# Knowing the sex of your tiel



## bellax146 (Jan 11, 2016)

Hi not sure if this is the correct place for this question. 
Is it really just a guessing game when trying to work out the sex of your feathered family member unless you get a DNA test. I mean do the traits and look of your bird actually portray what sex they are. I know it's not a guaranteed yes to being a male or female without the test. What's everyone's thoughts on this if my question even makes sense at all.


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## Dislian (Sep 5, 2015)

By the physical look you can guess but also with the behavior: do they sing? Do they lay eggs? 
With some mutations it's so difficult it's better the dna test


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## bellax146 (Jan 11, 2016)

Dislian said:


> By the physical look you can guess but also with the behavior: do they sing? Do they lay eggs?
> With some mutations it's so difficult it's better the dna test


Well yes the obvious would be the laying of eggs. Both mine have laid previously. I just thought it was interesting, I never knew you could guess by how they looked. 

These are my gorgeous girls
Sweetie (yellow & grey) Coco (grey & white)

Sweetie would wolf whistle and do a few other whistles she picked up as well as scream when I left for work and when she heard someone come home and not tell her they were home. 

Coco just does the old chirp but no whistling. She also now screams when I leave the room or go out and when she hears my car come home. She hisses at everyone but me when she is uncovered and when she is covered she hisses at everything including me that come near her bedtime cage.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Gorgeous birds. Actually, it looks like you have a male and a female. Sweetie is a female, especially if she has gone through several molts. Only hens keep the pearling, males loose it and end up looking like normal greys. Coco appears to be male. The stark white face is an indication of a male in cockatiels. The lack of cheek patch is also very interesting. Not all males sing, but the face doesn't lie.


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## bellax146 (Jan 11, 2016)

roxy culver said:


> Gorgeous birds. Actually, it looks like you have a male and a female. Sweetie is a female, especially if she has gone through several molts. Only hens keep the pearling, males loose it and end up looking like normal greys. Coco appears to be male. The stark white face is an indication of a male in cockatiels. The lack of cheek patch is also very interesting. Not all males sing, but the face doesn't lie.


Thank you, i think they are gorgeous too. 
They have both laid eggs previously so i know Coco is a female (although i think i only found about 3-4 eggs from coco). Well i hope she is unless males can lay too or they can change sex.

Here's a question for you: When i first got Coco, Sweetie was 5 years old so i had them in separate cages for a while moving the cages closer and closer until eventually they tolerated each other and were in the same cage. They were both laying while in separate cages but as soon as i put them in the same cage they stopped laying. Is this normal?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yes. You disrupted their environment and even though they knew each other, adding a new tiel to their environment made it "unsafe" to have babies at that time.


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## bellax146 (Jan 11, 2016)

roxy culver said:


> Yes. You disrupted their environment and even though they knew each other, adding a new tiel to their environment made it "unsafe" to have babies at that time.


Makes sense.... So now that Coco is on her own again could she start laying again or is this unlikely?


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## Colorguarder08 (Sep 13, 2014)

Coco is a white faced split to pied (the ticks on the back of the head indicated she's split to pied) it's unlikely she will lay again anytime soon as you have again changed her environment making it "unsafe"


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## bellax146 (Jan 11, 2016)

Colorguarder08 said:


> Coco is a white faced split to pied (the ticks on the back of the head indicated she's split to pied) it's unlikely she will lay again anytime soon as you have again changed her environment making it "unsafe"


Awesome! Thank you for that  I've been wondering what she is. what exactly does split to pied mean?


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## Colorguarder08 (Sep 13, 2014)

It means she carries the gene but doesn't show the traits. For a white faced pied she would normally have white spots where the grey is some do have white faces as well but not all. However with the exception to the "ticks" or random white feathers on the back of her head she looks like a male white faced grey.


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## bellax146 (Jan 11, 2016)

Colorguarder08 said:


> It means she carries the gene but doesn't show the traits. For a white faced pied she would normally have white spots where the grey is some do have white faces as well but not all. However with the exception to the "ticks" or random white feathers on the back of her head she looks like a male white faced grey.


ohhh right. Shes a funny little thing then. Her chirp sounds alot different to the "typical" cockatiel chirp too.


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