Is there a possibility of Hermaphroditism in Cockatiels? Male Marking 100% Laying eggs?

Question

Merlin our distinct 1.5 YO Male Cockatiel is laying eggs? It has all the distinct markings of a Male. However her has red eyes and feet are deformed. We resuced him from a cage full of larger tiels and he took to us immediately. Merlin is smallish but so lovable. Seems the vocalizations are limited to a ""puu-eep" type call. no variations. This seems to be a female trait. He is bright yellow, Male vivid orange cheek spots, and just the ends of tail feathers being a dingy brown color. No varied colored feathers or "lines" under the rear bottom. Has anyone out there experienced this, any and all suggestions welcome, we have always owned Males...now we have what we thought was a male laying eggs and acting odd. Wants to be in cage all the time. We are to be honest a little frightened about how to care for this very dear part of our family...Thanks to all who can help here!

Ronnie and Sharon Jordan [e-mail]

Answer 1

Your MALE cockatiel will never lay eggs. ONLY FEMALES LAY EGGS. So your bird without ME even looking at your bird, I know your bird has stripes on tail feathers, and your bird also only TWEETSA and never whistles tunes. She probably has a GREY Face too. {:O) But in the WHITE FACE LUTINO who will have pink eyes she may not show any signs of being a FEMALE other than her TWEETS.

Answer 2

Nope this would be 100% female.  Sometimes they trick us :)

Answer 3

Red eyes, the bird must be Lutino or Albino. There would be no visible markings to indicate that it is  male or female. You could have DNA testing done. The vivid or dull orange patch is not an indication of male or female. I have 23 tiels right now, and have had tiels for 30 years. I see bright orange on male and female, and also dull orange on either one. Your bird is female. Size doesnt matter either. A female that I have who is a cinnamon, is bigger than all  of the rest. Another is very small.

Answer 4

i do not think you should worry, she wants to be with her eggs.  she will come out when she is ready. i have had females that stay with thier eggs for days at a time. make sure she has calcium and vitamins. give vegetables and fruit too, she will be ok.  i hope this helps,  you can get a dna test done

Answer 5

Your bird is a lutino female, possibly pied, as well.  With lutinos there is no difference in the basic coloration between males and females.  In normal cockatiels, females have gray mixed in with the cheek patches, but since lutinos have no gray pigment, males and females look the same.

Unless your bird is pied, she should have tail barring, even if it's really faint.

Hold your bird facing you, with a bright sunny window behind her.  Look at the longest tail feathers.   You should see faint horizontal stripes across the feathers, every 1/4 or so.

The quiet chirping is the typical noise that females make.

Answer 6

no he is 100% female.