Male or Female? *Pics*

[racing_gurl07]

Here are more pics of spike, she loves the camera, as you can see Shes molting now, and getting more yellow on her head, so i think she is going to be a he!


when we first got her, not much yellow

Today-More and more yellow

me feeding her

[crazy_caique]

Spike i agree with you i think might be a male.Does he do the wolf whistle?most females don't do that

[racing_gurl07]

yes spike does the wolf call, she/he is really loud, always talking

[My Peanuts]

There is no way to tell without a DNA test, which is about $30-35 around here. I've had 3 very loud females in the 4 females I have owned over the years. His/her orange patches are light colored which means female, but it's not for sure. Out of those 4 females 2 had dark patches and were loud. I really thought they were males, but DNA tests confirmed they were female. Only laying eggs and DNA tests are for sure.

[racing_gurl07]

how old are they when they first molt?

[racing_gurl07]

as you can see, she will eat out of my hand through the cage,she will try and stick her head through the bars to get the treat (but of course she cant fit) but when i stick my hand in the cage with a treat she doesnt take it. she'll bite at me. why is that so diffrent?

[Jessika]

We thought Soleil was male... until she laid an egg! And then they got a male a year or two later, and there is a BIG difference looks-wise.

Soleil (female):


Sunny (male):


I didn't think there was but there is a noticable difference when comparing the two. And Sunny is under a year old, so he's still fairly young. Soleil, on the other hand, is about two years old.

EDIT: And yes, Sunny is missing feathers from his wings from his previous owners. They had him in with another Cockatiel and it beat him up to the point where he's permanently lost feathers on his wings.

[crazy_caique]

There is no way to tell without a DNA test, which is about $30-35 around here. I've had 3 very loud females in the 4 females I have owned over the years. His/her orange patches are light colored which means female, but it's not for sure. Out of those 4 females 2 had dark patches and were loud. I really thought they were males, but DNA tests confirmed they were female. Only laying eggs and DNA tests are for sure.

your females did the wolf call?I have never heard of a female doing that?

[racing_gurl07]

yeah she does the wolf call..ALL the time! so im not sure what she/he is

[Giselle]

your females did the wolf call?I have never heard of a female doing that?

Both females and males can do the wolf whistle as well as imitate human speech. It's just a common misconception that female birds are less talented in the speech department. On the contrary, females are calmer and, in some cases, more willing to please and easier to train than their bouncy male counterparts.

Like it was mentioned above, eggs and sex-testing (via endoscopy or DNA testing with a feather/blood sample) are the only 100% ways to tell a bird's gender. Since cockatiels have various mutations, you can never really tell a bird's gender through visual characteristics. Assuming most pet cockatiels sold in pet stores are Normal Grays, however, it looks like Spike is most likely a female. Although she is gaining a lot of brighter yellow, her color points predominantly to females.

Does Spike like any yogurt treats or plain millet seed? You can sprinkle a few teaspoons of millet seed in your hand before feeding breakfast. She should be hungry enough by now to accept food directly from your hand. Just try to be patient. Things will turn around soon enough. Have you bought Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot by Mattie Sue Athan? It really is an excellent guide