# Keeping siblings together



## babybreau (May 19, 2008)

As I mentioned in my other thread - my friend has 2 baby tiels right now and, should they both survive, I am definitely getting one but am SERIOUSLY considering getting both - so they'll have each other. 
Is it ok to get both, regardless of sexes? I'm pretty sure I read that relatives won't mate with relatives - is this true?

2 sisters OR 2 brothers OR a mix can all live together?


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## Terri Peters (Dec 24, 2008)

babybreau said:


> As I mentioned in my other thread - my friend has 2 baby tiels right now and, should they both survive, I am definitely getting one but am SERIOUSLY considering getting both - so they'll have each other.
> Is it ok to get both, regardless of sexes? I'm pretty sure I read that relatives won't mate with relatives - is this true?
> 
> 2 sisters OR 2 brothers OR a mix can all live together?


Hi Tanya,

I beilve if you don't wish to have siblings breeding you will need seperate cages for them if they are opposite sexes. I think once they reach breeding age they wont care that they one time shared a nest together


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## babybreau (May 19, 2008)

really?? I have no idea what sex the 2 babies are but I guess I'll have to keep an eye on it before I decided to get 1 or both... Hmmm


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## Terri Peters (Dec 24, 2008)

babybreau said:


> really?? I have no idea what sex the 2 babies are but I guess I'll have to keep an eye on it before I decided to get 1 or both... Hmmm


 Do you know the mutations? Some mutations are sexed linked, which means you can pretty much pick the girls from the boys once their feathers appear.


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## babybreau (May 19, 2008)

they are only 11 days old and are still pretty yellow fluffernutters...lol


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

if they're both males, or both females it'll be okay They may still "mate" but no babies 

Siblings will mate though, I had this problem a couple months ago I had to separate them


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

Siblings will mate and should not as problems can occur. Keep only same opposite sex tiels together if they are related or if you don't want breeding.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Opposite sex siblings are happy to mate with each other when their hormones kick in. In fact Teela has "done" two of her brothers, and the first one was when they were only five months old! There haven't been any eggs though because as soon as they start getting too randy I take steps to bring their hormone levels down. Teela and Squeebis have been sleeping in the closet at night in a sleep cage for the last couple of weeks so they can have longer nights, and they'll have to keep on sleeping there until Mother Nature brings back the naturally long nights.


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## Duckie (Feb 13, 2008)

tielfan said:


> There haven't been any eggs though because as soon as they start getting too randy I take steps to bring their hormone levels down.


What do you do to bring down their hormone levels?


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

talking about siblings doing siblings ...... 

I was in changing the birds water about 20 minutes ago before putting every one to bed 

I have one cage that is separated into 2 cages (of the tiels I'm selling) all girls 3 in the top 3 in the bottom 

in the bottom cage their ages are 8 months old, 7 months old and 9 months old 

what did i find at the back of their cage? a egg  Broken of course, But there are only 3 girls in that cage all 3 sisters I don't know who it came from, and they can't even see the breeding pair's beside them any more because I had to put a towel over the one end of the cage, To get the boys to stop flirting with one of the girls in the top cage (the oldest 3 years old) and one was trying to flirt with his last mate who is in the cage above him with a different male.

I was surprised because they are so young to just up and lay an egg


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

They will, I have a female and male sibling, and the male continuously tried to jump onto his female sibling, they're separated now, but it can/does happen.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Of course it does! They don't have the same kind of moral concepts we have. All they know is that bird is the opposite sex.


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## babybreau (May 19, 2008)

Well I'm certainly glad I asked!!

The only thing I'm wondering now - is it hard to sex them when they are only about 2 mths old? I mean that is normal weaning age for them, right? 2-3 mths? So how do I know what sex I'm getting or IF I can get both at all? 

Boy have I ever got to research Tiels! lol I had researched a year ago but I've been researching so many different types of birds looking to acquire a larger bird that I've forgotten all the original tiel info I learned! lol.


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

The best way is dna so you're sure.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> What do you do to bring down their hormone levels?


I give them the "long nights" treatment. 12 to 14 hours of uninterrupted darkness every night. This simulates fall and winter which are not good seasons for breeding. When it's actually spring and summer, I have to put a sleep cage on a shelf in the closet to get the necessary amount of darkness.



> The only thing I'm wondering now - is it hard to sex them when they are only about 2 mths old?


Sometimes you can tell by the genetics of the parents. For instance, any lutino chick that Buster and Shodu produce must be a female, since they aren't capable of producing male lutinos. But other than that, a DNA test is the only way to be sure.

There's a "wing spot" test for chicks, where you check the underside of the wings. If the spots are all over the underside of the wing then supposedly it's a female. If the spots are only on the flight feathers and not close to the body (the "wingpit" area) then supposedly it's a male. This isn't particularly reliable though, because the wing spots lied on some of my chicks.


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