can anyone tell me if my cockatiel is male or female

[bhutu]

Hi i brought a handtamed cockatiel from my friend 1 month ago. she said it is 5 months old.i found that some yellow color thin feathers are coming out in his orange spot. please let me know it is male or female?.my cutie is lutino cockatiel.i have attached the pictures in album..please let me know??:11:confused wat to name so i call cutie

 

[bhutu]

 

[Dinosrawr]

If I recall correctly, the only way to tell from looking is by the bands on the bottom side of the tail feathers near the vent. I don't think they're like budgies where you can tell by the cere. Otherwise, it requires DNA sexing or knowing the sex linked colour mutations. But other cockatiel experts may know better than me, since I know nothing about cockatiel genetics.

 

[Nakiska]

I can tell you from my personal experience that male cockatiels are MUCH more vocal than females. I rescue purchased a beat up young Lutino cockatiel from an I'd rather not mention pet store. They were selling it as a male named Hector.

Well by the next day, I was relatively positive he was actually a she and I named her Chiquita.

She was just so quiet, always was...SOMETIMES she's pipe up and chirp, but not very often. Sweetest girl ever. Lost her on June 12th, this year.

There is also a comparable difference between female cockatiel "chatter" and male tiel chatter. In my experience.

I've been owned by 5 cockatiels, 3 males and two females and all 3 of my males learned to talk very well and whistle. My females have never uttered anything close to a word or a whistling song.

It' can be difficult to tell sex visually with Lutino's...especially if you get a really light colored one like my Chiquita was.

If you have a real chatterbox and think it may be trying to mimic you at times, you probably have a male.

My Chicken Little started saying his name at 3 - 4 months old

Congratulations with your new addition! I personally find cockatiels to be the sweetest of them all!

(I think in my signature line, I have a video clip of Chicken Little talking and chattering)

Good Luck!

Toni

 

[SilverSage]

Lutino cockatiels cannot be visually sexed unless you know what the parents were.

While the noise indicator holds true much of the time, I have a nearly silent make tiel, and a chatter box female who is one of my loudest birds and whistles often. A lot of how a bird was raised, noise level of the house, training, diet, and personality influence how loud a bird is, so that is not a hard and fast rule either.

DNA sexing is quick, easy, and only costs $19.50 from Avian BioTech.

If you know what the parents look like though, we might be able to tell you the gender because Lutino is a sex linked mutation and can only be inherited certain ways.

 

[CrazyAnimalLady]

This is a good article on sexing lutinos. At the bottom there are directions on using a black light and your phone.

http://www.justcockatiels.net/lutino.html

 

[SilverSage]

Amazing article!

 

[CrazyAnimalLady]

It works to. I have a DNA d lutino hen. I tried it against her and a friends DNA d male and the bars and spots do show up on the hen using both methods. You can clearly tell male from female this way.

 

[SilverSage]

I love it. I spend what time I can on her site, the woman is brilliant, but I just found her recently and hadn't found that article yet. As much as my pride dislikes being wrong in public, I'm glad to have learned this

 

[CrazyAnimalLady]

Until I read that. I believed it was DNA or guess. Hahahaha so. It was awesome for me too and only found it a few weeks ago.

 

[CrazyAnimalLady]

She really is amazing. I have learned so much from her. Studying genetics in cockatiels is so friggen interesting. There is so much to learn. Her information has made my life so much easier.