Cockatiel sexing- and other cockatiel questions

How do you tell the difference between male and female cockatiels?

Are males aggressive with each other; can you keep two males together?

How do you train adult cockatiels to stand on your finger/ be tame?

what is a cockatiel's lifespan?

Thanks for answering!

I think you can usually tell by the voice. I think a clear crisp whistle is a boy, and a not so clear, crisp sound is a female. I was told this years ago and i have found it to be true so far.
I am no expert. I have one cockatiel, but i have had him for 18 years, and he is 19 yrs old now.

males are more colorful and are easier to train to talk, female are harder to get to talk, my female whistles a lot. females also have bars under their wings. to get them on your finger just keep putting it up to them kind of under thiers chest till they step up on your finger,. hopefully others will have more info for you.

Hello, I have bred cockatiels for 30 years so maybe I will beable to help...
Like someone else said, males whistle and females chirp although I have had the rare female whistle as well. Males can live together and be very happy and be tame. They can live 20 to 25 years and that is for both sexes. With the grey, lutino and some other mutations, the males will have a yellow head and the female will be one color. There again like someone else said the females will have 2 white strips/bars on their wings, but not always. With some of the newer mutations they dont always have this. With them sometimes the best way to sex them is by the pelvic bone method, close pelvic bone is a male and wide is female. To train them, you just have to be consistant with them and it wouldn't hurt to get their wings clipped. Anything else I might be of help with just email me at [email protected]

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another way of sexing with the grays is after the first molt, if that tail has even ONE solid gray (non-barred) tail feather, it is male. It is often easier to tell this way sooner than when the molt is finished b/c the cheek patches and yellow on the head may not brighten until right at the end of the molt. My standard (gray) females still have yellow on their heads and the orange ear patches; just not as much and not as bright as the males. The Lutinos and pearl Lutinos are difficult to visually sex; the pelvic bone width is a good indicator (or DNA test to be absolutely sure). The life span can vary greatly depending on diet and genetics. Some only live 12-15 years, others much longer. If I recall correctly, I think the oldest documented age of a cockatiel was around 35 years. Wow! It is always a VERY good idea to train your bird to step up onto your finger, a stick or ladder, or a perch held in front of them. Trust me on this one... you want an obedient bird who will willingly and promptly step up (invaluable in case of emergency or , God forbid, escape!) Remember that birds do NOT like to step down, so hold the training tool (finger, perch, whatever) slightly higher than the bird's feet. If it doesn't step onto the training tool, lightly tough the bird's lower chest with the tool or "bump" slightly, to cause the bird to step up. Be gentle, patient, and CONSISTENT! You can also "ladder" -- when bird steps onto one finger, bring the index finger of the free hand up in front of the bird again, so s/he keeps stepping up. This will help keep your bird tame and easy to handle (always a good thing!) Much success with your cockatiel(s)! I have 23, and they are all sweethearts. Some have been rescues, some have been surrenders by people who couldn't care for them anymore, and some were hatched here. They can be unbelievably loving and endearing.

ETA: the diet debate rages on -- there are folks who feed seed only (NOT good IMHO), others who feed pellets only (better, but still not great), but IMO the best diet is : at least 50% GOOD QUALITY pellets such as Zupreem, Harrison's, or the premium organic pellets like Chet & Dave Womack recommend, along with an assortment of veggies (my cockatiels seem much more interested in veggies than fruits) such as broccoli crowns, zucchini chunks, corn on the cob, green beans, alfalfa sprouts, matchstick carrots, etc. and previously frozen mixed veggies (I thaw them in hot water, and it defrosts the veggies and warms them to "just right" ) (I occasionally give my birds (all of them, not just the 'tiels) a treat of scrambled eggs (not too often, b/c too much protein is hard on their kidneys). They also like small amounts of whole wheat bread. There are also cooked diets available at pet stores, but my birds aren't usually very interested in these. You can also offer cooked white or brown rice, oatmeal (cooled, and unsweetened), mashed potatoes, cooked beans (not salty), etc. Avoid giving any food or treat with much sugar or salt. Too much sugar (and sometimes citrus juices or fruits) can cause gastritis, and too much salt can cause salt toxicosis (poisoning). For instance, a cockatiel eating just one potato chip would be like our sitting down and eating a whole bag. Just be sure to offer high quality food and treats, and have fresh water ALWAYS available. I keep water bottles and also offer a glass pie plate (heavy enough they can't turn it over & scare themselves or injure themselves) for bathing & play. *IMPORTANT* Make sure you change fresh/wet foods out after 2-3 hours at room temperature; they can spoil much more quickly than you might think.

Thanks for answering!

I have currently two cockatiel males (pretty sure). One absolutely refuses to be anywhere near my hand. If I stick my hand in the cage he will flee with all his might and main. If he's sitting on top of his cage, he will dangerously leap (clipped wings) to the carpet ten or so feet below. I have no idea how I will train him. I have to have him get used to my hand? HOW??? He's terrified!

About the sexing, we're getting a pearl cockatiel soon, and I want to know exactly what to look for. Could you post a pic of the barring of a male vs. barring of female? Thanks. BTW, I always thought that the males's cheeks are always bright and the female's dull. Heh, guess not.


Thanks.

Have you considered clicker training? I just bought a book on it (thinking about trying to train my chickens, lol) and it sounds promising. There's a clicker training group on Yahoo, I think that might be able to help you.

I have a Lutino that no one has been able to reliably sex for me. Has never laid an egg but does not talk. Definite piercing whistle when in "watch bird" mode - the bird hears cars drive up long before the dogs do!

As far as I can tell, they live forever...ours is 11 years old, we have friends whose cockatiels have made it to 26 years.

If you just keep putting your finger at its "ankle", it pretty much has to step up, doesn't it? Mine was hand-fed and I got "him" at 3 months, so was very easy to work with, so maybe I just got lucky.

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You are probably going to have to "bite the bullet" and gently but forcibly remove him from the cage and towel him until he realizes you are not going to hurt him. Take a hand towel, reach into the cage and gently but firmly grasp him and remove from the cage. Keep him wrapped in the towel but leave his head exposed. Gently rub his head and neck, talking softly to him. Hold him for no more than 2-3 min. to begin, build up to 5, then maybe a few more over the course of a couple of weeks. if he is not completely freaked out and starts to calm, you can extend the petting to the breast or rub the neck feathers the "wrong way" gently. Make sure there aren't any really stiff pin feathers there b/c they can prick and hurt him/her if they're rubbed the wrong way. (If he likes treats, this would be a good time to offer him something he's REALLY fond of). When the time is up (and if he has stopped struggling), place him back in or on the cage and release him from the towel, telling him what a good bird he is. Once you get him to the point where he's more calm and realizes you're not going to hurt him or eat him, you need to start the hand work and perch work. Start doing the "step up" training from a perch to your finger, or from a perch onto a handheld stick/perch. Be careful to hold any stick or perch firmly so you do not drop him/her; if you drop one while hand training it can take a LONG time to rebuild trust.

As for the visual ID, the ear patches are good indicators on standard grays if the birds are older than 6-8 mos. or so. (With the normal/standard grays, before the first molt, juveniles and females look very similar). It's after the molt that the "adult" feathers start appearing, and the telltale signs will be brighter head coloring in the males, and solid gray on the underside of the tail feathers. The female grays have barred tail feathers. The ear patches on both male AND female Lutinos are bright, so they have to be sexed by pelvic bone or DNA sexing if you have just one or two birds. I have a gang of them, so it doesn't take long to figure out who's what gender because of their interaction with the other birds. The males are generally more shrill, will do lots of mimicry, and love to whistle (although some of mine DO talk). If you want to try to teach your bird to talk, do NOT teach it to whistle first! They are more apt to learn to whistle and continue to whistle, preferring that to speaking words. With my first 'tiel, every time I'd come into the room with him, I'd say "that's Daddy's bird!" (not trying to teach him to say that, that's just what I'd tell him). About 2 wks. later I walked in and HE said, "that's Daddy's bird!" If I'd thought about it, I would have taught him to say, "I'M daddy's bird". My female 'tiels tend to trill and "sing" a special type of little song that's hard to describe, but audibly different from the vocalizations of the males.

Most cockatiels are not "pure" for their color. Even the "wild-type" greys can throw other colored babies if the genes match up. The only sure-fire way to know what you have is to have the birds DNA sexed, or you could wait for it to lay an egg...lol

true, the recessive genes can and do make surprise appearances sometimes! One bird breeder did tell me that if two grays ever make a Lutino mutation chick, that chick is always female. Since most of my bonded pairs are mixed (not gray/gray, but gray/Lutino, gray/pearl, Lutino/gray, etc.) it's usually an adventure to guess who's who & what gender as they start exhibiting their personalities.