# Cockatiel Mutation and Gender Help



## chirper (Dec 29, 2014)

These are my first ever cockatiels a gift from my friend 

Both are pure white left one has black eyes and the right one has red eyes (white face lutino)

Don't know anything about cockatiels please tell me

a) What is the mutation of black eyes

b) How to identify their gender

Will post clear pictures when they settle down


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## Jonah (Feb 3, 2013)

Congrats on your beautiful tiel....:loveeyes:

Sorry I can be of no help on mutation or gender, hopefully one of our more experienced folk's can help.
I know Kate gave me a lot of good info when I got mine...


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## aluz (Jul 24, 2011)

Congratulations on your new cockatiel friends, they're gorgeous! arty:

I'm also unable to help you, my knowledge on cockatiels is very limited since I have never actually owned this species yet.


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## vinay (Aug 8, 2012)

Beautiful birds ! 

If your birds are all-white with black eyes , they are Whitefaced clear pied tiels.
If they have red eyes , then you have whitefaced lutinos or 'albinos' . 

Unfortunately , you can't tell the genders of both these mutations on sight. You will mostly have to DNA test them. 

You could go on behaviour .... males will sing and dance while females are quieter (this is just a generalisation ; there are always exceptions to this)


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## chirper (Dec 29, 2014)

Jonah said:


> Congrats on your beautiful tiel....:loveeyes:
> 
> Sorry I can be of no help on mutation or gender, hopefully one of our more experienced folk's can help.
> I know Kate gave me a lot of good info when I got mine...


Thank you Randy 

No doubt about Kate I learn a lot by reading her replies and couple of months ago I read her this reply regarding cockatiels http://talkbudgies.com/other-birds/312250-golden-cockatiel-mutation.html



aluz said:


> Congratulations on your new cockatiel friends, they're gorgeous! arty:
> 
> I'm also unable to help you, my knowledge on cockatiels is very limited since I have never actually owned this species yet.


Thank you Aluz 

I got them unplanned and unexpectedly so now I have started reading about them and identify one of them as White Face Lutino (that was the easy one )



vinay said:


> Beautiful birds !
> 
> If your birds are all-white with black eyes , they are Whitefaced clear pied tiels.
> If they have red eyes , then you have whitefaced lutinos or 'albinos' .
> ...


Thank you Vinay 

This helps me a lot

Is there any generalized thing about the difference in shape or physic of male or female?


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

I also know absolutely nothing about tiel mutations, but congratulations! They're stunning


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## budgieaviary (Oct 22, 2014)

I agree with clear pied and albino  unfortunately you cannot visually tell the sex of these mutations unless you know the colour of the parents (ie. whatever colours in a clutch that are not visually the same as the **** are hens *its a sex linked mutation.) so DNA sexing is the solution. If they are mature (18months +) then you can gently feel the pelvis area, hens will have a wide pelvis and cocks will have a narrow pelvis. You can also accurately guess by the stance, hens tend to sit with their legs wider than cocks. You can also observe some behaviors, both males and females can learn to whistle and mimic sounds etc, however cocks are more predominant when they show this off. I have also noticed that my cockatiel hens will hang upside down and spread their wings, although I believe some cocks will do this too. The cockatiel also has distinct vocals you can observe, have a look on youtube for the difference in male and female calls and noises 

also check this site out, helped me a lot and guided me when I started out with tiels! good luck with them!

Sexing Cockatiels - Just Cockatiels!


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## Jonah (Feb 3, 2013)

When they settle in I bet you'll start identifying some possible clues. My male flares his wing's out to the side, look's heart shaped from behind, and sing's when he is trying to impress another bird...

Looks like this...http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...t=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so7NEXtiKAo


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

I agree with the albino but the picture of the one on the left is a bit unclear in the fact that to me it looks like it may have some slight colouring. But that may just be the shadowing in the building or just the picture. It could be what is called a Reverse or Clear Pied but it could also be a Silver or Platinum. I never had much to do with the Silver or Platinum as they were fairly new when I was breeding Cockatiels so I am not very sure on them.

With the Albino if you know what mutation the parents were you may be able to sex it. If both parents were Albino then DNA or Surgical sexing is the only way to be sure. Albino is a sex linked colour and both parents being albino will produce 100% albino with the offspring. It is probably easier if I just give you the link to The Australian National Cockatiel Society directly to the page on genetics. They give a wonderful explanation of the 3 different types of genetics found in cockatiels.

Genetics

On a side note they are both very nice birds.


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## chirper (Dec 29, 2014)

StarlingWings said:


> I also know absolutely nothing about tiel mutations, but congratulations! They're stunning


Thank you Star 



budgieaviary said:


> I agree with clear pied and albino  unfortunately you cannot visually tell the sex of these mutations unless you know the colour of the parents (ie. whatever colours in a clutch that are not visually the same as the **** are hens *its a sex linked mutation.) so DNA sexing is the solution. If they are mature (18months +) then you can gently feel the pelvis area, hens will have a wide pelvis and cocks will have a narrow pelvis. You can also accurately guess by the stance, hens tend to sit with their legs wider than cocks. You can also observe some behaviors, both males and females can learn to whistle and mimic sounds etc, however cocks are more predominant when they show this off. I have also noticed that my cockatiel hens will hang upside down and spread their wings, although I believe some cocks will do this too. The cockatiel also has distinct vocals you can observe, have a look on youtube for the difference in male and female calls and noises
> 
> also check this site out, helped me a lot and guided me when I started out with tiels! good luck with them!
> 
> Sexing Cockatiels - Just Cockatiels!


Thanks you Erin 

That's exactly what I was looking for the clues/tips to identify gender other than DNA



Jonah said:


> When they settle in I bet you'll start identifying some possible clues. My male flares his wing's out to the side, look's heart shaped from behind, and sing's when he is trying to impress another bird...
> 
> Looks like this...http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...t=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so7NEXtiKAo


Hi Randy very cute video 

When I let the tiels in the aviary I was afraid that they may hurt my budgies or budgies will be afraid of them but it's the other way around my budgies irritates the tiels

Your budgies are thorough gentleman 



Kate C said:


> I agree with the albino but the picture of the one on the left is a bit unclear in the fact that to me it looks like it may have some slight colouring. But that may just be the shadowing in the building or just the picture. It could be what is called a Reverse or Clear Pied but it could also be a Silver or Platinum. I never had much to do with the Silver or Platinum as they were fairly new when I was breeding Cockatiels so I am not very sure on them.
> 
> With the Albino if you know what mutation the parents were you may be able to sex it. If both parents were Albino then DNA or Surgical sexing is the only way to be sure. Albino is a sex linked colour and both parents being albino will produce 100% albino with the offspring. It is probably easier if I just give you the link to The Australian National Cockatiel Society directly to the page on genetics. They give a wonderful explanation of the 3 different types of genetics found in cockatiels.
> 
> ...


Hi Kate thanks for the link and guidance 

The slight colouring/shade you are seeing is not because of Silver or Platinum gene it's because they are dirty/muddy


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## Meow (Nov 19, 2015)

To help identify their gender you could try putting them in front of a mirror, the males will generally be interested for longer than females. There are exceptions however, but this is a way to try. :3 
Congrats, they are beautiful!


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## chirper (Dec 29, 2014)

Thanks you Echo 

I will try that but shouldn’t it be the other way around


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## Meow (Nov 19, 2015)

chirper said:


> Thanks you Echo
> 
> I will try that but shouldn't it be the other way around


Your welcome! 
Yeah, I thought that was weird too. I guess they want to impress the females! :3


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