Cockatiel Mutation: PIED

The pied cockatiel has an irregular color pattern in comparison to the normal gray. The ratio and distribution of the colors defines if it is a Light pied, Heavy Pied or Clear pied.

Light Pied. The dark and gray hues dominate the yellow shades in the body. A gray cockatiel with some white markings at the back of the forehead is considered a "light pied".

Heavy Pied. This is a more favored mutation since the yellow color is proportionally more distributed than the gray, a specific balance of pattern is what breeders usually look for. The yellow will be replaced by white plumage if the bird is a white face.

Clear Pied. The absence of all the gray colors doesn't necessarily mean the bird is a lutino. A pied bird with no gray or dark color is called a clear pied. Dark eyes will reveal this phenomenon unlike the lutino which has red or pink. The entire bird will also be white if it is a whiteface mutation.

The Pied mutation is a recessive gene, if bred with a pure normal gray will produce one hundred percent (100%) normal gray chicks.

Red, White, Black and Yellow Millet

Which one to feed your bird? Which is more nutritious? Can they be mixed together? If then on what ratio. These questions lingered long on my mind as I am in the continous quest to find the best seedmix diet for my birds and here is what I uncovered: Millets contain at least 11% protein in weight, a vital ingredient in feather prodution as feathers are mostly protein in the form of keratin. Other nutrients include various types of vitamin B, folic acid and carbohydrates. Having no gluten, millets are known to have no allergic effect. Millet, aside from the canary seed should comprise at least 30% of your seedmix. You go to a super birdstore and suddenly found a variety of colors, with a price difference t almost 50%, white, also known as "pearl" being teh cheapest.
The fact is, laboratory nutrient tests on the millet is the same to all its colored varieties, thus, it oil boils down to choice. Your birds' choice.
I have honestly given them all those four types in one mix and one color stands out: The black millet. Stands out in the sense that it is the only think left in the plate, as much as possible, cockatiels or finches, they dont want to do anything with it unless starvation moves in. Given its relatively high price, my birds are giving me a great favor. The others are consumed fairly but not until the white "pearls" have pretty much ran out.
So there you have it: Winner of the royal rumble. Nutritious, cheap, readily available and very much popular to your cockatiels, the white aka "pearl" millet.

Visually Sexing Your Cockatiel

Visually Sexing Your Cockatiel is possible to most mutations except two, the Whiteface Lutino aka "Albino" and the Pied. These two radically eliminates the color markings to identify the female (albino) or mixes up all the color pattern (Pied) to provide proper identification.
Visually sexing your cockatiel is reliable after the completion of the first molt, which takes about 6-8 months of age. Before the first molt all of them look like girls.
The cock will have a bright yellow face mask with prominent cheek patches (except the whiteface). The hen will have a yellow face but of little surface area with the body color(usually gray) interloping parts of it including the cheek patch making it look duller than the male.

Barrings remain underneath the tail of the hen while they are absent after the first molt of the male.

Like the barrings, female cockatiels retain their spots under their wing where they are shed off by the male during maturity.

These spots and barrings are present even in the lutino. A bright light source will be necessary to visually identify the yellow/white barrings.

The Pearl's scalloped design while slowly shed off by the male during its first year while it will remain prominent in the female.

Combine these visual tips with your cockatiel's behavior and you have a relatively high chance of identifying the sexual orientation of your cockatiel.

Egg Binding, A Breeder's Approach

Egg Binding is a serious problem attributed to the inability of a bird to lay or expel its egg/s from its body.
It is observed that smaller birds including cockatiels are more susceptible to egg binding.
The usual cause of such inability is an abnormality in the egg's structure. Either soft shelled or abnormally larger in size, the stuck egg may kill your bird within seconds.
Lovely, my first cockatiel to succumb to egg binding, was all playful and active minutes before egg binding struck and killed her immediately.
The following are major causes of egg binding:

Lack of Calcium. Eggs are made of calcium. Being depleted of this element will cause hens to produce soft shelled eggs that are hard to expel. This happens when there is little or no calcium source within their diet, and even if there is a source, too many clutches laid within a small period of time will be too much for any small bird.

Overbreeding. More than two clutches a year places your bird at a high risk to encounter egg binding. Calcium and nutrient intake will not be able to catch up with the fast depletion of these nutrients due to excessive egg production.

Lack of Essential vitamins. Producing and laying eggs are stressful activities and Calcium is but a small portion of what a hen needs. Lack of other vitamins will lead to abnormally shaped egg that the cloaca is not designed to handle.

Age. A young bird, in the case of a cockatiel, below a year old, have a higher risk of egg binding due to the underdeveloped reproductive systems.

Prevention.

Apparently, given the list of causes, a responsible breeder can take steps to minimize it. Cuttlebone is the best and most trusted calcium source as it is natural, it also supplies necessary amount of iodine and most importantly, your cockatiels are more than willing to take them. They should always be available even when not breeding. Two or three times a week, soluble vitamins can be added to their water source. It is said that adding drops of vegetable oil to their seed dish can lessen the risk dramatically. For the overzealous breeders, remove the nest box after the second clutch to discourage further breeding until the next season.

Cure

Unfortunately, your veterinary is the only possible cure for your bird. Operation may be necessary and you don't have the tools for it nor the knowledge. The bird may be injected with calcium for cloacal contraction helping to expel the egg. With all these possible solutions the risk of losing your bird is still very high.

Always remember that breeding and egg laying is always an emergency situation. Do your best to stop egg binding before it happens.

Mutations: The "Albino"

The Albino Cockatiel is a misnomer, it doesn't exist. Rather, it is a combination of two mutations, the lutino and the whiteface. The combination resulted in a bird with no dark/gray plumage and no cheekpatch, creating the "albino" cockatiel. Due to this mix of two mutations, the albino cockatiel is priced above the normal or average mutation. The whiteface removes all the white in the bird, the lutino mutation removes all of the gray/black coloration, you end up with a white bird. The genetically correct name for it would be a "Whiteface lutino". The Whiteface Lutino or "Albino" cannot be visually sexed.

Mutations: The Silver Cockatiel

The Silver Cockatiel is a normal gray in dilute form. This mutation has distinct red eyes, a pink beak and pink feet. Male Silvers commonly have a yellow face and orange cheek patches after its first molt. Female Silvers will retain most of the patterns and features of a gray except that it is diluted presenting a silver color.

That is for the general description, a more in depth explanation needs more of your attention.

There are two known types of 'silver' cockatiels. This type of mutation can be acquired from one parent or both, making the single and double factor types. There is also a dominant silver and a recessive silver. The recessive mutation displays a light silvery color, they have red eyes like that of lutinos.

The double factors have lighter plumage than the single factor.

A dark gray cap on a silver bird shows that it is a dominant silver, the only prominent visual difference to a recessive silver aside from the fact that all dominant silvers have dark eyes.

Sexing the silver cockatiel is same as the normal, look for markings under the wing and tail, spots and barring represents a female on mature species.

SunFATTER seeds

You place a mixture of seeds in a bowl, millet, canary seeds, rape, oat groat and sunflower seeds. The next minute the sunflower seeds are chowed down like there is no tomorrow while the others (except the oat groat)are ignored until the next hungry season. The sunflower seeds are technically labeled as the "Junk Food" of the bird world, the preference of most birds to this seed has triggered an obesity malady in the species. To set the record straight it is unfair to label it as junk as it is known that oil(which is mostly what it is made of) is a major necessity in a bird's diet(even in yours). The key element is "moderation". The feathers need oil for their health, utilization and water proofing. Too much of it though will fatten your bird which will trigger a lot of other internal problems in due time. So the bottom line is, use sunflower seeds as a treat. Do not mix it up in your daily servings, give it two or three times a weeks while regulating the obesity of your pets. Sunflower seeds have large amounts of vitamin E that is essential in breeding and nurturing birds, so you may double your serving during these periods.