Look What I Got Today!!!!!!! **PICS**

[Rainstorm]

Pet store closing out in town so everything was cheaper then before, Cockatiels were $50, Now $25 and in the cockatiel avairy I found a Albino Cockatiel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's a lil hellion, bit right through a garden glove when clipping his wings, guess im not getting me a printer this week with my earned money, But he's well worth it!! well. "its" well worth it, Now I just need to know if its male or female

and my gray female picking on him ticking him off lol

and heres a few random photos of my other cockatiels

 

[sonjab314]

Female albinos have red eyes while the males have black and she should have visible barring on the underside of her tail. The barring may be light but it should still be there. Males will also have barring on the tails until their frist molt when they get their adult plumage. Hope this helps.

 

[Rainstorm]

Quote:
Thanks! I kinda thought so because she hisses so much. Was hoping for a boy though so I could breed her to my gray one, Any chance you know what my gray one is called? I think it starts with an L

 

[skyape38]

must have been a day to buy albino tiels. lol I have also bought one female albino was told she is 2 months old born in march she is larger then my pearly pied male and my albino is a nasty biter but going to work on that

she doesnt have a name yet Hubby wants to name her (Im in trouble look what he named my other one)
bought saturday may 22
she lost her tail feathers on the way home from the bird show

Retart (hubby named him) Got him in October

 

[Rainstorm]

do female albinos ALWAYS have red eyes? Because I dont see any markings on its tail feathers at all

 

[sonjab314]

Rainstorm, of all the pics you have posted here, the only color variations are your albino (which is technically a white faced lutino), one white faced and the rest are the normal gray. The only "L" cockatiel that I'm aware of is a Lutino. They are yellow and usually have a bald spot on their head due to inbreeding to produce that color. I've bred tiels for many years and am only down to one pair now. I had to sell my breeders to make room for my own human babies lol. If your tiel is under 10-12 months old, there should be barring under the tail. They are all born that way and the males lose their barring with their adult molt. The eyes cannot always tell the sex but its usually a very good indicator. You may have to hold your tiel's back to the light and allow the light to shine through the tail feather to see the barring. I had one once that I had to do that with but she was positively a female and a pretty one too. If you have any other questions, I will be more than happy to help you. I love talking about my tiels. That is my favorite birds even though I've bred parrots too. I just cant get enough of their little personalities. If you plan to breed them, I can also help you with setting up genetics to produce different mutations. The pair I have now I got in March. They are right at a year old. I'm going to set them up to nest in September as they should be old enough to breed by then. They are both grays. The male is split to pied as he has white feather on the back of his head. I have no idea what the female is split to or even if she is split so I am anxious to see what kind of babies I will get from them. It will be like Christmas in Sept-Oct lol.

 

[Rainstorm]

Quote:
Ok thanks, I took him out today and had him under a bright light, I dont see any markings at all on tail feathers, Just solid white

and yes I do have a few questions

My set up is Hight: 35' and 30' wide one way and 18' wide other way, (excluding the albino) I have 5 cockatiels in there (was 3 but im baby sitting my uncles wifes birds and shes taking her sweet time to get em)

Mine though, ones around 13 months old, the other two (male and female) are about 2 1/2 years or more old, I have a 10' X 12' Nest box for them, and they raised a set of babies last year (someone else had em at the time) but so far I havnt even seen any mating going on, Is my set up wrong for breeding? The ratio in there (excluding albino) is 3 females and 2 males. I would guess I have to many in there? didnt see mating going on before my step aunts birds moved in though

id also like to know what do you have to breed to get gray and whites instead of gray and yellows?

and any tips on taming Phantom down? I still even have to tame one of my other males down that i've had for a year, and havnt had much luck with it yet, My gray and white one was mean to when I got her but I just bribed her with treats for awhile and now she loves me LOL not working on my boy


oh and the bird I was talking about is the gray and white one picking on Phantom (Albino) The person I got her from told me she was a different breed to the dark gray ones

and none of my birds have any bald spots that I can see, Phantom does, will that ever go away?

 

[sonjab314]

First of all, not being negative, but you have too many birds in that small of a cage. That sized cage should only house 2 tiels at the most....maybe a breeder pair. The nest box is of good size. Sometimes when you move birds, they get realy picky. They may not like where they are located at your house, possibly wanting near a window or something.

Cockatiels breed for life. Once they get a partner thats all they will mate with unless a partner dies and is gotten rid of. If they are withing sight or sound distance of a partner that you have seperated them from, they will not take a new partner.

As far as the color traits, I would have to know what your tiels are split to (genetically) to know if they could produce albinos or whitefaced tiels. If Phantom is in fact a male you could breed him to your whitefaced female (if shes not already spoken for my another male). That would get you started in the right direction. Phantoms bald spot will not go away. He is lutino technically and will always have a bald spot.

As far as taming them down, the only thing I can say is patience, patience, patience. If you are going to breed a bird, it is best not to tame them down. They need to be used to you as you will have to check the nests and things like that but you dont want them so attached to you that they wont mate. As far as taming babies, when you start handfeeding them, they think you are their mommy and love you just the same.

 

[Rainstorm]

Quote:
ok thank you, I didnt realize that was small for them, the guy i got the older pair from had that pair + 3 of their kids in a cage lil bit bigger then half the size of that one, I am going to be working on a walk in aviary soon so they wont be like that to much longer (hopefully) and by taming I dont mean really attached, just so they dont think my fingers are food, the older male would make an excellent guard dog, flys out of the pen and starts heading straight for my feet LOL would just like them tame enough that I dont have to use a glove to pick them up

 

[sonjab314]

If you are going to build an aviary, that would be wonderful for them. I like where it gets too cold in the winter so I have to keep mine inside. Just make sure you have a good male-female ratio until they form their bonded pairs. I have no experience with aviaries so I can't help you there. Here is a link to a site that teaches the basics of taming a tiel http://www.cockatielcottage.net/bite2.html. Hope this helps you