I also have cockatiels

Deborah · New member Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

I have a male and female cockatiel, both are approx a year in age. I have had t-bone about 4 months and little abby about three weeks, the gentleman I got abby from said it would be ok to put her in same cage as my male , so I took cage and him with me to pick her up. how long usually does it take for birds to ..well get to know one another and except living arangments lol . I havent seen them be mean to each other but they really dont act like the other is arund til they get in each others way .. is this normal and all? or should I say , forget trying to mate them? besides all that dna testing. how can I be sure , like the guy said , thats shes a female? ..She defiantly darker in feather colors and her cheeks arent as orange and brilliant as the males...any other things I should look for . and should I be concerned about them right now as far as ...mating? thank you

feather friend · Member Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 55 Location: MI

My about 1 year old cockatiel seems to enjoy it by herself. She gets along fine with my budgies, but she seems to like it alone. Are your cocks together right now? Are they fighting if they are together? If they are fight ing you sould seperate them asap.

charmedagain · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 2260 Location: uk

Normal Grey cockatiels are easy to sex if thats what you have.
The males will have dark grey body and a bright yellow head with bright orange cheek patched.
The female with have a duller coloured face along with duller cheek patches. She will aslo have barring under her tail where as the male its solid black with no barring.

The only colour mutations that you need DNA testing is the lutino, Albino, and the White face

As with any bird they should never be put together if bought at seperate times, They need to be kept in seprate cages but each cage can be placed in a different area of the room for 30days this is so you can make sure both birds are healthy.

It can take anything from 1month upto 1year for them to bond and breed.
If you are not wanting to breed then remove one bird and place in a cage of there own as this will stop breeding.

Some pairs never get along and never will its just the way things go, Again the only thing to do if they keep fighting or will just not get along is to seperate them for a couple of weeks but place the cages side by side as they say absence makes the heart grow stronger hahaha.

Mike