How old? Male or female?

[chass23RN]

Hello just joined today. I bought my budgie named Biscuit about a month ago from petsmart. I picked Biscuit because he/she was not scared and was showing off for me. I am assuming it is a young parakeet however I am a new bird owner and i am just learning. Can anyone tell by the pic what sex and what age Biscuit is? Thanks

 

[kimn818]

Hi and welcome! Congrats on your new little *girl*.... I highly suspect its a female based on her cere, (right above the beak).. in males its blue, and females its a light tan color.

I know that the color can change as they mature, so usually when theyre 8-12 months the color of the cere is a great visual aid in determining sex.

I can't help you in determining the age... again, Congrats!

 

[RavensGryf]

Hi welcome to the forum! I'm a budgie lover also. Biscuit is a cute bird!
Certain color mutations like my boy Twigs keep the same pink cere throughout life. Biscuit looks like a 'dominant pied' color mutation, and as far as I know, he'll get the blue cere if it's a boy by about a year old.

I've read that at under a year the color can change but remain a bit ambiguous until after one year where you should know for sure. At PetSmart I'd think the turnover rate is pretty good, and I'd guess that probably most are 6 months at the oldest?

Of course a sure way to tell is to get a DNA test like I did.

 

[veimar]

Hi! Welcome! Beautiful budgie - looks like a very young girl to me, although my both boys had pink ceres when they were babies. Does *she* have white around nostrils? If yes, then it's more likely a girl, if not - then might be a boy. That was the only thing from what I could tell that mine were boys - they had no white, it was just lighter. I think *she* is about 3-4 mo old at most, and it's difficult to tell the gender at that age. Google it up - I found plenty of information out there as well as on this forum.

 

[RavensGryf]

I also have heard that the females ceres are usually more bulging in shape, where the males are flatter. Biscuit's does bulge out. Although I had 2 males and one was flatter than the other, so hard to say to the unfamiliar eye since it varies between individuals of both sexes. My 'guess' like everyone else is female