Whose right???

[Birdie76]

Okay so I'm trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong about Baby's age. Also trying to figure out if he's a boy or a girl. So according to the pet store baby should be 11 or 12 weeks old now. According to the vet baby should now be 7 to 9 month old juvenile who pulled feathers. His feathers are all coming in nicely.

So I'll lay today baby has been doing me soft chirps not the loud ones he does when he's calling for me or the loud excited ones when he knows I'm home these ones are soft trips like he's practicing and twice now I've heard what sounds very close to the wolf whistle so what do you guys think about all this 11-12 weeks seems pretty young to be practicing a wolf whistle. and I know some girls can learn how to wolf whistle but typically that's a boy thing....

Thoughts?????

 

[Hankmacaw]

Personally, I always believe the expert (veterinarian) rather than a salesperson.

 

[Birdie76]

My baby appears to be a mixed breed so it doesn't look like I'll be able to tell whether it's a boy or girl by just appearance baby has been practicing and trying to get to wolf whistle down I've heard it twice with a long pause between the notes it's kind of exciting that baby is learning something new I'm kind of leaning towards the vet's opinion because of the fact the practicing the wolf whistle this seems a little too young for an 11 week old bird and More in line with about 8 months I'd really like to try to figure out if he's a boy or a girl though too

 

[Garet]

There are no different tiel breeds, only color mutations. But with the mutation he looks like he has, you're right about it being harder to sex him.

 

[Birdie76]

Sorry my bad I didn't mean breeds I meant the color mutations he's mostly Gray with a couple patches of white some white on his wings and some dots on the back wings so yeah kind of hard to tell I was hoping for a boy I just don't want to deal with all the egg laying issues and I like teaching them how to do different songs like Andy Griffith I've been doing the wolf whistling Andy Griffith almost the whole month I've had him he likes listening to me and is now trying to do the wolf whistle on his own when mommy's not around he practices up a storm I'm pretty excited though cuz he's getting really close to wolf whistle couple times he's off key mostly he just has a long pause that he needs to clean up a bit however I know some girls can we do wolf whistles too so I'm really not sure how to sex my baby other than doing DNA testing if anyone else has any other ideas please let me know

 

[Hankmacaw]

All you have to do is have it DNA sexed - costs about $25.

 

[zoo mom]

Baby is cute. That is the only information I can give you.

 

[Birdie76]

Do you get that done at a vet??

 

[Hankmacaw]

You can get it done at the vet or buy a kit where you pull a few feathers and mail them in. My understanding is that both methods are pretty accurate.

 

[SandraK]

Personally, I always believe the expert (veterinarian) rather than a salesperson.

Unless the bird in question lays an egg in which case all bets are off. This one though, at 11-12 weeks old shouldn't be doing anything like that. General wisdom is to check the markings under the wings, however, a tiels real markings/colourings usually come in after the first molt around 6 months of age. Doesn't help you one whit.

Can you post any photos without freaking the little one out?

 

[Birdie76]

Best pics I have.... I'm thinking the vet is right on age a baby wouldn't be whistling like this in my experience. As for gender I've got no clue though I'm leaning towards him being male.

 

[Monica]

Males can start whistling around 16 weeks old.


Your tiel is a whiteface split pied. Not confusing at all about color! At 7-9 months old, Baby *should* have started to go through first molt, and if that were the case, then Baby would be female. That said, some cockatiels may not start molting until they are around 12 months old.


I had a female that could wolf whistle. Males don't lay eggs! I imagine she probably learned it from her first home - whoever that might have been...



Any chance of pics of the wings spread out?

 

[Catherine89]

Awe what a cutie it’s so hard to tell the gender. My male was DNA tested by the breeder and does all the usual male things , whistles , talks , and heart wings. He’s 11 months old. He sometimes gets confused for a female because of his appearance. Even the vet second guessed me. You have a beautiful bird either way. As far as the age goes I would definitely go with what the vet says. We got are female from a pet store and they swore up and down she was a he and we thought she was until one day she laid an egg. I find that most people at pet store don’t generally know much about that Type of stuff

 

[Birdie76]

Baby definitely didn't learn wolf whistling before coming to me he really didn't even chirp much and if he wasn't a baby then he was a juvenile that was feather plucking and please to say he's definitely not plucking feathers now and seems very happy but I've been doing the wolf whistling Andy Griffith since I got him it's just been the last 2 days that I've noticed he's been trying to do the wolf whistle it's been probably about a week since I've noticed different chirps like he's trying to learn how to sing a tune

no chance of getting pictures of under the wings at this point we were making some progress on me touching his wings for the harness and all of a sudden we Backslid to the very beginning all he wants to do is pick the crap out of me if I try to touch his wings I can pack but if I try to lift up one....one ticked off birdie!

I am starting to notice some Downy feathers sticking out here and there so I'm thinking the molt just might be starting and that case the vet was definitely right and he is in the six to eight month bracket I guess we'll see I'll try to get pictures if I ever get his wings up

 

[Monica]

Cockatiels can molt as early as 4 months... so the pet store may still not be far off...

 

[Tara81]

Sounds like you were doing your training too fast, as they get older they tell you when they don't like something more easily. I don't know why but I feel like your birdie isn't that old. If I had to guess I would say five months, but that is just a guess ! Some tiels learn to whistle quicker then others . My female tiel didn't do loud chirps til she was 6-7 months old my aunts tiel is already copying her whistles and he's only three months old. When your tiel gets abit older , you might be able to tell if it's a boy or girl by its behaviours . Males tend to whistle a lot, mimic, beak tap things like a wood pecker, strut his stuff with heart wings . Females tend to chirp less, sometimes never at all, when they get in the mood they stick their butt in the air , twitch their wings and do low sexy chirps( like chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp) . My female loves to hang upside down and spread her wings, she does this multiple times a day. I've read males don't do it as often usually, but that's not always the case.

When you are doing desensitization to touching for harness training, are you rewarding him with his favorite treat? Are you keeping training sessions short and sweet? (5-10 mins )

 

[Birdie76]

Yes treats and short sessions guess we're going to have to start over step one...oh well.

 

[Cassandra.c87]

Some of my boys started wolf whistling at 11 weeks so it's possible (100% sure on age as I bred them myself)
pets shops usually get the age from the breeder so you could ask to confirm.
Since your bird is a whiteface split pied it will be easy to sex once it's gone though it's first molt, if male it will get a white face mask and solid tail/wing feathers or stay the same if female

 

[Birdie76]

Thank you I appreciate it I didn't realize white faced lip Hydra that easy to sex I prefer doing it by appearance than DNA testing if possible. I don't really care whether it's a boy or girl I just like to know. Same with age guess it's really not that big of a deal but it's just nice to know. All I really do know for sure is baby is under a year old I may just have to celebrate a Gotcha Day instead of a birthday.

As far as I know this Pet Shop breeds them themselves and hand feeds themselves but since the vet said differently and the pet shop has a bad reputation I thought it was under new ownership just kind of hard to know for sure.

 

[Cassandra.c87]

If the pet shop breeds them I would stick to that age. Vets have been trained to treat birds but visually sexing and telling age isn't one of their strong points. I even have had to tell an avian vet three times my "pretty little girl" was a big boy lol