New bird!! I think it's a cinnamon!

[QuakerMom]

I went to the pet store to get supplies and this little fella caught my eye.. Never had a Cockatiel before. He/she's already teaching me things; for example, while Tiels don't have the bite pressure of a Quaker, they have VERY sharp little razor beaks. They sound like little raptors. And they settle down quickly.

This one doesn't look like a normal dark grey tiel. It's lighter and has a light brown tint to the light grey feathers. And it's beak is a light tan/pink color and its feet are pink. It has two clear & colorless toenails and the rest are a dark tan/light brown color. He or she also has a patch of white feathers (seen in one pic) on the back of the neck.

I'm unsure of the sex. All the primary flight feathers have yellow spots but the 9 secondary feathers are all solid. The outermost tail feathers have lots of barring and gradually less toward the center with the middle tail feather solid. Sorry the pic is a bit blurry.

Is this bird cinnamon? What's the white on the back of it's neck (surely this isn't a pied bird..)? Best guess as to age and gender?
Supposed to be 4 or 5 months old. Pet store had him/her for less than 2 weeks.

Anyways, I think he/she is beautiful! I hope Piper doesn't mind

 

[Mike17]

He/she/it is beautiful, QM. I'm no expert, but your bird's grey looks more, well, grey. My cinnamons have a brownish tinge to the grey. I'm sure someone out there will be able to describe its genetic make-up

 

[thekarens]

Very pretty!

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Congrats, beautiful cockatiel.

 

[crimson]

SHE is beautiful.

I'm pretty sure she is split to white face(the markings on the back indicate that)
and with the few nails being dark, usually indicates being split to pied....so you just may have a double split female cinnamon....but that is only a guess.

Love her crown, she is truly gorgeous...

 

[MikeyTN]

She sure looks like a split to me as well. With cinnamon too but have you tried flashing her eyes with a flash light, you'll catch the red in their eyes if she is.

 

[PieMaster]

She's very cute! Looks excited to be in her new home, as well.

 

[QuakerMom]

Thank you, all! Crimson, I was really hoping for a male. The gal at the pet store thought it was a female because it's a lot calmer than the others were. So I'll call it a her until she proves otherwise lol.
MikeyTN, I just checked her eyes. No red.. just brown iris with black pupils.
Mike17, it's a mousy grey but its a shade I've never seen before. I'll have to get her into better lighting and take more pics once she's more settled in. She was the only Cockatiel there so I had nothing to compare her to. She may be just a normal grey split pied. Whatever she is, I still think she's beautiful.

I understand the females are more prone to screeching and biting.. please tell me this isn't true..?

 

[crimson]

nope,not true at all....I have two here Tundra, and Angus, both females, and are the most docile, sweet friendly ones.

mind you wait until the hormones hit....then it can get a little dicey, ha ha.

btw, I think if she was grey, she would be darker. You'll have to wait until her first moult and see what she is gong to look like when her adult feathers come in....I would have bought her in a second!

 

[QuakerMom]

Thank you, Crimson. I hope she's a sweetie like my Piper. I haven't been through any hormonal phases yet.. I'm a little nervous of them from what I've read on here! I read that Quakers breeding season starts in January; Piper has been unusually "chirpy"... dancing, bobbing her head, talking up a storm, and regurgitating but she isn't aiming the regurgitation at anything or myself.. just regurgitates then swallows it (Thank Goodness!). I've had her since early June and she's never been this "outgoing" or lively. But maybe she's just making up for lost time lol. She isn't aggressive at all so far.

I'm trying to think up a name for the Tiel.. I remember when I got Piper. Her name was Zelda (eww) and she was a mean, biting fool. I called her Devil Bird for the first week haha. The Tiel has got a mean bite. I think she took her beak to the grinding wheel and got it sharp as a razor blade just out of spite LOL. So her nickname is Razor Beak until I find a name that suits her.

 

[crimson]

take the training *s l o w* with her, start off with spoiling her with plenty of treats, and millet, before long she will simmer down.

I'd let her settle in for about 1-2 weeks, giving her treats thru the bars etc....are her wings clipped at all?

 

[QuakerMom]

I will take it slow. From what I've read, Cockatiels are more sensitive than Quakers so I really want to be careful with her. Yes, all her primary feathers are clipped but whoever did it sure did a hack job. Looks like they turned their 3 year old loose with a pair of scissors. They're uneven and they even missed one feather entirely. There's nothing remotely symmetrical about them. Looking at the botch job makes me sad. But I'm not going to stress her by trying to fix the hack job now.

And I have some spray millet. It's like crack for birds! They LOVE that stuff!

 

[QuakerMom]

Ok so I've done Tons of reading about colors and mutations. I'm certain she's a cinnamon; cinnamons have dark eyes, fallow have red eyes. I looked and looked for a picture that matched her and I found a good one! My cell phone just doesn't take good pictures indoors; if I took her outside then I'd be able to capture her colors quite well but we aren't to that stage yet.

Here's the pic I found that looks absolutely identical to her except she has the white patch on the back of her neck. This makes her a cinnamon split to pied? Or double something-or-other?

Thanks so much for the input everyone! :smile015: learning new things!

 

[Mike17]

I'm a bit confused, how can a female be split to anything, let alone two characteristics (OK, I understand pied, because that's not sex-linked).

 

[QuakerMom]

I'm probably using the wrong terms

She's cinnamon. And evidently female. And has a white patch on the back of her neck. And has dark eyes, pink feet, tan/pink beak, and two clear toenails and the rest are light brown.
That's all I know lol.

 

[MikeyTN]

She's split into something but hard to find out unless she is bred or you know her parent's genetics. It hurts my head reading genetics....lol

 

[QuakerMom]

Lol MikeyTN me too! I'd go back and read the articles on genetics again but it's past 1:00 a.m. here and I'm too tired. I should go to bed so I can put the bird in the oven at a decent time tomorrow.
The turkey! Hahaha

Where is the turkey emoticon when ya need it??
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

 

[MikeyTN]

LoL.....I need to go to bed too cause we'll have guests here tomorrow and I need to get up early and clean cages before they show up....ugh....and Malachai had a hay day in his cage, somehow he got through the grate and yanked the paper in his cage and shredded it all over the place....He's a problematic child....

 

[crimson]

this is why my and mikeytn head spin with genetics....

GENETIC TERMS

there is one of two things I can suggest.... take your picture and copy it onto the ACS and ask what mutation your bird is, or I can (with your permission) and go onto the CCS and ask there....

they may not be able to tell without knowing the parents mutations.

 

[QuakerMom]

Crimson... oh my head! I'm so overwhelmed.
What's ACS and CCS? Cockatiel Society? I'll have to Google it.

Thank you ?