Pied baby, purple/red eyes? Gender guesses?

[LiveLaughLove]

Hi all!

I have a new pied baby, hatch date of 6/10/14, so 9 weeks old. We have had him about a week. When I look at him, I get a male vibe. We named him Christoff for the time being. I know pied is hard to sex so I have a kit coming in the mail for a DNA test. In the meantime though I figured I'd see what people thought!

Also I don't typically use flash, I'm huge on natural lighting. For these pics I used flash and I've noticed his eyes are a purple ish red color. Like a plum maybe. Is this normal? I had a normal gray growing up and never saw his eyes like this. I'm new to the pied mutation.

The dad was lutino and the mom was muted gray. He had 2 other siblings, one lutino and one muted gray.

[maxollie]

Hi, and welcome to the community. Christoff is so special and handsome. I lean towards a male, although, as you said, it is hard to sex them. It is good you are doing the DNA test. The tail feathers do include some with bars, however, in my view there are more black and grey feathers than those that are with bars. Another clue for a female is to look at the under wings. Normal grey females have beautiful underwings. They look like lace, with those yellow and white markings, similar to the picture you posted of the tail feathers. And the cheeks are very bright orange/red, whereas, females generally have lighter colored cheeks.

Personally, I would say that the camera has produced that "red eye", because generally pieds do not have red eyes. Lutinos are generally yellow feathered and have red eyes. There also are white Lutinos who can have red eyes. They are pure white just as the Lutino is pure yellow. I definitely can see some Lutino in him. And of course the normal grey.

Thanks for posting the sweet pictures. I'll be looking for your updates on Christoff, and do stop by often and post pics too!

[LiveLaughLove]

Thanks for the response! I didn't realize how quiet this board was!

I can't seem to get the red eyes away no matter what camera I use so who knows, but I took some updated pics of "him"

[ninjatech]

He is very handsome!!

[clawnz]

Welcome to the forum.

Most of the forums are quiet this time of the year. And I thought this one was doing very well, all things considered.

Anyway I am going with female.
So will be watching to see who is right.
You have a few months before you could say one way or another, so DNA is the way to go.

I see a couple of stress bars on her clear tail feather? That is always interesting, what may of caused it.

[LiveLaughLove]

Thank you guys! And your right, summer is probably super quiet. I'm in florida and kids started school already so I'm out of summer mode haha

One thing I read was that the Lutino gene is sex linked and so because the parents were Lutino with the dad being the Lutino, all Lutinos born will be female and any non Lutino would be male. I am so clueless when it comes to genetics that this doesn't make any sense to me haha

[maxollie]

After looking at the latest pictures, I have gone on-line and did some research. Could you tell me what you meant by "muted grey"? After looking at some pics and reading about the cinnamon mutation, and re-reading your first post telling us that the dad was Lutino and the mom "muted grey", I believe now that the "muted grey" you speak of is actually the cinnamon mutation. I now feel that your baby is a "cinnamon pied". And from what I just read, cinnamon pieds can have dark or dark purple eyes when they are first hatched. The eye color may change from the purple to just a darker colored eye in a few weeks or as he/she gets older, but nevertheless the purple or wine color should continue to be present when you look at the eyes, even if only so slightly. I took another look at all the pics, and I definitely see some "cinnamon" colored feathering on Christof. So, I believe you are correct in your thoughts about his/her eyes. He/she is a "cinnamon pied". (because the dad was all yellow (Lutino) and the mom was either all cinnamon or perhaps a cinnamon pied as well! So my first post of being a normal grey pied was incorrect.

You might wish to do a little research yourself. So I would suggest you google: Cockatiel Cinnamon Mutations. Also google: Cockatiel Cinnamon Pied Mutations.

I do believe the purple color could come from either of the parents if the mother was a cinnamon mutation. The information you read about Lutinos is correct in my view. But since Christoff is a cinnamon pied, I do not think the research you read about the sex of the bird woulod apply because he is a "pied", not a Lutino. I have not heard of "muted grey" cockatiels. So i feel that would be "cinnamon" cockatiels.

In the meantime, your little tiel is just precious. He/she looks so happy and healthy. Do stop back often and give us some updates.

Should one day Christoff greet you with a "wolf whistle", or begin whistling a tune he might have heard on the radio or TV, or start barking like a little dog from hearing a dog outside, then I would say you most probably have a male. Females are more docile. They do make cheeping sounds and other sounds, but generally do not mimic words or songs or do they wolf whistle.

I have homed both and quite frankly I LOVE both male and female. Cockatiels are very unique, and have a determined personality. However, I just think they are the perfect bird to have in your home. I also love budgies.