# now Cheeky is 6 months old, boy or girl?



## No.2 (Jun 4, 2011)

Hi all someone maybe already know me from introduction board, this is Cheeky when he/she was 2 months old when i first got him home:

























This is today's Cheeky 6 months old just started moulting:

























Can you please tell if it's a boy or a girl? I think he is boy, no?
THANKS!!


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

Awww he is a cutie! Im going to say boy as I see he is getting lots of yellow feathers in his face....also if his tail feathers come back solid ( no barring) and wing feathers come back solid ( no wingspots) means hes a boy so check those too.


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## AMSD (Nov 2, 2010)

What a cutie!

That is a lot of yellow coming in... I would say that Cheeky is a boy.
It took almost a year for Dexters full white face to come through (he was pretty patchy haha) but he had solid grey tails feathers pretty early on.
Check the tail and wing spot test.
Behaviour is a big tell also - is cheeky whistling tunes, beak banging or spreading wings while strutting around?


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

He looks like a male.


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Looks like a cute little boy to me judging by all that yellow coming in!


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## No.2 (Jun 4, 2011)

thank you everyone!

Cheeky hasn't moulted his wing or tail feathers yet, so i can't tell 
Does male adult tiel have darker feathers on his back? because i notice a few darker gray patches on Cheeky's back.

behavior wise Cheeky is TOTALLY outgoing, I didn't see him banging on the toys, but he loves attacking or even smashing toys! He learned wolf whistle and a 8 second long tune i taught him, he has a very outgoing personality that sometimes annoys me LOL, and yes he often lift his wings slightly when he whistles.


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## AMSD (Nov 2, 2010)

He definitely sounds like a boy too!

He looks cinnamon in those photos and the darker feathers coming through look dark grey... I'm not sure why that would be happening.
Dexters wings are darker than his body feathers.
He had traces of cinnamon feathers as a baby but moulted those out. I asked our vet about it but she is not knowledgeable of tiel mutations. 
They are a mystery to me too, sorry I can't help 
He is adorable and sounds like a little firecracker! You are very lucky to have found him


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

Aww he sounds like such a character  he sounds like a boy with the whistling and heart wings. 

When they molt the new feathers will be darker than the old feathers. My Cupid is molting right now and he looks all patchy it's funny!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Have you checked the wing spots 
as for the yellow coming in on the face this happened to my lucky too


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## lisaowens (Oct 17, 2011)

hi i have done a lot of research on these birds and i have found out that with a normal grey if the bird has barring which i believe i seen on your birds tail it is a female you can also look under the wing for spots. the yellow does not matter. my birds mom was solid yellow head and all. females are quieter than males too. my mom has two males and they are loud.


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

lisaowens said:


> hi i have done a lot of research on these birds and i have found out that with a normal grey if the bird has barring which i believe i seen on your birds tail it is a female you can also look under the wing for spots. the yellow does not matter. my birds mom was solid yellow head and all. females are quieter than males too. my mom has two males and they are loud.


Thanks for your input lisa  but the tail barring only applies to adult birds or birds who have already gone through their first molt. All cockatiels have tail barring when they are young, the barring is lost after their first molt in males around 6 months to a year and kept by females after their first molt.

Also the full yellow face mask in normal grays means male females have a more gray face, in some other mutations like lutino, pied, and pearl you can have a female with a yellow head/face though


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## lisaowens (Oct 17, 2011)

ok i am still learning about them it is hard to tell on my birds but i call them girls. lol


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

The barring is there untill s/he molts it out if it comes back solid grey then a male


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