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PostPosted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:59 am 

Joined: 10 Jun 2008
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Hi everybody ,

This topic was put in the arab version of the forum by " Dr. Hassan Salama " so all his copyrights are reserved .

This is the link to the original text : http://canaryfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3695" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The cockatiel belongs to the parrot species . It's very important to know how to differentiate between a male and a female for many reasons :

- Baby cockatiels : the breeder might lose time and effort by pairing a pair of males or females and starts to give them a full time care , providing all breeding circumstances and he might find them living in harmony and intimacy . And when they grow and are able to breed , the breeder faces two problems : no eggs ( 2 males ) , or a huge amount of infertile eggs ( 2 females ) .

- Taming and training : here is a bigger problem , because we must know the gender of birds in a very young age before the first molt which almost starts at the age of 6 months .
So does it matter to know the gender of your bird if you're going to tame and train it ?
I believe it does matter , as there is a great difference between male and female cockatiels in achieving the trainers target . Male cockatiels are great singers and mimic very good , they can even learn to say some words and sentences and start chatting , but it bites slightly if ignored and not communicated with frequently . Female cockatiels are very quiet , love their human friends and bonds strongly with them , but they are not good singers or talkers . That's according to my own experience knowing that some bird owners disprove this .

There is a difference in shape and character between male and female cockatiels which is called " Dimorphic Parrot " , so we can differentiate between both genders as follows :

First : Through feathers :

- Color mutations involved : Normal – Silver – Fallow – Whiteface – Albino .

1- The face : After the first molt ( juvenile molt ) , dark yellow color appears in males faces ( white color in White face males ) , but females faces don't change and appears grey as baby Normal cockatiels , and little yellow ( white in Whiteface females ) markings might appear in females faces in some cases .

Male :

Image

Female :

Image

This photo was added in a reply just for illustration :

Image


2- Tail feathers : In males the lower feathers ( the longest two feathers lying under the upper feathers of the tail ) are dark grey ( almost black ) and lose the yellow barrings ( horizontal yellow bars across the tail which exist in juvenile birds and females ) .
In females these feathers keep their grey color and yellow barrings like juvenile cockatiels .

Male :

Image

Female :

Image


3- Wing feathers : we can know juvenile birds from these feathers , as when we stretch a juvenile male cockatiels wing we find yellow barrings but mostly don't exceed 2/3 of the feather length . But in male ( mature ) cockatiels we don't find these barrings in contrary to females .

Juvenile male ( notice that the first feather is molted ) :

Image

Male ( mature ) :

Image

Juvenile and mature female :

Image


- Lutino cockatiels :

The previous instructions are applied on it , but in order to see the barrings which are cream on yellow or yellow on cream , you need high illumination .

Tail feathers : In males the lower feathers ( the longest two feathers lying under the upper feathers of the tail ) are cream white or bright yellow and lose the yellow or cream barrings . In females these feathers keep their yellow or cream barrings like juvenile cockatiels .

Juvenile male :

Image

Male ( mature ) :

Image

Female :

Image


- Pearl cockatiels :

After the first molt the male loses the advantage of this color which is the spots that cover each feather , and keeps on losing them in next molts . Females keep these spots as juvenile birds . The face of both genders follow the Normal cockatiels rule .

- Pied cockatiels :

It's hard to know the gender in this color , because of the big interference and disorder of many colors . In some cases , if the tail is like the Normal we might specify the gender through the tail .

Second : Through genetics :

There are some sex-linked mutations like Lutino , Pearl and Fallow . For example : if the male is one of these sex-linked colors and the female is Normal , then all nestlings with the male color are females .

Third : Through behavior and sound : ( starting from 3 month of age )

Females are quiet and make normal whistles ( screams ) . Male cockatiels are energetic ( moves around the cage ) , curious , sings melodies , and can talk and make specific whistles if trained to . Male cockatiels also have special positions , like shaping its wings like a heart by moving them closed a little away from his body , or moving one of its legs up and close his toes while singing or talking .

Fourth : Through pelvic bones :

To do this the bird should be fully mature , and the female should have laid eggs before . Besides the person who does that should be trained to do it . The female pelvic bones are wide and apart . ( This method won't work unless for an expert ) .

Fifth : Through DNA test :

I don't think we need it for cockatiels as it's not widely available here , although it's easy and cheap in America and Europe .

Best wishes and Good luck :)




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PostPosted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 1:34 pm 
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Thank you Mahseh for translating this topic to English and the others.

Keep on the good working.

Good luck.




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PostPosted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 11:56 am 

Joined: 10 Jun 2008
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Hi Abdo Abu Seir ,

You're welcome and I'm at your service :)



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