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.

[racing_gurl07]

spike is not bright yellow, just getting more yellow the more she molts.

[Jessika]

That's normal though; both males and females have yellow on their heads. At least from the pictures above and comparing them to the two I posted :P

And if she's not bright yellow, then I would assume she is still female and not male

How old is s/he?

[racing_gurl07]

im not sure how old she is, she is just starting to molt for the first time. How old are they when they first molt?

[Jessika]

This page should help you out!

http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/care/molting.html

[racing_gurl07]

i read that when the birds are molting they are crabby, and thats how spike is, but when she is done molting, how do you get her used to your hands/ we always put our hands in the cage, we have been doing that for 4 months now, but doesnt seem to be getting anywhere. you can put your finger through the bars and she will nibble on them, but not inside the cage, she doesnt like that one bit

[tikeyas_mom]

i think it looks like a female.. i suppose a DNA test would be the only was to get a %100 answer.

[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