothering, but i didnt want to pollute the forum with another similar topic so i write my question here,

I got the same cockatiel, about 3 months ago. It also has the bald spot behind the crest. 

Some people on the internet says the bald spot is peculiar to male cockatiels. 

My cockatiel,
is interested to mirrors (tries to give some food to the reflection),
is pretty loud, screams in the morning and squawks almost all day,
but performs sometimes the female mating behavior? 

Like in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMYLrcNsUec

The only different is, she sounds pretty quiet during this, like she is not sure about performing this behavior.

Can females act like males, or can males act like females? Is this behaviour a solid sign that shows my cockatiel is a female?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Your bird is probably female. It has female coloring, although juvenile males look like this too and get their adult plumage when they mature. 

The sexual behavior in the video is definitely female style. The back rubs are NOT a good idea because they're similar to the feeling of having a male bird on her back. Your bird thinks you're having sex with her and is likely to end up laying infertile eggs as a result, which is a completely unnecessary strain on her health. Head scritches are fine but with a hen it's best to avoid back stroking.

I couldn't see the bald spot, but these don't have anything to do with gender anyway. Both males and females can have a bald spot.


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## McNugget (Feb 12, 2010)

tielfan said:


> Your bird is probably female. It has female coloring, although juvenile males look like this too and get their adult plumage when they mature.
> 
> The sexual behavior in the video is definitely female style. The back rubs are NOT a good idea because they're similar to the feeling of having a male bird on her back. Your bird thinks you're having sex with her and is likely to end up laying infertile eggs as a result, which is a completely unnecessary strain on her health. Head scritches are fine but with a hen it's best to avoid back stroking.
> 
> I couldn't see the bald spot, but these don't have anything to do with gender anyway. Both males and females can have a bald spot.


Thanks for the answer, i havent gave her a back rub, but she does this behavior randomly (more often on the evenings). 

Wow, when the time comes, i should find her a nice little mate


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I thought that was your bird in the video. If it isn't, then ignore what I said about coloring because I don't know what your bird looks like! Also, the person who is giving back rubs in the video needs to STOP IT.


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## McNugget (Feb 12, 2010)

tielfan said:


> I thought that was your bird in the video. If it isn't, then ignore what I said about coloring because I don't know what your bird looks like! Also, the person who is giving back rubs in the video needs to STOP IT.


Like i said in my first message,
My cockatiels color is the same as dimplez' cockatiel, lemon-colored lutino (sorry if its wrong )


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## Julie (Apr 18, 2010)

McNugget said:


> Thanks for the answer, i havent gave her a back rub, but she does this behavior randomly (more often on the evenings).
> 
> Wow, when the time comes, i should find her a nice little mate


You said "i havent gave her a backrub" but the video is titled 'Cockatiel gets a backrub'... 
:blush: birdie gonna think YOU are her boyfriend :blush:

It will put a strain on her little body tho when she starts laying infertile eggs from being stimulated the way she is. (I say this not to be graphic, but when she gets down in that forward crouch with her tail up like that when getting her backrubs like that, just think of a cat in heat. She's waiting.)

Just a thought


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