Bonding Help

[Weelasmaree]

Hi everyone!

I hope you can give me some guidance and not take my thread as too much of a cockatiel noob. I am honestly posting this because I care dearly for both my cockatiels and want the best for them over all.

I have a 10 month old cockatiel, Gromit, who shows almost all signs to being female (white-faced pearl, markings on tail and feathers, across its back). Even when Gromit had her first molt she still have a majority of her pattern. I decided to wanted to get her a friend for the days I worked and I took her to a lady to have her DNA tested (just in case) but even she confirmed Gromit showed signs of a female. I went from there and got Gromit a sister (Ponyo) who is currently 2 months old. Gromit has been great with her over the three weeks I’ve had Ponyo but the last two days Gromit has started to show signs of being horny. Gromit will snuggle with me, to the cage and Ponyo so I’m not sure if just female flirtation or male mating dance...???

If Gromit is a boy I would still like to keep them together as they really adore each other’s company but I do worry about Ponyos age. I don’t want to breed them for babies, I purely want my birds to have a friend.

If anyone can offer me some advice on if Ponyo might accept Gromits advances so young or if she’ll only accept when she may come of maturity (which I understand can be bad for females that aren’t 18-24 months). I want to do the best without separating them and causing heartbreak but will also do what I can to make sure nothing effects Ponyos health or even Gromits.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Tara81]

Explain gromits mating dance? Males will look like their humping something. Females will stick butt in air , lower her frontal body And emit low chirp at a fast rate.

Does gromit do heart wings, rapid woodpecker drumming, mimic whistling, whistling tunes(signs of male) Or does she only chirp when she wants attention, flock calls. (Signs of female)

As for pearl pied male cockatiels, they can keep their pearls for a long time. They will eventually lose their back pearls, but may retain wing pearls. If there is some evidence of pearls lost, it may be a male.

If you see any signs of mating attempt with the other tiel, I would separate in different cages close together until hormones subside. They will still be good company with the cages close together. You can give the tiel some hormone control by increasing sleeping hours to 14 for two weeks, changing cage layout and toys, giving the bird more to do like foraging, playing, outside flying to things he enjoys. If he’s too busy and conditions aren’t favourable, ( changes in environment - more healthy food rather then fatty food ) he may stop being hormonal. Good luck!

 

[Weelasmaree]

Hi, thank you for replying. Gromit has been doing heart wings. Usually never does them, always looks fluffy and quiet! Gromit will go up and down the ladder inside their cage which looks like rubbing. Gromit will chirp heaps when I’m in the room, saying her name or beekaboo, quite a lot. Not so much a woodpecker.

Gromit hasn’t tried to mount Ponyo or anything like that but does hang close to her.

If Gromit is a boy, is it important to keep Ponyo in another cage until she comes of age where her health isn’t at risk?

Thanks again!

 

[Tara81]

Hi, thank you for replying. Gromit has been doing heart wings. Usually never does them, always looks fluffy and quiet! Gromit will go up and down the ladder inside their cage which looks like rubbing. Gromit will chirp heaps when I’m in the room, saying her name or beekaboo, quite a lot. Not so much a woodpecker.

Gromit hasn’t tried to mount Ponyo or anything like that but does hang close to her.

If Gromit is a boy, is it important to keep Ponyo in another cage until she comes of age where her health isn’t at risk?

Thanks again!

Sounds like it’s a male! Not 100% certain but I’d say I’m 90%, I don’t think females do heart wings ever. Females also don’t usually talk or mimic .

As for separating , I am not entirely sure, I do know ponyo is definitely too young for mating. I just don’t know if she will allow him or if he will try if she ignores his advances, which she most likely will do until she’s a bit older. My female tiel started doing her mating chirps at the age of 5 months, so it is possible she could allow it at a younger age then u would think, which then u should definitely separate . Hopefully someone else can give better advice with more tiels as I only have experience with one tiel at a time.

 

[Tara81]

Definitely do try to curb his hormones. Give him 14 hours of sleep. Make him work more for his food. Work on a healthy diet of veges and sprouts. It may be a slow transition if he doesn’t like them.

 

[Weelasmaree]

I will definitely work on limiting the hours and if I see any signs I will seperate Ponyo into another cage beside Gromit. At the moment, Ponyo is just being oblivious and is probably shook by Gromits current behaviour!



Thanks so much for your advice.