# Male or female? Pearl?



## Hellena

can anyone tell if my tiel is a male or female? Born December 2012.


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## bjknight93

It is a Pearl Pied. And most likely male, because he appears to be split to Cinnamon (red eye reflection).


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## Hellena

The breeder said female, the vet said male.


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## MeanneyFids

actually, i think the bird is a cinnamon pearl, which would explain the red eye flash--as its a visual.

cant sex it yet as it is too young.


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## roxy culver

I agree with Meanneyfids, it looks like a cinnamon pearl. Do you know what the parents were? If the mom wasn't a visual pearl the baby is a girl. If she was a visual pearl, then the baby could be either gender.


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## Hellena

never saw the parents. Wish I could say. I just remember the breeder saying pearl. Kind of vague.


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## roxy culver

If the parents were both pearl then you'd have to wait til the baby went through its first molt to determine gender (male pearls lose the pearls, females retain them) or you could get a DNA test done.


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## Erinsmom

Definatley a pearl pied. And I agree cinnamon. You can see the pearls and if you look at the toe nails you will see some dark some light and the crest is a different color than the body. both those things say pied also. I have read you can sex them visually but when i DNA'd my pearl pied it was different that what i thought.


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## roxy culver

> Definatley a pearl pied. And I agree cinnamon. You can see the pearls and if you look at the toe nails you will see some dark some light and the crest is a different color than the body. both those things say pied also. I have read you can sex them visually but when i DNA'd my pearl pied it was different that what i thought.


I'm not 100% sure its a visual pied which is why I didn't list that. Everyone is still not sure what constitutes a true visual pied but here on the forum we go by Srtiel's idea that a clear tail feather or flight feather indicate a visual pied. I don't see either of those on this bird. The light colored toe nails are an indication of being split to pied. The head is different (which is why I'm not sure if its a visual or not).

You can try sexing using the tail feathers, it worked for my two pearl birds, but like everything else, its not 100%. Pearls can't be wing spot sexed that I know of.


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## Erinsmom

roxy culver said:


> I'm not 100% sure its a visual pied which is why I didn't list that. Everyone is still not sure what constitutes a true visual pied but here on the forum we go by Srtiel's idea that a clear tail feather or flight feather indicate a visual pied. I don't see either of those on this bird. The light colored toe nails are an indication of being split to pied. The head is different (which is why I'm not sure if its a visual or not).
> 
> You can try sexing using the tail feathers, it worked for my two pearl birds, but like everything else, its not 100%. Pearls can't be wing spot sexed that I know of.


I know the nails can be for split to pied but the breeders I know anyway say different color crest than body visual pied.


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## Erinsmom

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~geoffwatts1/Pied.html

A pied bird can be determined from as young as pin feather stage. The pins on the crest will always appear yellow or white and not the normal body colour of the bird.

that is in the middle of the page


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## Hellena

Any name suggestions? Perhaps unisex names??


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## roxy culver

> A pied bird can be determined from as young as pin feather stage. The pins on the crest will always appear yellow or white and not the normal body colour of the bird.


And this would be true if the bird weren't also a pearl, that's where its confusing to me because pearl can do that as well which is why I always look to tail feathers or flight feathers for pied. Since this bird doesn't have clear flights or clear tail feathers I don't believe its a visual pied.


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## MeanneyFids

actually, yes the bird is pied. look carefully at the clipped flight feathers in the fourth photo down. its hard to see, but those are clear flights  cinnamon pearl pied


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## Erinsmom

roxy culver said:


> And this would be true if the bird weren't also a pearl, that's where its confusing to me because pearl can do that as well which is why I always look to tail feathers or flight feathers for pied. Since this bird doesn't have clear flights or clear tail feathers I don't believe its a visual pied.



Did i miss where she posted a pic of the tail or wings. i see clear feathers although chopped on the bottom of the wing. pearl doesn't affect color only pattern of color


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## roxy culver

No I missed the picture lol. I was looking and didn't see it. So yes the bird is a cinnamon pearl pied. I definitely need to go to the eye doctor!


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## Hellena

I might do DNA testing, the suspense is killing me. I'm getting obsessed with it.


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## Roka.egypt52

bjknight93 said:


> It is a Pearl Pied. And most likely male, because he appears to be split to Cinnamon (red eye reflection).





bjknight93 said:


> It is a Pearl Pied. And most likely male, because he appears to be split to Cinnamon (red eye reflection).


Why males only can be split to cinnamon for pearl pied mutation? My bird is pearl pied split to cinnamon also but i dont know if its male or female yet, i'm so confused!!!!


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## Roka.egypt52

SwiftKey


Hellena said:


> can anyone tell if my tiel is a male or female? Born December 2012.


Hi did you know if he is male or female?


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## Roka.egypt52

bjknight93 said:


> It is a Pearl Pied. And most likely male, because he appears to be split to Cinnamon (red eye reflection).


Hi, that is my pearl pied tiel and i can see red eye reflection in pics, do you think it is split to cinnamon? Is he a a male or a female? Its 9 months and did its first molt month ago. Thanks in advance


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