male or female? (3 months old cockatiel)

[Ozzys]

hello everyone! im a 17-year-old girl, i recently adopted a 1 month old cockatiel and been hand-feeding "it" ever since he was at that age. Ozzy, my baby cockatiel is now 3 months old, and im dying to know "its" gender. i have posted a video on youtube of him singing. or so i think thats what hes doing... anyways, i think singing at such a young age may indicate hes a male! what do you think?!


heres the link:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmuS7KYj4cw"]My 3 month old cockatiel singing! - YouTube[/ame]

 

[LaManuka]

Hello Ozzys, welcome to the Forums!

Your cockatiel is unfortunately too young to be able to easily determine which gender it is visually. Once it has gone through it's first moult to adult plumage it is MUCH easier, and this generally takes place around the age of 8 months or so. A female cockatiel will retain the rippled colour on the underside of the tail feathers into adulthood. A male will lose that colouring, and the underside of the tail feathers will take on a solid colour. Until that time, your best bet is to have it DNA tested by a certified avian vet to determine the gender.

 

[Ozzys]

Ok! thanks for the response and I guess it's a matter of time till I know. I will always love Ozzy so honestly, this can wait. And I don't know about the DNA test, because our vet said he needed to pluck a feather and personally, I don't want Ozzy to go through stress/pain in any form.

 

[LaManuka]

Ozzys, I can well understand the sentiment of not wishing to inflict any pain or stress on your little bird. I certainly don't like to witness any of mine having injections or having blood drawn myself. However, I do generally recommend people go and have their new birds examined by a certified avian vet as soon as possible after obtaining them. There are several reasons for this. Birds are extremely good at disguising illness, and often by the time an owner recognises that the bird is showing symptoms they are already very sick indeed. It is therefore very important to have your bird tested for illnesses like psittacine beak and feather disease and psittacosis, which are quite common among pet birds. It is also important to have a wellness check every 12 months after that to ensure continued good health. This is how it was discovered that my cockatiel, Fang, has a heart arrhythmia for which he now has daily medication and is doing very well. But we may well have lost him if his vet had not detected his heart condition.

I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to have a certified avian vet (or CAV) available to them in their location. I see you are in Dubai - I'm not sure which of the following vet clinics are closest to you or if they have a CAV on staff but you can always call them and find out...

https://www.nadalshibavet.com/

http://www.dubaivetclinic.ae/

Having a good relationship with your CAV will also be invaluable in future should you have a sudden health emergency with your bird. If Ozzy is checked annually, your clinic will build up a health record for him which could be extremely helpful in the unfortunate event of a health crisis.

I hope you will reconsider and have Ozzy checked for wellness as soon as you can. He may experience a little discomfort now, but I think you will find it will be well worth it to protect his health in the long term.

 

[itzjbean]

Sounds like a male to me with the whistling ! Females can be noisy but it's mostly the males who sing, can learn to talk/whistle certain songs and my 2 females don't do much whistling or singing. They have the occasional chirps but nothing like my males who are more chatty and like to whistle and talk.

So I would say male -- the telltale sign would be lightening of the cheek (turning from darker grey to yellow for male) and if he/she keeps whistling and trying to learn songs, I'm pretty certain you have a boy!

You can always get a DNA test to know for sure -- they're cheap, all online and all you need is a couple tiny spots of blood or just pull a few belly feathers, then it's sent to a lab where they determine sex. I recommend IQBird Testing -- I used them for my last batch of cockatiel babies and the test came back quickly.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Welcome to the forum Ozzys! BB (also a normal grey) when he came home with me when he was 4.5 months old. I posted a picture of him at about 7 months old. Besides them getting the cheek patch,male normal grey's usually get a mostly yellow face. The second picture is of BB at about 2.5 years with his Uncle DJ.




Jim