# Is she older than I thought?



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I wasn't exactly sure where to put this, so because it pertains to breeding I'll put it in the breeding section. The breeder I got Squiggles from, when I emailed her, told me she was three months old and that she had been handfed but not played with since which was fine. My hubby arrives home with her and the first thing I notice is that she has a dark beak. The first thing that confused me was I was expecting a lighter beak from a cinnamon pearl or am I wrong about that? Snowball, my wf cinnamon male has a really light beak and Cinnamon, my wf cinnamon pearl, has a dark beak....then Oreo, my pied hen has a light beak. So is it the pied gene that causes that (Snowball is split to pied)? I know that all babies have light beaks when hatched, so would it be safe to say she's older than six months? Jeep is 9 months and has a dark beak, Baby is 8 months but his beak is still fairly light. Hubby also said when he picked the bird up, the breeder said something about having her for either 6 months or a year (he can't remember which) which makes me uncomfortable with her age. I'd just like to know if you guys think she's older than I was told. I took pix of her beak too what do you think?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i think shes over a year for sure


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## crinklepot (Nov 18, 2010)

Sorry but I don't know the answer to your question.....it's just that I'm wondering the same thing about Henry. He's a normal grey, and his beak is dark in the centre (well, most of his beak is dark) but he is apparently only 5 months old. I'll be interested to see what replies you get


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

That's what I was thinking too, which works for me as it means she's for sure a girl and will keep those gorgeous pearls of hers. Just got to get her tail to grow out and have her put on some grams. The vet saw her yesterday and said she looks like she could be a chunk, I just don't think she had a varied diet at the breeders.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

i dont know if its mutation or age that causes the beak to darken, i have a 6 week old grey split to pied (x2: cinnamon pearl) and jis beak is dark, so if you find the answer please let me know. Also which mutations have the dark beak or the light beak.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

I'd say she's old enough to at least have had one moult. I want to say her wings have had time to have been clipped and start growing out which would make her at least 8 months old? She's a pretty thing.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

crinklepot, 5 months old is fine to get darker spots, but i was going by the fact that the breeder got ages messed up and her bird doesnt have the baby face... 

dally had a darkish beak when i first got her home at 8 weeks but is gotten a LOT darker as shes gotten older. roxy's bird has the same darker beak that i havent seen in a younger bird. so the bird is older than a year in my opinion. tsuka's has a dark tip and we got him at 5 months old and hes had it since then, but it wasnt as dark. hes a year and its black whereas before it was grey.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Thank you Mentha, she's a charmer! Nwoodrow I'm curious about that too as it seems mine just have all different shades of beaks lol.


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## crinklepot (Nov 18, 2010)

DallyTsuka said:


> crinklepot, 5 months old is fine to get darker spots, but i was going by the fact that the breeder got ages messed up and her bird doesnt have the baby face...
> 
> dally had a darkish beak when i first got her home at 8 weeks but is gotten a LOT darker as shes gotten older. roxy's bird has the same darker beak that i havent seen in a younger bird. so the bird is older than a year in my opinion. tsuka's has a dark tip and we got him at 5 months old and hes had it since then, but it wasnt as dark. hes a year and its black whereas before it was grey.


How do you mean she hasn't got the baby face? Sorry to butt in on your post Roxy! But just thought I would put up a pic of Henry and his dark beak, is this normal for a 4 month old (he was 4 months when I took the pic)?


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## huson (Feb 23, 2009)

Hi there, I did read it somewhere on this forum that dark beak or stripe of dark colouration on beak might indicated that it is pied. 

However, most of the time, I confirm whether that by seeing whether or not it have lwhite to yellow patches as the back of its head. Those patches indicates that the cockatiel does carry the pied gene but it is not dominant enough to express it everywhere on its body. 

Srtiels would know better, LOL~~~~Goodluck~~~


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## crinklepot (Nov 18, 2010)

Oh and can I just add that the centre of his beak is completely dark now instead of just the top of it being dark like in that pic  

Squiggles is sooo cute by the way! She has a lovely face


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Crinklepot, its ok, he's adorable and that looks like a baby face, all scrunched up and cute! Squiggles looks older than that just in her face. So pieds have the darker beak? Then why is Oreo's beak light??? That bird is confusing to me!!! Anyways, that would explain why Fuzzy has the striped beak, but Snowball is weird then because he has a light beak and he's split pied. Male tiels, always being difficult lol.


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## huson (Feb 23, 2009)

oh other ways to tell whether it is a pied is that some nails are light/ clear, but some are dark. So if you see that your cockatiels have dark and light nails on its feet then it must be a pied too


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

a striped beak also means split pied. and crinklepot, thats normal.

theres something different about the faces... thats what i mean by "baby face" dally's baby face is much different now lol

this was taken yesterday. see how dark her beak is? shes a year old here










dally at four months old









this was the day i got her. the light coloured toenail also indicates split pied


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Dally's cheeks were lighter too when she was little, so cute! Squiggles is split pastel face, so I'm assuming that's why the lighter cheeks. Guess she's split pied as well. She's definitely older as she doesn't make baby squawks either.


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## crinklepot (Nov 18, 2010)

roxy culver said:


> Crinklepot, its ok, he's adorable and that looks like a baby face, all scrunched up and cute! Squiggles looks older than that just in her face. So pieds have the darker beak? Then why is Oreo's beak light??? That bird is confusing to me!!! Anyways, that would explain why Fuzzy has the striped beak, but Snowball is weird then because he has a light beak and he's split pied. Male tiels, always being difficult lol.


Aaah thanks for clearing that up  I was getting worried that the pet shop had told me a little fib haha!  Now just to work out whether Henry is a boy or a girl....it's difficult!


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## crinklepot (Nov 18, 2010)

Ohh I kinda see what you mean about the baby face DallyTsuka! I suppose Polly's face has changed a bit too now that I compare older and newer photos. That's interesting about the toenails, I didn't know that indicated split pied! I think Polly is split pied because she has 3 or 4 yellow feathers on the back of her head, but she doesn't have the lighter toenails like Dally.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

ya im dealing with that toe issue with my new clutch, i know that the parents throw pieds, split to pied and regular grey, out of 7 chicks i have 4 with all dark toes and 3 with little pink toes.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

shes be split pied. dally has one on the back of her neck and one on her belly... but the one on her belly, would that make her a full pearl pied and not a split pied at all?

i'll get a photo.
old photo. but it points it out. she was 3 months old in this photo


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

and the neck feather


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Lucky has a quarter of that neck feather on the back of her can only notice it when she is bending down


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Lperry it was your Buttercup that made me suspect Squiggles was older than I had been told because of her dark beak too.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Roxy call me Lindsey


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yes ma'am!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

roxy culver said:


> Yes ma'am!


Ha ha ha lol


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