[Other] Is my Tiel Male or Female?

[BubbaDuck02]

We got Bubba about 7 months ago but we have no idea if it is a boy or girl. Can anyone tell me how to tell what sex it is?

[Trisia Wafer]

The males have the bright yellow head, with bright orange cheek paches. Females have quite bright orange, but very dull yellow heads, and females have a barred pattern on their tail, where as males have a plain tail. And you can only tell after 6 months old because before that they all look like females. Good luck in finding out hope i was of some help

[samplekitten]

what about the pearl cockatiel is it about the same i just found out i have a female but she has a plan tail and how old can you let them breed she is in a cage with a another female my pearl is about five mounth old i watch here go up to my 14 week old male and whant him to breed but he didnt know what she whanted but i took him out of there i thought she was a male i found out she is a female can someone please tell me i have older birds i know there over two years old.

[flyingduster]

the pearl is the same in the way of face and tail. but one interesting fact about pearls is that the males usually LOOSE the pearl markings! they don't loose them all the first moult, it takes several moults.... so they end up looking like a normal male! however, i have heard of a female loosing her pearls.... and i wouldn't put it beyond them that males could keep their pearls! not that i've ever heard of it...... but like i said, i reckon it could happen! LOL
anyway, your tiels are WAY too young to breed! i say they need to be at LEAST 18 months, preferably 2 years before even CONSIDERING breeding!

One thing: your 5 month old 'female' is too young to sex! young tiels (younger than 6-8months) look like females! even the males look like females, until they molt! plus, of course a 14 week old tiel wouldn't know how to breed! are you sure the pearl was asking to breed, not asking to be preened.........?
you thought the pearl was a male....? why, it still could be!
best of luck! but please don't try to breed these guys! check out the breeding forum......

FD

[carriejo24]

I read that the spots only on the outside feathers indicate a male is this always true?



His head was all brownish now it is comming in white.

[Luna1285]

Looks like a young white face cinnamon MALE (split to pied). I think he has a white mask...

The spots do NOT indicate a male. They do hawever indicate that he is young. Females and young birds have barring and spots.

[DrJenDVM]

A really easy and cheap way to find out most definitely if your tiel is a male or female (because some colors are impossible to tell and personality sexing is sometimes inaccurate) is DNA sexing! There are several websites, and just about all of them charge only $20 (or under) to get your tiel sexed. It's really easy. Here are the websites that do it:
www.avianbiotech.com
www.healthgene.com

[NavetG8r]

Here are 2 pictures of 2 different angles of 2 adult pearls side by side, one is male and one is female. Guess which is which.

[DonnaNorm]

we purchased our tiel on wed,belived to be a female,her cheeks are not that bright but she doesnt have the lines under her tail its just very dark,is she female?, not sure of age either.

Donna & Norm

[nightlady]

Donna i would guess yours is male because of the beak banging. Does he sing/whistle/talk?

Under a year old is very difficult to visually sex them. As babies, greys look the same - both male and female. Males look just like females before their first moult (6 to 8 months old usually) - they don't have bright cheeks, their faces are still grey, and they have the barring under the tail area/legs.

Once a male grey moults, he will lose the barring under the tail/legs, his cheeks will get brighter and his face will turn yellow.

Without pictures and not knowing the age, it's difficult to say but it sure sounds male by the behavior anyway. It's also possible you don't have a regular grey and it's even harder to tell then, pieds for example are pretty much impossible to visually sex.

Would love to see pictures though!

[Jr_sanchez]

Chant id definately say male. I used to breed grey tiels..and ALL the babies looked like you first picture. They all looked like a female. But as they got older and molted, the males would develop a yellow head (as yours did) and the stripes under their tail would turn to more solid colors

so basically what this picture says is true?



and does this go with all tiel?S

[mells001]

A lot of places are able to do DNA testing for a fairly good price now, you may be able to find one in your area. I found one here in Victoria Australia that does the testing on feathers for $20 AU. Pretty good if you would like to know for certain before their first molt.