Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have two cockatiels. i knoe that one is definately a male. the other one who is about 5 or 6 years old has ALL the characteristics of a females it but has never layed an egg. my two cockatiels were also mating during the mating season and made a nest out of sticks and grass. is it possible that my bird is a female but never layed an egg if he/she is could she start to lay eggs at this age? thanx

If they're mating like you say then one is male, one is female.
Females CAN go without laying eggs, it's not something they HAVE to do just because they're female but if they were actually mating I think she would've layed an egg.

Your description of the (female) isn't clear. What colour/mutation is she? Does she have bars across the under tail & under wings? etc...can you post a pic of her? Whats her general temperament like? Do either of the talk whistle etc...? if so which one?

the bird that i think is a girl does not whistle, is not as friendly as the other one, has spots on "her" underwing, is grey, and only has small very unclear patches of yellow, the cheeks arent very rosy, and basically ever other characteristic of female tiels. i would post a picture but it takes forever to load it on and we'll see if she lays an egg. thanx

also they started mating about a month ago. how long does it take for tiels to lay egg after mating?
i can always look it up online. just a quick question

Just because two cockatiels are going through mating behavior does not mean they are male and female. We have two cockatiels housed together both males (DNA tested!) They go through full mating behavior very regularly one always assumes the male role while the other always assumes the less dominate female roll. I also have an female orange winged amazon that was housed with a female yellow nape amazon before coming here. They were both also DNA tested. They went through mating behavior as well with one assuming the dominant male roll (the yellow nape) and one assuming the female roll (the orange wing).

Mating behavior in birds can be a sign of either dominance or even possibly of companionship. We checked with our avian vet and he said it is quite common for two birds of the same sex housed together with no birds of the opposite sex (sometimes even with opposite sex birds) to show mating behavior with each other. This is nothing to worry about and is no proof of the sex of the birds.

She does sound like a female by what you've described in appearance (if she's a normal grey it's very easy to tell by appearance) but the jouveniles also look like females. How old is she?

My female is age 10 & has never laid an egg. She has never been around another bird tho, either male or female.

k thnx every1 4 responding