What gender are my budgies?

[snail5]

So I’m sorta new to birds, and I’m kind of confused on the gender, I heard that brown/crusty is for female and purple/blue is for male. I always thought my green bird was a boy but lately his/her cere is kind of crusty but it has a bit of blue on it? He’s roughly probably a year old so his cere should be getting its final color right? And the blue one I’m not sure how old she is but she’s younger than him. They’re really friendly with each other sometimes and the green one always feeds the blue, and the blue one always grooms him. But they also peck and squawk regularly so I kind of thought hmm maybe they’re both girls because girls are more territorial? I have pics here but my camera isn’t the greatest.

https://m.imgur.com/a/yqEo8Ae

 

[ParrotLover2001]

The green one is female, the blue one is young and probably not old enough to tell but, based on my experience, I'm going to say male.

Sent from my Galaxy s8

 

[BoomBoom]

I've never had a female budgie but I agree, blue one is a juvenile male, I'd say about 2~4 months old.

 

[MonicaMc]

They both appear to be hens to me!

Females can have blue on their ceres as well, however the blue of a hen is not the same intensity as a male's blue cere.

 

[snail5]

I think the blue one is older than 2-4 months. I’ve had it since around March and I’m not sure how old it was when I got it because it came from the pet store. (no breeders in my area) Thanks for all these helpful replies but I’m still unsure hahaha

 

[EllenD]

The green one is definitely a female, without a doubt...

The blue one is far too young to guess, his cere is still pink and may turn any color in the next months...I wouldn't make assumptions on it as of now, as most-all young Budgies (there are exceptions) start with a pink cere...So gonna have to wait on the blue one, although if you want me to guess, based on the entire bird, looks to be a female to me as well, but again, it's too early...

TO THE OP: There are a lot of variables to that general "Cere Color" rule you mentioned, it's not just blue/purple is male and tan/brown is female...For instance, if you have a Budgie with a blue cere, but it has white rings around it's nostrils, that's a female...And the "crusty" cere is not a gender-identification things at all, adult-female Budgies, when they go into breeding-season, have their ceres usually turn a very dark brown, and they also get extremely crusty/thick and look almost scabby. Then when they come out of breeding-season their ceres turn back to the color they usually are, and the thickness/crustiness goes away...

There are a ton more variables with Budgie gender-identification and hormonal cere changes, if you Google Search it, you'll find a lot of charts, photos, and great explanations of all of these rules...HOWEVER, THE BEST WAY TO GENDER IDENTIFY A BIRD IS BY DNA TESTING, EITHER ONLINE OR THROUGH YOUR CERTIFIED AVIAN VET!!! It's important to know the sex of your birds, and your green Budgies is a good example, because not only will she eventually, most-like lay infertile eggs (wouldn't you have been surprised?), but you cannot keep a male with a female in the same cage, or you will most-likely end up with fertile eggs, and unless you know what you're doing, you should not allow your birds to breed...I think that blue Budgie of your's is a female too, I may be wrong, as I said it's too early to tell yet, but I'm pretty sure. So if that's the case then no fear of baby birds with these two, however, they will both most-likely be laying infertile eggs, which you need to read-up on and be sure that you have Cuttlebones, Mineral Blocks, etc. inside of their cage at all times, as you don't want them to become egg-bound, so they need tons of Calcium, and you must make sure they are being fed a nutritious diet every day of lots of fresh veggies in addition to their pellets and seeds...

 

[snail5]

I always have a cuttlebone but I’ll look into a mineral block too if that’s necessary. It feels mean to separate them because they’re good buddies, but I understand it might end up being necessary

 

[EllenD]

I always have a cuttlebone but I’ll look into a mineral block too if that’s necessary. It feels mean to separate them because they’re good buddies, but I understand it might end up being necessary

A mineral block is a very good idea to have in your Budgie's cage, as it's not only vital for nutrition, but it also is good for their beaks. They are cheap and can be purchased at any pet shop and even at Walmart...

If your blue Budgie does end-up being a male (you won't know for certain until he/she is closer to a year old), it's much better to separate them than to allow them to breed. First of all, it's very bad for your female, as the more eggs they lay, the more their chance of becoming malnourished is, and of course, the more the chance that she'll become egg-bound, which is 100% fatal without medical intervention...And the more hormonal she becomes, and the more often, the more infertile eggs she'll lay as well...And secondly, you absolutely do not want to breed your birds unless you do a ton of research and you actually are mentored by an experience breeder/hand-feeder, as you often do have to take-over feeding young chicks formula because the parents reject them for a number of different reasons. It's not an easy thing to do at all, and often ends in tragedy.

Keep in-mind that putting them in their own cages doesn't mean separating them totally, their cages can be next to each other, and you can allow them to be out of their cages together to play as long as you supervise them the entire time to prevent mating...But you can cross that bridge when you get to it..and besides, I believe that both of your birds are female anyway, though again, no way to know for sure quite yet...

 

[BoomBoom]

The blue one's cere color is similar to my dearly departed green, male parakeet, Kiki. In this photo, he is about 3 or 4 months old. Later in life, his cere turned a brilliant, electric blue. Maybe it will help. How old do you think your blue one is?





https://postimages.org/

Mineral block is helpful. My parakeets prefer it over cuttlebone. Look into manu clay as well. It's softer than mineral blocks and provides a nice texture variation and maybe even different minerals (not sure about that last bit).