upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Kennyboy5150 · by **Kennyboy5150** on Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:24 pm

Hello everyone,

I kinda forgot about this site for awhile, sorry! My bad! Since my last visit here, we added 2 'tiels to our flock bringing it up to 4. We had Soul (Male Normal Grey) & Dolce (Male Whiteface) then we added Snickers (Male Pearl) & Chocobo (Female Lutino). We had them all together in one cage and it got kinda crowded so we split them up. Solu with Choco & Dolce with Snickers. Before you know it, Soul and Choco were mating! Just last week all 3 of their eggs hatched! All babies are doing good. Everyone is growing, eyes are beginning to open and pin feathers are starting. Parents diet right now consist of seed mixture, cauliflower, brown rice & applesauce mixture, nut & oat toast, honey nut cheerios, and millet. Soul loves the variety while Choco just wants seeds and toast.

As 1st time breeders, this experience for my wife and I is amazing! It is so fun to watch our lil birds be busy parents. We are both unemployed, so we have all the time in the world to tend to our birds. So here are a few questions we have:

The middle chick, it's head is down a lot. It can hold its head up when it wants to, but does not hold it up as much as the youngest and oldest chicks, what could be wrong?

Since the father is a Normal grey and the mother is a lutino, we have 2 chicks with dark eyes (youngest & oldest) and the middle chick has red eyes. What or how does the genes split? Is this an easy way to sex the birds? Do we have 2 boys and a girl or the other way around?

I heard somewhere that white spots on the back of the neck on a normal grey means it's split to pied, is this true? Soul has 3 white spots in a triangle pattern on the back of his neck. Will our dark eyed babies be pied?

Mother does have a small bald spot on her head, I understand this is a common trait with lutinos. Will this be passed on to the red eyed chick or will it corrected by having a normal grey parent?

And for our Pearl Mr. Snickers, I heard that his markings will go away when he molts. I have not seen any of our birds molt in a long time. I believe Snickers is about a year old, and has awesome spots/pearl markings on him. So my question is, at what age to 'tiels stop molting? I really don't want him to lose his marking. He's such a great bird, constantly chattering and singing.

If any of you experts have any question or concerns please feel free to ask, I'll answer as best as I could. Would love any feedback/help! Thanks guys!

MFids · by **MFids** on Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:12 pm

I kinda forgot about this site for awhile, sorry! My bad! Since my last visit here, we added 2 'tiels to our flock bringing it up to 4. We had Soul (Male Normal Grey) & Dolce (Male Whiteface) then we added Snickers (Male Pearl) & Chocobo (Female Lutino). We had them all together in one cage and it got kinda crowded so we split them up. Solu with Choco & Dolce with Snickers. Before you know it, Soul and Choco were mating! Just last week all 3 of their eggs hatched! All babies are doing good. Everyone is growing, eyes are beginning to open and pin feathers are starting. Parents diet right now consist of seed mixture, cauliflower, brown rice & applesauce mixture, nut & oat toast, honey nut cheerios, and millet. Soul loves the variety while Choco just wants seeds and toast.
First and foremost, welcome back!!!! And gratz on your new additions, both adult and chicks!

Second, the diet doesn't necessarily sound all that great... unless you can provide a healthier fresh food mix, I would suggest incorporating a good pellet (hopefully dye & sugar free) into their diet (no more than 25-50%)

The middle chick, it's head is down a lot. It can hold its head up when it wants to, but does not hold it up as much as the youngest and oldest chicks, what could be wrong?
This chick could just be weaker than the others, born this way or? If you suspect the chick is not thriving, then you best pull him/her.

Since the father is a Normal grey and the mother is a lutino, we have 2 chicks with dark eyes (youngest & oldest) and the middle chick has red eyes. What or how does the genes split? Is this an easy way to sex the birds? Do we have 2 boys and a girl or the other way around?
Assuming there are no splits, all chicks would be normal greys (regardless of sex), and all males would be split lutino. Since one chick has red eyes, this is an indication of the ino gene, cinnamon, or one of the silver mutations. I'll assume either cinnamon or lutino... is the chick feathering out yet to determine whether or not the feathers are grey or white/yellow? If the chick is a cinnamon, it's a female. If the chick is lutino, it could be male or female.

When a bird is split to a mutation, this means that the mutation is recessive, except in sex-linked mutations. Recessive mutations require two genes from both parents in order to be visual, but in sex-linked mutations, males require two genes in order to be visual where-as females require one gene, and females cannot be split. This is because certain mutations are only carried on one part of the chromosome that females lack, therefore if they have the gene, they are always visual. Males are ZZ and females are ZW, with the Z chromosome being larger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZW_sex-det ... ion_system

I heard somewhere that white spots on the back of the neck on a normal grey means it's split to pied, is this true?
Yes.

Soul has 3 white spots in a triangle pattern on the back of his neck. Will our dark eyed babies be pied?
No. The pied mutation in cockatiels is recessive, so unless Chocobo is pied or split pied, there's a 50% chance that all chicks will be split pied.

Mother does have a small bald spot on her head, I understand this is a common trait with lutinos. Will this be passed on to the red eyed chick or will it corrected by having a normal grey parent?
That may depend on whether or not the chick is a lutino.

And for our Pearl Mr. Snickers, I heard that his markings will go away when he molts. I have not seen any of our birds molt in a long time. I believe Snickers is about a year old, and has awesome spots/pearl markings on him. So my question is, at what age to 'tiels stop molting? I really don't want him to lose his marking. He's such a great bird, constantly chattering and singing.
Do you have any recent pictures of Snickers?

Birds molt throughout their entire lifetime, but most pearl males will loose their pearls any time between their first molt (4-12 months old) to 6 years of age. Some males may have a few pearls, and others may have "ghost" pearls, but generally speaking, they will always molt out their pearls. An interesting thing I've recently learned about male pearls, is that even if they appear like normal males, they do keep some mottling on their tail feathers! This is the most sure-fire way to determine an adult pearl male from a normal grey male that will have solid colored tail feathers!

Kennyboy5150 · by **Kennyboy5150** on Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:42 pm

Thank you for your response. I know their variety of food doesn't sound all that great. We've tried a wide variety of fresh food. They won't eat green leafs like kale, lettuce. When given a mix of fresh food, Soul only goes for cauliflower. They really don't like pellets, I've tried to switch to pellet by slowly introducing it into their seed over a 3 week period. All 4 of them just dug through their food looking for seeds...

The middle chick is growing and doing fine, I don't have a scale to take daily measurements. But their crops are draining every morning and you can notice their daily growth.

As for the genetics, I haven't studied this since 10th grade nearly 15 years ago.... I'm just glad we have little babies!

Now here's some pics of the Family!

Snickers - He got that name from a certain 'laugh/chatting' sound he makes. Sorta like a snicker. When we got him, we were told he was less than a year old.

He has gorgeous wings and back.

I've posted pics of Dolce here before. He got his name when he was a sweet bird.
He has lost 2 friends and that seemed to change him a bit. He's still a great bird. He only responds to me, my wife is afraid of him.

This is Chocobo - We named her after a very large bird creature in the video game series Final Fantasy.
She is a very large bird compared to the boys. She is the sweetest bird I have ever met. She loves kisses.
What a Chocobo looks like

What our Chocobo looks like

Here's Soul - He's a gentle Soul, that's how he got his name. He's a great father to his babies.
He is my wife's baby. He likes her more than me...

And here's the babies!! These were taken 4/11/11
Oldest -

Middle -

Youngest -

Here's Soul picking out all the cauliflower

Video of Snickers playing with what's left of his shred toy.

MFids · by **MFids** on Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:47 pm

Thank you for your response. I know their variety of food doesn't sound all that great. We've tried a wide variety of fresh food. They won't eat green leafs like kale, lettuce. When given a mix of fresh food, Soul only goes for cauliflower. They really don't like pellets, I've tried to switch to pellet by slowly introducing it into their seed over a 3 week period. All 4 of them just dug through their food looking for seeds...
It can be difficult to get them switched over, but not impossible. You may find some of the threads in the Avian Diet Discussion forum to be helpful.

The middle chick is growing and doing fine, I don't have a scale to take daily measurements. But their crops are draining every morning and you can notice their daily growth.
Great news! They look to be doing well!

Snickers - He got that name from a certain 'laugh/chatting' sound he makes. Sorta like a snicker. When we got him, we were told he was less than a year old.

He has gorgeous wings and back.

Snickers is indeed a gorgeous pearl! Unless he's a 'late bloomer', he looks like a female! I suppose you will find out for sure within the next year, or by the time he's 2 years old, for sure.

I've posted pics of Dolce here before. He got his name when he was a sweet bird.
He has lost 2 friends and that seemed to change him a bit. He's still a great bird. He only responds to me, my wife is afraid of him.

Dolce looks like he might be a cinnamon whiteface, and I wonder what mutations he may be hiding!

This is Chocobo - We named her after a very large bird creature in the video game series Final Fantasy.
She is a very large bird compared to the boys. She is the sweetest bird I have ever met. She loves kisses.
What a Chocobo looks like

What our Chocobo looks like

I've never played FF, but I do know what a Chocobo is!

I think it's a cute name! Choco appears to bes a lutino pearl. You would be able to find out for sure by putting her under a black light.

Here's Soul - He's a gentle Soul, that's how he got his name. He's a great father to his babies.
He is my wife's baby. He likes her more than me...

Soul looks like a lovely normal grey! Well, they all look quite happy and healthy!

And here's the babies!! These were taken 4/11/11
Oldest -

I'm guessing this one may be a grey.

Middle -

This one most certainly looks like a lutino! Since mum is also lutino, the chick could be either sex.

Youngest -

Nother normal grey, perhaps

Can't wait to see them once they've feathered out!

Here's Soul picking out all the cauliflower

Video of Snickers playing with what's left of his shred toy.

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Both are lovely! And as for foods... you just may need to try preparing the foods differently? Adding in a greater mixture, or? At least one of the threads in the above link may be able to give you some ideas!

F8 · by F8 on Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:49 pm

KB5150, have you tried broccoli, not cooked at all but well washed and raw? If not, I suggest you do so and don't give up if they first refuse it - eventually they should eat it, all mine do. Also Zupreem Fruit Blend pellets are usually a favorite of cockatiels. I am not much for pellets but if the birds love them, a little here and there doesn't hurt, I don't think.

Claudia · by **Claudia** on Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:11 am

How lovely to see pics of your feathered family

Chocobo most definitely looks like a pearl lutino to me, very pretty

And what a lovely cinnamon w/f Dolce is, gorgeous

Try giving your birds some fresh red chillies, the long ones, don't worry, they do not feel the "heat" :wink:

Mine love them though must admit I have a fairly recent addition, Holly, (she was a "fly-in" and her owners never came forward) she is one fussy eater that bird :roll:

The babies look great

Keep us updated with regular piccies of the little fuzzballs please, I love seeing pics of them changing

Claudia · by **Claudia** on Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:15 am

p.s..............I was also going to say that Snickers looks like a female to me so am amazed to read that Snickers is very vocal, I guess you do get the occasional female that makes noises :wink:

If you spread Snickers' wings out and look underneath, see if you can see a row of white dots going all the way along the wing, if you can, I put my money on Snickers being female :mrgreen:

Kennyboy5150 · by **Kennyboy5150** on Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:24 pm

No way Snickers is a female! This boy sings all day. You cannot get him to be quite. He also tries to sing to Choco with his heart wings out. I'll get more pics up tomorrow! And as for Chili peppers, I may end up eating them before the birds do, I love that heat!