Color ID and color growth stages

[marrmarr]

My budgie is bolting and is showing some interesting feather coloration. When I first got him( I’m not 100% it’s a male) his head was yellowish white, now it’s showing a turquoise green on the back of his head and upper back. there’s also a purpleish blue near his cheeks. I’d like to know if there is a certain name for his mutation. Also how long do budgies take to achieve their full color. I’m certain my budgie is less than or about a year old, he was tiny when I got him but has grown so much in the 3 months I’ve had him.

 

[Anansi]

Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family!

I'm not an expert on budgie mutations, but just bumping this thread to keep it on the active threads.

 

[Terry57]

I'm not sure of what his mutation is called either, but he is absolutely gorgeous!

 

[marrmarr]

thanks guys. You guys have cool birds. I grew up around birds but haven’t kept one since my half moon conure passed away a couple years ago. I visited my grandma late last year and she keeps two amazons and a half moon conure, they sort of sparked the love all over again.

 

[reeb]

To preface, I’m not expert so this is just an opinion!

While I can’t see that clearly and his colours may change after his first molt (he still has baby bars on his head), to me he looks like a sky blue single factor yellow face, but also may develop into a sky blue double factor golden face.

I initially thought he may be a rainbow mutation, however he does not have the clearwing mutation on his wings.

Take this with a pinch of salt though. I’m still learning myself!

Also he has a blue cere, so it appears that he is most likely male, although depending on his age this may change.

 

[bug_n_flock]

At an assumed year old with eye rings and a cere that color, I would say that that bird has been through *his* first molt already. I vote that you are looking at an "adult" male there.

My Fatty is younger than your bird probably, and certainly he looks it. His eye rings are *much* fainter, but he had his first molt already and lost the baby bars. Perhaps yours just has more barring than is usual for an adult. But I would say your beeeeauuuutiffffuuuul bird is a boy. In my experience the blue that girls have is never that *blue*, and it fades to tannish white around the nare (nose holes), but your bird's does not seem to do that.

I obviously could be wrong about the age, etc, but that's just my vote. By the eyes alone, I vote 8 months+.

As for color mutation, I'm afraid I can't help you there, I honestly never tried learning them, it just wasn't important to me.


Edit: more info on eye ring aging a parakeet: http://kmbreeding.weebly.com/telling-the-age-of-a-budgie.html
From phone

 

[reeb]

Yes I think you might be right with the age. I wasn’t really looking at the eyes because I was looking at his colours and feathers! His eye rings are definitely quite defined, so I agree that he is a bit older, despite having barring on his head. I have a few birds with a lot of barring despite being adults. Cere colours can change quite a bit even after the first few months - I once had a female who had a very blue cere for a while and then it only turned properly white/brown when she was about 1.5 years old haha. That being said, I am convinced that this is a male.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[marrmarr]

I’m convinced he’s a male as well. Mostly by his behavior. He’s always calling out for sparrows and humming birds. I don’t care much about color mutations either, but with budgies it sort of matters since mutated males and females look different than the true budgerigar color. When I first got him his cere was a tannish purple that has turned radically blue.i agree with his age. He’s definitely closing in on a year of life.

 

[reeb]

I’m convinced he’s a male as well. Mostly by his behavior. He’s always calling out for sparrows and humming birds. I don’t care much about color mutations either, but with budgies it sort of matters since mutated males and females look different than the true budgerigar color. When I first got him his cere was a tannish purple that has turned radically blue.i agree with his age. He’s definitely closing in on a year of life.

Yes, he’s definitely male! Considering that he’s a year-ish old he will have molted a couple of times so he naturally has those little bars on his head which is so cute! It’s a feature I really like. What a gorgeous boy.