New 'teil baby...

[Mikaela]

Hey Ya'll:

As you know, I was blessed with a cinnamon pearl pied cockatiel yesterday. His name is Cheif and he is almost 3 months old. He is special because he isnt simply pied or pearled but both!

He is a sweetheart, still a little scared though because of his new home. He is very loving but as ya'll know, 'tiels just sit and look pretty compared to the activity level of an Irn. Too, he is getting use to his new surroundings.

I hope ya'll love him as much as I do!

Here is my boy!


















Sorry about the poor picture quality, I have to wake up around 4-5am to get any ME time. I have to be very quiet with lights dim as not to wake the boys. Nonetheless, pics are pics and they rarely capture true colors anyway .

The coolest thing about pieds are you can easily sex them at a young age, depending on the barring on their tail feathers. His is vertical, thereby assuring he is male.

[jen5239]

Mikaela,
He's very beautiful! I agree they aren't as active of a bird as IRNs but they sure are loving little birds! I hope you enjoy Chief as much as I enjoy my little Milo.

Jen & Byndi

[selma]

He's gorgeous Mikaela. Love him already. How are baby and boo taking to him?

[Dani03]

But Mikaela...if 'he' is a he I have to warn you. those beautiful pearled markings may nad probably will go away in two years. Nearly ALL boy pearled tiels DO loose their beautful markings. And those that 'don't' loose the markings loose most of them and are only faintly speckled. I used to breed tiels...so color genetics were a must Females never loose their pearlings so in one to two years you may find that he may be a she.

And to be completely honest hun, I think that Chief is a Chiefette your birds looks just like my hen did. The face and the body structure are almost a complete match to the female structure. I bred them for a few years and have seen many a 'male' bird turn out to be completely female. I dunno, I personally feel like you got another female on your hands. though that is not a bad thing because if 'he' is a female then she will not loose those beautiful markings.

Hope I am not a spoilsport but I must say that 'she' 'he' 'it' is BEAUTIFUL! One os the prettiest pearled I have seen in a long time. Almost as symmetrical as my Pi was. Really really gorgeous...

Dani and Prinny

[Mikaela]

I know thats why Im lucky to have him pied pearl!

They dont seem to be paying the lil fella any attention. Heck, he is so little I can hardly see him. Im use to the big guys. This fella is a runt.

Females are more prone to sit and scream whereas boys, they tend to break out into song. Or so they say, we'll see. All the fella can do is peep right now. He LOVES his name. He dances on his perch (back and forth) when you make songs up with his name in it. They are probably not as smart as an Irn, but they arent 'birdbrained' either.

God, I have got to start proof-reading. I just read this old post and had like 10 words typed wrong. Love that 'edit' botton.

[*mia*]

Is a cockatiel in the same size as a IRN?

[Mikaela]

Almost, a tiel is smaller though. In actual body size, there probably isnt too much of a difference. The Irn has a much longer tail though, thereby making them appear much bigger. Their beak is ALOT smaller. So much smaller in fact, my 2 month old cant even bite if he wanted. He tries to nipple but cant get anywhere. Perfect bird for kids. I am blesssed to have made the decision to get Cheif for the boys. I am also blessed to have friends like ya'll to have helped me make the decision, thanks.

My lil fella Cheif is starting to settle in and wonder around his cage, exploring his toys. He still wont eat in front of me though. I laid on the couch today and he couldnt see me and he was in his food dish tearing it up! I was happy to see it, I didnt know if he was eating or not.

Can fellow tiel owners tell me if it is common for a tiels tail to look tathered? If it isnt, will this take care of itself and how long will it take? His first molt? I think he was picked on before I got him because I dont think my breeder would cage him in too small of a space... never know though.

[Neokireina]

I guess with all birdie tails it depends what they have been up to. After he moults he should have a nice tail unless he sleeps on wire or lands on the floor and breaks them or doesnt preen them much.

My suns had horrid tails, but one of them sleeps on the wire. They moulted out and they look nice now, but for how long is anyones guess.

[Bryan]

Yep the tail's of my cockatiels where always tethered, if he/she bobs it's head then it's 99.9% that it is a male. Good luck because my first cockatiel flew away and the second one died and I had them for only a few months, cockatiels are EXELENT escape artists so clip those wings!!! Don’t mean to be so bitchy lol

[Melika]

I know thats why Im lucky to have him pied pearl!

They dont seem to be paying the lil fella any attention. Heck, he is so little I can hardly see him. Im use to the big guys. This fella is a runt.

Females are more prone to sit and scream whereas boys, they tend to break out into song. Or so they say, we'll see. All the fella can do is peep right now. He LOVES his name. He dances on his perch (back and forth) when you make songs up with his name in it. They are probably not as smart as an Irn, but they arent 'birdbrained' either.

God, I have got to start proof-reading. I just read this old post and had like 10 words typed wrong. Love that 'edit' botton.

Actually, the males are prone to screaming. Sorry. The females tend to be very quiet in 'tiels. If you want a whistler or talker you go with males, since they're more vocal. But if you have a male and female, the male won't usually scream but insted be singing to the female. 0_o
But if you have a screaming male and get another male for company, you end up with two screaming males, lol.

Killer is a screamer. ^^b

[Mikaela]

Chief is nothing more than a stuffed animal I have to feed.

Chirps ever so often but other than that, never moves at all

He seems happy, nonetheless, just too content hehe.

I have to check the poor fella for a pulse.

[Melika]

We told ya they were kinds boring next to IRNs, lol.

[Mazziemom]

Whistle with him... you'll be amazed

Whitey and I have whistling matches that can last hours. He also likes to preen my hair... but he didn't do that when he was a baby. When he was a baby he just whistled and ate and slept

Athena