Boy? Please Be A Boy

[s9991 0]

Hi, I just signed up for this forum and I'm hoping you experts can help me out.

 

My family have always been budgie lovers. We do not breed them but there has always been a bird in our lives.

At the beginning of this month our little baby boy "chevy" passed away.

It was very sudden. The shock of the quiet house was too much to bear and we hunted to find a breeder.

When we did, we made it clear that we wanted a young male budgie.

The one we got was almost 4 months old.

 

I'm attaching a picture for you to see. My guess is that "Hemy" is now four months. But in the two weeks we've had

'him' his cere has changed from blue to blue with a bit of brown.

My family really wants a male, as we devote all of our attention to the budgie and we like a good talker!

We tried having a hen once and as soon as she got a year old, she got extremely moody, and would bite for no reason at all.

She was an angry little thing, so we went back and managed to trade

 

So... I need confirmation about the gender.

 

As well, I think it's also worthy to note that we got this bird from a smoker's home. Now I trust that this lady didn't

smoke around her birds, but I do wonder if it's at all possible if my Hemy could be going through withdrawl.

 

Finally, I should probably start another topic for this, but Hemy is really jumpy, fidgety, full of energy. constantly looking around.

Also, Hemy is definitely not skinny. Prefering to sit at the food dish when he is in his cage.

 

I very thoroughly compared Kaz's post on ceres to Hemy's and none quite look right.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

~Sarah

[melbournebudgies 0]

Definately a boy but I would say a bit older than 4 months. Do you have a closer photo of the cere and also the side of his face showing his eyes?

[s9991 0]

Definately a boy but I would say a bit older than 4 months. Do you have a closer photo of the cere and also the side of his face showing his eyes?

 

 

sorry, this picture is a little blurry.

[melbournebudgies 0]

okay, well maybe he is 4 months as I can see now that he doesn't have an iris ring but still definately a boy

[s9991 0]

okay, well maybe he is 4 months as I can see now that he doesn't have an iris ring but still definately a boy

 

so do you think I should worry about the little bit of brown at the bottom of his cere? Or about he fidgets all the time?

He's only 4 months, so I don't think I should worry about hormone imbalance, but then again what IF he is going

through withdrawl?

[melbournebudgies 0]

I think I would give itmore time, he is only young and italso depends on his individual temperament and how much handling he had before you got him

[**Liv** 0]

Hello and welcome

 

I agree with MB

You baby is a male. the brown on the cere can be a hormonal imbalance or it can be something more serious such as cancer. A cere like that in a healthy male normally means he is out of breeding condition. He is very young to be out of breeding condition. I'd give him some more time to settle in and perhaps give him some more dark hours at night (12 hours dark quiet time) which will help regulate his hormones.

[JimmyBanks 0]

I doubt he would be going through withdrawals, he might just be an active bird...

[s9991 0]

Hello and welcome

 

I agree with MB

You baby is a male. the brown on the cere can be a hormonal imbalance or it can be something more serious such as cancer. A cere like that in a healthy male normally means he is out of breeding condition. He is very young to be out of breeding condition. I'd give him some more time to settle in and perhaps give him some more dark hours at night (12 hours dark quiet time) which will help regulate his hormones.

 

 

I'll try that! Thank you! (>^.^)>

[jenny 0]

Now I'm a newbie and maybe I'm wrong but ...

 

If I wanted a bird of a certain sex, I'd be sure to buy one that is old enough to sex with certainty. It doesn't seem fair to me to bring a bird home and then return it if it's the wrong sex. I would think that's really hard on the bird.

 

Jenny

[**KAZ** 0]

Now I'm a newbie and maybe I'm wrong but ...

 

If I wanted a bird of a certain sex, I'd be sure to buy one that is old enough to sex with certainty. It doesn't seem fair to me to bring a bird home and then return it if it's the wrong sex. I would think that's really hard on the bird.

 

Jenny

A lot of people want a baby bird not a bird who is past its first moult and around 7 months old. EXPERIENCED breeders can tell the sex of a baby budgie at the point of fledging, so its only an issue ( sexing a budgie ) if the new owner, or the breeder or petshop cannot sex a bird.

[krosp 0]

He does look older than 4 months to me too... he has a bright colour, a white cap and fully formed throat spots. My budgie is only just going through his moult and starting to get those features, and the youngest he could possibly be is 5 months, probably 6. Although I know they don't all moult at the same age. Cosmo is a lot more active now than he was when he was younger too.

[JimmyBanks 0]

It's hard to say though krosp, they don't all moult at the same time... could of moulted early...

[s9991 0]

well it's been a little while and after more dark hours as suggested, the brown part of his cere has gone darker to a kind of purple.

So yay! Def a boy. Thank goodness.

Since I've had budgies before Hemy, I know that his age must be around 4 months. As if he were older, like 5 or 6 months, he would be far more

chirpy than he is he still acts like a baby.

Our last budgie, Chevy, started chattering at 6 months, and we got Chevy when he was just 3 months, though there was no gender issue with him.

 

As for Hemy, I am concerned about him. He's VERY clumsy. Like, jump to the perch and miss kind of thing, or fall off.

And he's really jumpy. Like even simple movements that I do while I have him on my shoulder freaks him out that he

jumps off. His wings are clipped, but I worry about so many jumps to the ground -"falling with style".

 

Hemy is proving way more difficult to train than our last bird. I know each one is different but still seems odd.

I had a branch-like perch set up in his cage for him. If he did go on it, he would lose his balance and fall off.

So it's been replaced by a straight perch across the length of his cage which he must enjoy when he's not at his food dish.

I'm thinking because he was 'young' and from breeding conditions, maybe he was only used to his nest box.

Which I figured would explain why he usually sits at his food dish (maybe he used to guard it at his old house)

 

Any insight or advice on Hemy's behaviour would be much appreciated!!!!!!

 

Though maybe I should move this thread as the topic has kinda shifted?

[Elly 0]

I am not sure about the balance issue it could be that he is young and needs to get more cordinated as maybe his previous home didn't have such perches, swings etc...

 

As for acting the way he is sounds like he still needs to gain your trust and you are right all budgies are different. We find that those that come from pet stores tend to be "harder to train" especially if they were there for a couple months in an aviary style setting while the ones that you get from a breeder that worked with the babies out of the nest are much more "tame"

 

I wrote up an article that you can locate in the FAQ section called "Taming Your Budgie", I believe you would find it invaluable as I tamed both pet store budgie & one tamed at a very early age.

 

Let me know if you have any questions on the article etc...after you review it.

[krosp 0]

You've only had him for a few weeks right? Then it's no surprise that he's still a bit jittery with sudden movements around him. Most budgies would not be completely tame by now, there's just the occasional handful that are surprisingly easy to tame so maybe you're comparing him to Chevy and perhaps Chevy is the one who was out of the ordinary! (in a good way) Henry will get there.

 

As fo the clumsiness, it's hard to say but I would guess it's probably got to do with not being used to the clipped wings yet. Has he worked out how to climb around his cage yet or does he still try to depend on flying/jumping to get where he wants to go?

Edited January 2, 2009 by krosp

[s9991 0]

You've only had him for a few weeks right? Then it's no surprise that he's still a bit jittery with sudden movements around him. Most budgies would not be completely tame by now, there's just the occasional handful that are surprisingly easy to tame so maybe you're comparing him to Chevy and perhaps Chevy is the one who was out of the ordinary! (in a good way) Henry will get there.

 

As fo the clumsiness, it's hard to say but I would guess it's probably got to do with not being used to the clipped wings yet. Has he worked out how to climb around his cage yet or does he still try to depend on flying/jumping to get where he wants to go?

 

You could be right. Yes, he does climb around his cage and kinda bobs his head before he jumps to another perch but does make it more often than not. I also have an open concept for him (the cage is actually upside down so the top is completely open.) Chevy really liked it. He could fly to us whenever he wanted, which was a lot and I know this had to have helped tame him. I know I should stop comparing to chevy, but he was definitely unique.

As for Hemy, I'll give it a few more weeks of devoted patience. I figured his lack of balance could have been contributed by his really long nails, which we clipped and apparently the cockatiels, that he was also with at the aviary/breeders, liked to pull out other birds tail feathers, which I think may have happened since Hemy had a reallly short tail- Which I know could have affected his balance. I really appreciate every one's advice and suggestions. I'll give it more time and hopefully Hemy will be tamed yet!

 

And I'll go read that article too, may have some tips I've overlooked.

 

~Sarah

[clancy 0]

its a boy.