# Is this a pre-breeding sign



## questionare (Jul 9, 2012)

Hi there,

Yesterday I noticed my female tiel putting her head under the male beak, and the male started scratching hear head "the top of the head". is this considered as a sign for them wanting to breed? Shall I put a nest for them. BTW, they were having an infertile clutch the past month, and i removed the egss & nest at that time.

Thanks in advance,


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

That is an affectionate behavior and a sign of being bonded, but not necessarily breeding behavior. Two males can do this, so can two females, and very young birds as well...have you seen them mating? Are you sure they are male and female?


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## sangs_becky (Jun 25, 2012)

Hey there  the behaviours that you have mentioned are signs of affection that can be noticed among tiels irrespective of their gender. 

If you want to breed your birds and if your sure that your having a make and a female then you should be knowing the age of your tiels it's not advisable to breed young birds as the hen may experience egg binding and other problems so it is important that both your tiels are over one year of age .

It it's important that you provide them a varied diet including pellets, fresh veggies , sprouts and other soft dogs like egg food which provides the right amount of nutrition for your birds to help them in being healthy parents 

Also your tiels should have access to cuttle bone and mineral block as sources of calcium, minerals and vitamins to satisfy their required needs.

This forum has much valuable information and you can do a lot of reading on breeding

Good luck


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> Shall I put a nest for them. BTW, they were having an infertile clutch the past month, and i removed the egss & nest at that time.


Allopreening (scratching each other's head) doesn't indicate an urge to breed, it's just a sign of affection as others have said. 

If you start seeing real signs that they want to breed, that doesn't mean that you have to let them do it. There are simple hormone reduction techniques that are fairly successful at getting birds "out of the mood". Since this pair just had an unsuccessful clutch, it's better to wait a while and let them rest up and become more mature (if they're young right now) and/or wait until breeding conditions are more favorable before you let them try again.


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## questionare (Jul 9, 2012)

Thanks all for the valuable feedback....

The friend who gave me them assured they are male & female, and I noticed this from thier tales (the female has stripped one). Regarding the age, they are 1.5+ years.

Currently I am feeding them varied diet (seeds, veggi, greens, fruits) and they have access to cuttle bone.


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## Donivan2009 (Jul 13, 2012)

Hey there! I also adopted two tiels' fairly recently and I was assured they were one male and one female. However, i recently learned from others here on the forum, they are both females!


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## questionare (Jul 9, 2012)

Donivan2009 said:


> Hey there! I also adopted two tiels' fairly recently and I was assured they were one male and one female. However, i recently learned from others here on the forum, they are both females!


Thanks for the feedback, as I said, those pair had a successful clutch in the past, so I would assume they are a male&female....


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## questionare (Jul 9, 2012)

Below is pictures for the pair I am talking about...

The male is the one on the left, and the female is on the right...
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/513/pict0144ax.jpg

Here, the male is on the right, and the female is on the left...
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/88/pict0146v.jpg/


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The normal grey bird is definitely male. The pied bird has barred tail feathers like a female, but pied males sometimes take several years to lose all their juvenile markings so this can be deceptive.


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## questionare (Jul 9, 2012)

tielfan said:


> The normal grey bird is definitely male. The pied bird has barred tail feathers like a female, but pied males sometimes take several years to lose all their juvenile markings so this can be deceptive.


Thanks tielfan...so if they had a clutch, this would mean that the pied bird is a female?

Also, can you give an estimate of their age?

Thanks again...


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Yes, if eggs were laid it's a definite sign that the pied is female since the grey is definitely male.

The normal grey is an adult; that's all I know about his age. There's no way to tell age with females and pieds.


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## questionare (Jul 9, 2012)

tielfan said:


> Yes, if eggs were laid it's a definite sign that the pied is female since the grey is definitely male.
> 
> The normal grey is an adult; that's all I know about his age. There's no way to tell age with females and pieds.


Thanks alot tielfan for your valuable feedback...So the male is mature enough for future breeding?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Since he's gone through his first molt he's physically mature but that doesn't mean that he's mentally ready. That's something that will just have to be tested.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> So the male is mature enough for future breeding?


It's recommended that males be at least 12 months old and females be at least 18 months; 18 months for the male and two years for the female is even better. It's possible for them to make babies before this age, but their breeding instincts won't be developed as much and there's a much higher risk that they'll be bad parents. 

Most males get their adult coloring when they're about six months old, so even though he looks like an adult it's possible that he's still a little too young to be a good daddy.


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