Lutino cockatiels

[Maria_Metropolis]

I saw a lutino cockatiel that I liked, and I was wondering if they require any special care. Are they some form of albinism in tiels? They have reddish eyes. Are they less hardy than other tiel mutations?

 

[MikeyTN]

No special care! Same care except do not do prolonged direct sunlight because of the red eyes. Albinos are actually Lutino Whiteface.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Can they get deficiencies because of that? I guess I can't take them outside on a sunny day either????

 

[MikeyTN]

No deficiency that I can think of. People still take them outside just not prolonged exposure. Some may agree to that some may not. I personally just take precautions when I deal with red eyes.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

No birdie sunglasses then?? LOL!

 

[MikeyTN]

Lutinos are actually one of my favorite colors on cockatiels! But I like them all regardless really.

Nope no sunglasses unless you can make one and teach them to wear it.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

I was reading a book on cockatiels and it stated that Lutinos are also more prone to blood feather bleeding.

 

[MikeyTN]

I haven't encounter that in the years of owning Lutinos. But that doesn't mean it's not true. But so far I haven't seen it yet. I have two Lutino females one have blue eyes but unfortunately she's not fertile but she's a good momma as I let her adopt. I haven't encounter that in Albinos (Lutino Whiteface) either. I have a pair that produces Albinos in every batch and Lutinos occasionally.

 

[Mike17]

I was reading a book on cockatiels and it stated that Lutinos are also more prone to blood feather bleeding.

We have two lutino hens from two separate hatchings, and the first hen, Custard, seems very prone to injury from night frights. We had a whole bunch of babies (six) going off yesterday, fluttering around (only it was during the day, so not "night frights") plus Custard and her brother Junior. Custard ended up with blood everywhere, and she was the worst off when the same thing happened in her clutch. She also seems rather clumsy, and a poor flyer with poor eyesight to boot. We're keeping her sister, Aster, from second clutch, so it will be interesting to compare attributes.

 

[MikeyTN]

Mike,

Yes anything can set them off freaking out. I had 9 babies freaking out at once in the cage. When one goes the rest follows. There goes blood fluttering everywhere while I go in to calm them down. Then I checked each one of them one by one to make sure they weren't seriously hurt and stop any excessive bleeding if I needed to. But everything was good thank goodness.

 

[crimson]

Lutino whiteface cockatiels have a weaker gene pool that other mutations actually.

Lutinos are one of my favourites.