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Post by AussieBirds on Sept 10, 2005 12:49:17 GMT 10
G'Day, here is a question for Frank, or any one else that wants to offer an opinion, regarding Cockatiels and their mutations.
As you know I have been lucky enough to breed some pearl Cockatiels and hand raise them , the parents are cock bird Pied and the hen is a Pearl. When the babies hatched they were covered in white down and as they got older and colured up they turned pearl.
The hen has gone down again and has hatched two eggs so far but these babies are covered in bright yellow down, given that they are only four days old at the moment I realize that it is way too early to predict what colour they will be but i find it strange that the down colour on these is a completely different couler to the first clutch.
My question is, is it possible to get an idea from the down on the birds when they hatch regarding the colour the babies will be and am I seeing with these new babies a possible Lutino mutation. I cant really tell the colour of the eyes yet as i am not game to take them out of the nest box to get them in a stronger light.
Can you also tell me is it normal for them to open their eyes at around 10 days old and at what age do they start to display the characteristics of male/female bird.
Many thanks in advance
John
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Post by hillcresttiels on Sept 10, 2005 17:19:32 GMT 10
Hi John the first question regarding the color of down is if chicks are born with a white fluffy down then it will be a whiteface mutation of sort including Whiteface Multi Mutations ( so if you have a pair of breeders that are not visually wface and a chick is born with white down then you know that both parents carry the wface trait) If a chick is born with yellow down then it will be any mutation including Pastelface but not a wface!Here are some examles White Down (dark toe nails = Grey Wface)(Wface Pastel-Silver) ( Wface Pearl) etc " " (clear toe nails= Whiteface Pied) " " ( dark toe nails, Plum eyes = Wface Cinn Pied " " (clear toe nails, red eyes= wface albino) " " (clear toe nails, dark red eyes=wface Platinum Yellow Down The same as above except no wface involved ! Baby chick eyes normally open between 7-10 days depending on the chicks progress Leg banding is usually applied when chick starts to pin feather or earlier if have big feet lol! And male charecteristics usually start to display at approx 12 weeks and this is normally a very weak rendition of the cocks song! hope this has clarified it for you cheers  Frank |
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Post by AussieBirds on Sept 10, 2005 19:09:58 GMT 10
Thanks Frank thats been a big help, another one hatched during the day so thats three now, one every second day, it has yellow down also.
John
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Post by billspets on Sept 10, 2005 20:03:14 GMT 10
hello all
Frank i am now a bit confused i have always worked it that if the young have white down they will be white faced and if it was yellow it would be normal cockatiels (dont have pastle faces LOL) now from what john is saying he has 2 normal birds that have young that have white down but them there selfs are normal birds
regards
bill (totaly confused)
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Post by hillcresttiels on Sept 10, 2005 20:12:28 GMT 10
Hope i havn't confused you Bill, Johns birds are normal pieds and pearls and to produce young with white down means that the birds (both parents)are split to whiteface therefore that pairing will produce both normal varieties and wface varieties ;)cheers Frank
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Post by AussieBirds on Sept 11, 2005 19:50:15 GMT 10
I have had a very close look at the babies this afternoon and they all have clear toe nails I have also noticed that the babies have hatched every second day the first one hatched on the 6th the second the 8th and the third one on the 10th there is one egg left so I am expecting it to hatch tomorrow, the 12th and they have all hatched during the day not at night, these birds are fascinating.
John
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Post by hillcresttiels on Sept 11, 2005 20:20:13 GMT 10
Hi John it's the fascination thats kept me going for the last umpteenth years. Because eggs are laid every 2nd day then the hatching process usually follows suit, in your case it's now obvious that hatching commenced straight away which is the normal for young breeders!The experienced breeders usually wont incubate tightly until the 3rd or 4th egg is laid hence 3-4 chicks hatch together! I like to mark my eggs with numbers from #1 onwards with a felt pen(I use the Artline Laundry Marker) as they are laid so i have a good understanding when chicks are born as to whether eggs are good or not. For eg if eggs marked 2 and 3 hatch together then you will determine that incubation commenced after the 3 rd egg but egg # 1 is no good! just little things that help the process!  cheers Frank |
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Post by AussieBirds on Sept 11, 2005 20:34:38 GMT 10
Thanks Frank, another couple of questions for you at what stage, roughly, does egg laying commence after the act of mating, is there any time frame? and am I in danger of scaring the parents off the nest by checking the babies every day.
John
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Post by hillcresttiels on Sept 11, 2005 21:12:06 GMT 10
John I would incourage nest inspections twice a day if the parents are not too flighty and dont be too concerned if they shoot out of the box as they become accustomed to you very quickly and return to the box, in actual fact you become very much their best firend when young are in the nest and fast approaching is bowl of sprouts for them! Egg laying can vary from 5-10 days after mating commences as there is no hard rule on specific timing, but I do believe in the moon phases having a bearing in mating rituals! cheers Frank |
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Post by josiedownunda on Sept 12, 2005 10:01:47 GMT 10
One small point that needs to be clarified here John is that on hatching only the down colour and eye colour can give you any clue as to the mutation of the chick. These 2 things also need to be used in conjunction with the parents genetics to be at all close. The nail colour of the chicks will all be the same on hatching and will be of no use until they are over a week old and and the darker pigment starts to appear.
Jo-Anne
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cheers