# Need help to define the sex of a lutino cockatiel with yellow vertical bars!!!



## huson

*Need help on sexing a cockatiel with yellow vertical bars on its flight feathers!!!*

I recently purchased a 1 year old cross-mutated lutino pearl cockatiel from a breeder. It already moulted. I would like to know its gender.

Although DNA testing for the sex of a cockatiel is the most accurate, I do not have the expense for that.

Also, I understand that female lutino cockatiel will retain its yellow dots on the underside of its flight feathers and yellow-creamy barring after its first moult.

My problem is...

The breeder plucked all its tail feathers because it was all broken and messed up. It takes about 2 months to grow back~~~

The cockatiel hardly chirp or make any sound at all, because it is still afraid of the new environment. So it does show any behaviour that can give me some clues to its sex.

So the only possible clue I have is from its flight feathers. When I spread its wings, it shows vertical yellow bars on its primary flight feathers. The breeder claims that it is a female, but I doubt. Does any know is it he or she?

Here is the link for the pictures

























Thank you for reading and helping me out, I am really appreciated!!! Thnx everyone!!!


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## sweetrsue

It all depends on the age of the bird! Immature birds and females share the same markings so if it is under 6 months you have to wait anyway. The behavior you described sounds female but could also be just in unfamiliar surroundings


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## huson

Sorry for not being clear~~~my cockatiel already moulted and it is around 1 year old.


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## huson

Sorry the links are:


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## sweetrsue

Then it is a girl!


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## atvchick95

Also with sex linked mutations - such as the Lutino, If you can ask the breeder what exactly the parents were, and what both were split for that helps a lot 

in order to get a Male Lutino both parents have to have the gene, Since the Mom's can't be split to lutino (females can not be split to sex linked genes) She would have to be a visual lutino, and the dad could be split to lutino (or a visual) 

if the female is NOT a visual lutino, it means the baby got the lutino gene from its dad and automatically makes it a girl 

here's an Example (I did not know my male was split to lutino until i got one ) 

this is my visual mutations of the pair i'm using as a example 

Normal Grey Male - Pied Female , 
The male does have the "thumb print" on the back of his head, so this tells me he is split to Pied so I inturn had 1st clutch 3 pied babies - No big surprise that is what i expected (along with normal greys)

their 2nd clutch 1 pied, 1 normal grey and 1 Lutino 

this tells me Daddy is actually Normal Grey Split to pied & Lutino and since mom is not my Lutino is female , and all males from this pairing will have the possibility to be split to Lutino 

Hope that helps


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## huson

sweetrsue said:


> Then it is a girl!


What makes you think my cockatiel is a female? 
Have you seen this kind of flight feathers before?

btw thnx for replying to my post~~~


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## huskymom

because she´s a lutino pearl... the pattern you see on the wings is the pearling...

for her to be a male mom had to be just like her lutino AND pearl... and dad at least split to both lutino and pearl... but in case mom wasn´t then she most likely is a girl..

let´s say mom is only lutino and baby is lutino pearl then it still is a girl... as only dad passed the pearl...

if mom is only a pearl then it still is a girl as dad passed the lutino...


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## sweetrsue

The wings would only have spots on a female considering it's a year old. If it had been male those spots would have been gone by now.


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## huson

sweetrsue said:


> The wings would only have spots on a female considering it's a year old. If it had been male those spots would have been gone by now.


But they are not like dots, it is a SOLID vertical yellow bar on each flight feathers~~~


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## huson

isn't the flight feathers supposed to look like this instead if it is a female?

if you compare it, mine is a vertical bar


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## sweetrsue

Wing spots can vary a great deal! From bars to spots. Regardless of the shape a male won't have them.


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## huskymom

here is another lutino pearl wings... looks just like yours... the pearl don´t neccesarily have to be spots... tehre are wing spot and pearl "spots"... which have a different pattern...like the one you see on your pretty birdy wings

http://www.goodsearch.com/Image.aspx?imgurl=http://static.flickr.com/45/149564506_2c4c039fcc.jpg&thurl=http://sk1.yt-thm-a01.yimg.com/image/cb7de1a359839314&rurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormwatcher/149564506/&tt=2&no=1&name=Pretty%20Wings%20Tori&w=500&h=400&size=98.8&type=jpeg

here you can see feather spots..
http://www.goodsearch.com/Image.aspx?imgurl=http://www.cockatielcottage.net/Images8/leiliza.jpg&thurl=http://sk1.yt-thm-a03.yimg.com/image/3636704622a0e1ca&rurl=http://www.cockatielcottage.net/cockatiels4.html&tt=17&no=12&name=leiliza.jpg&w=300&h=300&size=16.1&type=jpeg

this is about wing clipping but there´s another pic of a pearl pattern on wings... only this is in a normal whiteface tiel.. replace grey/white by yellow/white in your bird...
http://www.goodsearch.com/Image.aspx?imgurl=http://www.cockatielsociety.org.au/images/Clipped%20wing.JPG&thurl=http://sk1.yt-thm-a02.yimg.com/image/b2a685288a8bfa38&rurl=http://www.cockatielsociety.org.au/articles/feathers.htm&tt=17&no=11&name=Clipped%20wing.JPG&w=512&h=384&size=21.5&type=jpeg


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## huson

AHHHHHHHHH!!! OMG!!! you girls really helped me!!! I am jumping up and down!!! LOL!!! Soo happy!!! Hugz!!!

Btw, I AM NEW TO THIS FORUM SITE!!! how do I delete a thread? I posted another copy of this thread on cockatiel breeding. How do I delete it?


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## huskymom

not sure if only mods can do that.. but you can try goint to the first post.. click edit.. then go advaced and maybe somwhere it says delete thread.... not sure... never tried it..


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