How do i tell the gender of my cockatiels without a dna test?

Question

i have to cockatiels both i think over a year old and i dont know what gender they are. i want to know so i can get to more of the oppossite for breeding heres some pictures

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t158/lmacri223/DSC03705.jpg

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t158/lmacri223/DSC03711.jpg

Answer 1

Hi,

Because they are pieds you can't s*x them visually or not reliably anyway. The best and most reliable way of sexing cockatiels is to get hold of them tip them on their back, just above the birds vent then place you thumb or finger there and gently press down until you feel two bones. Now if the bones are close together and almost touching then its male and if they are female then the bones will be far apart to allow the eggs to pass through.

Answer 2

im pretty sure the first is a girl and the second is   a boy , u can tell because boys usualy loose there markings or colors and girls dont.

Answer 3

In the animal kingdom, males are going to be the prettier/more colorful ones. They have to compete for the females attention afterall. Look at your pied (I believe). His cheeks are pretty defined and bright. Is his crown really big? Now the white faced unfortunately has no orange cheeks, but the other rules still apply. If his crown is noticeably long? I also heard that if you look under their wings, if there are horizontal stripes then its a sign of being a male or female, i just cant remember which it is.

Answer 4

Markings aren't a reliable way to tell a bird's gender, not with all the color mutations that are out there; I've seen birds that have all the markings of a female but are most certainly male.

I really want to say the first one is female but that's only because it looks just like a bird I had which was female. The second bird looks rather narrow-bodied, like a male. If when you look down on it from above, the first bird looks wider-bodied (specifically look at the chest/back region) than the second, it's probably female. Females are wider-bodied than males, and after living with two 'tiels for nine years and knowing what the sexes look like, that's the indicator I always look for. It can be hard to notice at first, but if you've trained your eye to look for it, it's pretty accurate; females are wider-bodied than males because they do the egg-laying and such.

Their behavior may also give you a clue. Male 'tiels tend to sing more, and they often have specific songs: sometimes these sound like the bird is saying "I'll be good, I'll be good," "Whee-wherr, whee-wherr, whee-wherr," or a really loud (basically screaming) "Tell me it! Tell me it! Tell me it!" When singing, a male 'tiel sometimes shuffles sideways, back and forth, on the perch with his wings held 2-3 centimeters out from his sides. When on the floor (or the bottom of his cage) he'll kind of swagger about with his wings out like that, so that he looks kind of heart-shaped from above. I like to call that the "tough guy routine". That's certainly what it looks like. He'll also do a sudden, impressive hop every now and again, then immediately pause and look at you (or the other bird) to see if you/they are sufficiently impressed. Males will often rap on things with their beaks.

Females don't usually display that behavior. Instead, if a female 'tiel is presented with a small space, such as a shoebox turned on its side, she'll back up against the inside surface with her tail sticking straight up in the air; that's how she judges if the place would make a good nest. When I let my two 'tiels out on the living room floor, they'd investigate every nook and cranny they could find, the female backing up against any promising-looking surface while the male rapped on the surrounding surfaces with his beak.

Answer 5

You cannot visibly s*x a pied. You'd be better off guessing by personality and behavior. The same for your white face. A sign of egg laying is one. Females are generally a lot quieter. Males have a song to sing, females chirp and squak. The cheek color or lack of is no way a full proof way to tell. It's guess work. I have 22 cockatiels to compare and the cheek color or size of  their crest and I know it is not a full proof way to tell.  If you were able to breed those 2, you would not get any whiteface chicks. If you're intersted in breeding, have the DNA done, and get another whiteface from a breeder that has their chicks sexed.

Answer 6

Going by your picture  and if they are both over 12,months I would say you have two Males.

The best way for you to s*x them is ,to, look under their wings,if as you say they are that age then they should have molted,if there are bar(spots) like markings on their wing feather,then they are female,also this bar (spots) will be on the tail feathers of a female.

By the first picture I would say that is the older bird of the two.(the one with the yellow)

But in my experience over 20 years of keeping Cockatiels,of various mutations I would say they are "Males"

It is not worth the expense of going to a vet,if you know of a local breeder I believe they will confirm my findings.