Young baby behavior

[OfficerI]

Hello everyone, I would just like some confirmation that this is male behavior. The cockatiel in this video is about 8 weeks old.

You can skip to 15 seconds to avoid the dino noises:

Thanks so much everyone, the reason I keep wanting to make sure that this is a male is because my friend had a female cockatiel and suffered a traumatic loss over egg binding and it was just horrible, I do not want to get a female cockatiel due to that scar.

You can check out my other threads to see more pics of him!

 

[iamwhoiam]

Can you have them DNA sex the 'tiel? He/she is very cute, btw.
@Monica is usually good at determining if a 'tiel is male or female although this one is only 8 wks. old.

 

[Tara81]

This seems like just tiel behaviour to me. Calling to his flock mates. My female does the same thing when I leave the room. Males will do this also.

Looks pied and is unable to be sexed visually.

 

[Monica]

There's a small chance that this chick could be visually sexed, even though it is ADM Pied. ADM Pied, usually just called "pied" for short, is "Anti-DiMorphic Pied". Dimorphism is where there are sexual differences between the genders, which is true in almost all cockatiel mutations (visually speaking), including, to a degree, the pied mutation. Light and potentially medium pieds may be visually sexed as adult birds, and possibly as young birds even, but heavy pieds cannot be. Heavy pieds and clear pieds remove all sexual dimorphism seen (again, visually speaking). There may be other clues, but as @iamwhoiam mentioned, your chick is rather young so it's hard to tell.

Knowing parents genetics *may* help as well in determining the gender of the chick, but then again, maybe it wont.

Males will start singing around 16 weeks of age, give or take... so you may have a better clue once the chick is older.


I have had several female cockatiels through the years. Currently have two, my first cockatiel that will be turning 18 this year (in less than a month!) and a younger hen that's a foster. My girl is an egg layer, too! Although, she's never figured out what to do with her eggs! She knows she's supposed to sit on them, but she can't figure it out so usually just gives up and walks away. She was hand raised though, rather than being parent raised. There are methods of preventing egg binding, which includes having your hen (if you end up with a hen rather than a male) on a healthy diet and allowing her full exercise. This means not clipping her wings and either allowing her the chance to exercise out of her cage in a safe room or getting her an aviary (not flight cage, but an aviary) where she can fly around in. Other steps can be taken as well to discourage egg laying.

 

[OfficerI]

There's a small chance that this chick could be visually sexed, even though it is ADM Pied. ADM Pied, usually just called "pied" for short, is "Anti-DiMorphic Pied".

However, on this image collage by Suzanne, it shows that the yellow streaking on pieds means male right?
SEXING COCKATIELS - Album - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

 

[Monica]

That's correct. That said, it's not 100% reliable way. As indicated, females that are split whiteface can have yellow streaking.

My 18 year old cinnamon pearl pied hen has yellow streaks. Fostering a young 2-3 year old pearl hen that has some yellow and grey streaks.

 

[OfficerI]

That's correct. That said, it's not 100% reliable way. As indicated, females that are split whiteface can have yellow streaking.

My 18 year old cinnamon pearl pied hen has yellow streaks. Fostering a young 2-3 year old pearl hen that has some yellow and grey streaks.

What exactly is split whiteface? I never understood that. Thanks!

 

[Monica]

Split whiteface just means that if paired with another bird that is also split whiteface, or visually whiteface, then the pair can produce visual whiteface offspring.

 

[Weelasmaree]

That is one cute tiel!

 

[EkkieLu]

What a cute little guy!!!

 

[Tinabell]

I have a question, the gravely constant loud sound this bird made in the beginning of the video is that normal in a 6 week old baby. I went to visit a cockatiel I’m thinking of getting and it constantly made this sound for about 10 minutes never stopping once while I held it made this sound. I felt so badly for it . The breeder said it’s just that it wants food , but that it doesn’t need any right now. She said it always makes that sound even when fed . It was practically jumping out of the tiny cage and 2 other babies where in it. Is this sound normal ? It seemed to me like it was angry or scared. If never stopped the
loud sound . What does that sound mean ?

 

[Tinabell]

This is the sound of made and would t stop for over 10 minutes while I held it.
It seemed agitated and would try to it my fingers. Maybe it’s just hungry? Is it normal if its supposedly big time to be fed yet?

 

[OfficerI]

I have a question, the gravely constant loud sound this bird made in the beginning of the video is that normal in a 6 week old baby. I went to visit a cockatiel I’m thinking of getting and it constantly made this sound for about 10 minutes never stopping once while I held it made this sound. I felt so badly for it . The breeder said it’s just that it wants food , but that it doesn’t need any right now. She said it always makes that sound even when fed . It was practically jumping out of the tiny cage and 2 other babies where in it. Is this sound normal ? It seemed to me like it was angry or scared. If never stopped the
loud sound . What does that sound mean ?

Hello! I believe this is the 'begging' sound baby tiels make. It can mean they're hungry, want attention or something else. Nothing to be worried about as long as the baby is weaned.

 

[Tinabell]

It just never stopped for over 10 minutes . It was so so anxious. I think it was hungry . When she went to open the door to the tiny cage it was trying to get out with all its might . She said it wasn’t feeding time yet. She says they always do that even after being fed. Is that right for a 6 week old cockatiel that’s already eating some millet and seed ? They had a bowl of it in the cage.
I felt so sorry for it I wish I could have fed all 3 babies . It just didn’t seem right. I have seen other babies and haven’t seen that behavior so strongly . Maybe it’s a cockatiel thing ? I’m my heart I think it was hungry, I’m not liking the way the breeder is taking care of them. I might be wrong, so that’s why I’m posting the question as I don’t have experience with baby cockatiels.

 

[finchly]

It just never stopped for over 10 minutes . It was so so anxious. I think it was hungry . When she went to open the door to the tiny cage it was trying to get out with all its might . She said it wasn’t feeding time yet. She says they always do that even after being fed. Is that right for a 6 week old cockatiel that’s already eating some millet and seed ? They had a bowl of it in the cage.

Seems to me they don’t do it *all* the time in between meals. At least from what I remember, they only cried when not hungry a couple of times. They won’t wean until around 10 weeks, until then I fed whenever they asked to be fed.

 

[Tinabell]

Seems to me they don’t do it *all* the time in between meals. At least from what I remember, they only cried when not hungry a couple of times. They won’t wean until around 10 weeks, until then I fed whenever they asked to be fed.

That makes sense to me too. It was too much, those poor baby bird. He was trying to eat my fingers if they got anywhere near . I should have felt his crop , I didn’t think of it.

 

[hrafn]

I had a very young 'tiel named Kuli a few years ago who would constantly make that noise, begging for comfort feedings. He could go on forever.

Perfectly normal for a baby.

 

[Tinabell]

Should they be fed if they cry like that or just ignore it? I just wasn’t sure?

 

[Tinabell]

She says they should ready to go home in two weeks . I also asked her not to clip the wings, she said she wasn’t sure if she could do that.

 

[Monica]

Even young cockatoos make the noise, although it sounds more "dinosaur" like... it is normal, to an extent. If the chick weans around 8 weeks, it should be eating on it's own for at least 2 weeks before being sent home. If the chick hasn't been eating on their own for at least 2 weeks, this increases the chance of the chick regressing and wanting comfort feedings.