Photos in this website have been contributed by NCS members for this website.

The color in Cockatiels is derived from two pigments: 

Melanin - Provides the Grey color in Normals.  It is also present in the eyes, beak, and feet. 

You will notice some cockatiels have darker beaks and feet than others.  The Lutino mutation occurs because of a complete lack of melanin.  This is why the eyes appear red, from the blood vessels showing, and the feet and beak to be lighter.  Melanin is the stronger color and overrides Lipochromes
when both are presenL

Lipochromes - These provide the yellow on the face and tail and orange seen in the cheek patch.  As males mature the melanin pigments in the face become weaker allowing the Lipochromes to be visable while in the tail the melanin increases in the tail make the tail more of a solid color.  The Whiteface Cockatiel lacks Lipochromes, hence the white face with no yellow or orange present which are replaced by white.

• Sex-Linked Mutations
• Sex Linked Mutations II
• Recessive Mutations
  
• Dominant Mutations
• Cockatiel Genetics 101
• Genetic Codes and Calculations
• Symbolization and Prediction Methods

Normal Grey Cock	Normal Grey Hen	Dominant Yellowcheek

Dominant Mutations

Dominant mutations are unique in that it requires only one of the parents to produce the mutation in their offspring.  For example if you have a Dominant Yellow Cheek hen you will get a percentage of either male and/or female Dominant Yellow Cheek babies.  For Sex-linked Yellow Cheek you must have Sex-Linked Yellow Cheek in both the male and female to get male Sex-Linked Yellow Cheek babies.  A bird cannot be split to a dominant mutation.  You either see it or you don't.  A single factor dominant bird has one X chromosome containing the mutation. A double factor dominant has two X chromosomes, hence only males can be double factor.

Dominant Silver

Dominant Silver is a mutation that is dominant to other mutations to produce a silver or light grey. The most obvious difference between the Dominant and the Recessive is the the Dominant has dark eyes verses the red eyes of the recessive.  The birds can carry the dominant gene on one or both chromosomes, with the coloring effect being more pronounced in double-factored birds. When the dominant silver gene is carried on one chromosome, it is single-factored and the single factored is darker.  When Dominant Silver gene carried on both chromosomes, it is double-factored and is a lighter grey.

Dominant Yellow Cheek

The Dominant Yellow Cheek is  the same as Normals, the except has lemon face and cheek patches are peach yellow. very similar to the Sex-Linked Yellow Cheek. Dominant Yellow Cheeks has a slight orange tinge, possibly due to a double factor, to it but lighter than the yellow-orange of a Pastel's cheek patch.  Single factor cheek patches are yellow.

Normal (Wild) Grey

The Normal Grey is the what all other mutations are derived from and is the Normal Grey Cockatiel seen in the wilds of Australia.  The male Normal Grey has dark grey feathers over his entire body, excluding the white wing bars, yellow face, and bright orange cheek patches.  Young Normal Grey Cockatiels of both sexes look a lot like female Normal Greys. The face is Grey with dull orange cheek patches along with tail feathers that have a white or yellow barring on the underside.

 If you see a few white or yellow feathers on the back of your normal grey cockatiel's neck and head, sometimes called ticking, that it means that your cockatiel is split to the recessive mutation Pied.

Photos in this website have been contributed by NCS members.