Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how can I tell if I have a male or female bird, what age etc

Well, with most species of birds it`s impossible to tell the age beyond the first year or so. An avian vet can take a look at a few things and GUESS a general age. But this usually comes out `Well, he looks to be in his prime, so I`d say somewhere between...` or `This bird`s old, so he`s probably...`

With cockatiels specifically, males don`t get their adult plummage until after their first molt or two. So if he changes colors on you, you know he was under a year of age when you got him.

As for sex... I`m assuming you`re talking cockatiels? It depends on the mutation of the bird, but:

With normal greys, cinnamons and white-faces: a dully colored face means a female. A bright yellow or white face means a male.

With pearls: As a general rules, only females keep their pearling. So if you have an adult, heavily pearled bird it`s a female. Some people say that pied male pearls keep their pearling, though.

With lutinos: wait until a tail feather molts and then hold it up in front of a light. If there are faint stripes it`s female. If it`s a solid color it`s male.

With pieds: Pieds are notoriously difficult to sex. There`s no simple way to do it. You can guess based on some of the signs mentioned above, but you might be wrong. You can guess based on behavior, but you might be wrong. You can have someone who`s experienced in `hip sexing` feel the bones of the bird`s hips and guess, but they might be wrong. A DNA test will tell you for sure if you really need to know.

With `albinos` (all white birds): to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to visually sex an albino.

As a general rule with all mutations: females have stripey tail and butt feathers, and males have solid-colored feathers. And females have a series of white dots on the underside of their wings.