# My Echo, white face



## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

Is there anyone who can tell me what sex he is?


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

I can only offer you a guess. And my guess would be based on the pearls he has. They appear to be fading.. not really tons of them. I'm going to guess boy. What are his behaviors like? Does he chirp/whistle.. is he noisy? Does he do anything else that leans towards gender specific? How old is he and has he molted at all yet? He's gorgeous by the way!


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

how old is he?? i agree with DyArianna, he seems to look like a boy do to the fading like pearls. can you post a pic of his back??
BTW he is pied to 

however his face is grey.. but do to the fact that he is pied he could just have a grey face. I think a lot of whiteface females have grey faces and the boys have all white faces. I STAND TO BE CORRECTED


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

Gorgeous bird I can see ghost pearls on his shoulder so I'm going to say boy as well. But can you post a picture of his full back?

I just went back to look at older pics of echo and I say he is definately a boy! He used to have so many more pearls but he's lost most of them

Yes wendybebuddy since he is a pied his Face won't change when he molts. So it won't be an indicator of sex.


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## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

Hes very good at talking and copying. He can say hello, Echo. He can sing the Adams family tune, Pop goes the weasel, coke cola tune and few others. When hes doing these most of the time hes on the floor of his cage with his wings puffed out. Another thing that may help is when hes on my hand sometimes he starts rubbing on me :blush:

Hes now 2 years old 

Here a pic i just took of his back, hope this helps


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Yep.... he's a boy.


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## stevechurch2222 (Sep 25, 2011)

Gorgeous cockatiel.


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## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

well hes 2 year old in March,

Do u know what the rubbing is? Does hes want a "friend"


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

lol Well you have the right idea.  The rubbing is him displaying.. affection.


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## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

DyArianna said:


> lol Well you have the right idea.  The rubbing is him displaying.. affection.


Aww he loves me 

If i were to get a female he would stop his singing wont he. 
Also can you tell me what does Pied mean?


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Getting a female will not stop his singing. My male is VERY vocal with his female around. lol  Pied is when there are solid feathers of a different color than the bird should normally be. Your guy has a ton of white feathers all over the place on his back, the back of his head and some solid white tail feathers. This makes him a gorgeous pearl pied.


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## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

Aww i want to get a friend for him now. Guess i have to put a female in there with him and NOT a male. How do i know if its a female thou. And what colour would go best with him if they had babies?


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

There are some mutations that are very tricky on telling genders without a DNA test and it's even worse if you do not know their age. If you go through a breeder, lots of them know for sure what genders their birds are.. or will even help you do a DNA test on them. As far as genetics go, I do not know enough on all the mutations to suggest what mutation would go best with your Echo. If you are searching in pet stores or online for a friend for Echo.. sometimes if you post a pic here others can help you with their opinions on gender, but again, without knowing true age this can always be difficult. 

You can also get a boy for Echo. There are lots of male birds who try and love on each other. It will not hurt them.. and they may not even do it at all. They just may be content with each other's company. The benefit to this is you don't have eggs or babies to take care of. This can be a good thing if you are not prepared to handle that at this time. Having two boys, you should expect to have twice as much volume in singing/chirping though.  You could also try the longer nights treatment with Echo should he start getting really hormonal. Covering him for 12 to 14 hours a night will help with hormones.


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## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

I didnt kknow i could do that. thought they might fight. Think it would be better a male. Like you say i dont have to worry about eggs then. Would a older one or younger one be better. Found a male age 3 years old. Thats going by what there saying on the add thou.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Age really doesn't matter I have found...mine are all different ages (ranging from 5yrs old to 10 months) and they do fine together.


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## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

Aww feel bad now him being on his own. They are flock birds i guess so like being in group.

How do i go about introducing a new one. I have another cage i can put the new one in so they can see each other without getting to each other. Is that the best way??
Then what do you do let them met face to face outside the cage or one in one out?


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## carrielee76 (Nov 19, 2011)

You should quaratine the new one in the other cage in abother room and get a vet checkup first to make sure the new tiel is healthy and harbors no illnesses or diseases.


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

There should be a quarantine period of at least 30 days in a separate room so that if the new bird is sick, Echo wont get sick. Then you can move the cages side by side, and let them have out of cage time together, if they seem okay together then you can move them into the appropriate sized cage together if you wish( be sure to rearrange the cage if one bird is already living in it to reduce territorial aggression). Make sure there is a couple food and water dishes also. Keep an eye out for any bad behaviour, though cockatiels can bicker and squabble, thats normal but if it gets too violent thats when you need to separate them.


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## MurphysMum (Nov 21, 2009)

Thats great thanks. Ive just wrote a thread to see how big the cage need to be for two of them

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?p=239003#post239003


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