AboutRev. Dr. S.August Abbott Expertise Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council member; Own animal rescue org; National Wildlife habitat #66378; bird care, nutrition & behavior consultant; International Assoc. of Animal Behavior Consultants Associate; National Wildlife Federation Leaders Club member; published bird care, info and behavior articles and guides.
Ongoing education in exotic bird behavior and nutrition
I can answer behavioral, nutritional, environmental, characteristic/personality questions as well as general health and health care.
No animal emergency can ever be addressed on the internet. We cannot see your animal, perform an examination, provide necessary care or medication.
Please value your companion for the priceless, living creature they are; not for what you might have paid for them.
Experience For more than 30 years I've worked with veterinarians, protective facilities, nature centers, preserves and on my own in providing care and education with regard to multiple animal species, including raptors (hawks, kestrals, owls, etc) and marsupials. In recent years I've focused on parrots, usually rescued from abusive or less than ideal situations and helping educate owners as to proper care. Expert in behavior studies and modification of problem behavior.
Organizations 4AnimalCare is the organization I run as an animal ministry; World Wildlife Association, Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, National Wildlife Federation Leaders Club and more
Publications Bird Talk Magazine articles about rescued and problem macaws.
Education/Credentials Doctorate, Ordained Minister
Question first off I would like to know how do you sex a tiel? We have what I am very sure is a female. When I turn her over I can see distincked bands running horizontally on her tail feathers, but she also has bright cheek patches. Olie is very noisy which I was told also suggest that she is female. Lately she sits on the bottom of the cage all puffed up and mean looking rocking back and forth. Is that a laying position? Also I cannot get her to eat fresh fruit or veggies. She will nibble off my plate but not in her cage. She loves her seeds and will absolutely scream at the top of her lungs if I am late feeding her. Is that healthy?
Answer Normal Grey females have minor traces of yellow around the beak/eyes, forehead and their orange cheek patch is a bit dull. There is yellow and grey barring on their tails.
Males have bright orange cheek patches and after their first molt at 6-8 months of age, no barring on the tail.
Normal Whiteface, Fallow, Yellow Cheek, Cinnamons, Silver and other mutations are also best determined as male’s being without the tail barring and brighter cheek patches (when a patch exists).
Pearls - are more difficult because some new mutations in males don’t lose their markings until later, if at all. Males should have yellow or white faces; females having grey or brown.
Lutinos/Pearl Lutinos - Males lose their tail bars after the first molt (6-8 months); however, again, some breeders claim this doesn’t happen until later, if at all, in some new mutations.
Females tend to have the bright yellow areas under the flight feathers. If you can find the bars on the tails and yellow under flight feathers, it’s pretty positively a female (thus the absence of these characteristics indicate a male).
Albinos (actually Pieds and Lutino-Whitefaces) need DNA sexing. There are some breeders who claim to be able to tell sex by feeling pelvic bones, but even long-experienced avian vets don’t generally claim this ability. There’s a 50-50 chance the person who claims to be able to tell, will be right.
There’s a lot more detail about sexing here http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/genetics/vsexing.html
There’s also two other ways to tell. If the bird lays and egg (girl) and if the bird talks using a variety of words rather than just whistles (likely male; however, some females have been known to talk with a limited vocabulary).
When it comes to feeding options and ideas to keep her as healthy and long lived as possible, copy and paste this into your address bar
www.4AnimalCare.org/birds
