Hello,

 

My name is Eric Alekson from Pittsburgh. Got a question about behavior and gender. Since I am new to budgies, I can't really determine if my one bird is a hen. He/she is blue and white dominant pied. Everyone in my family so far sees a lavender/light purple cere. I was told she was a hen when I bought her. Will a female bob her head, sing and want to feed other birds? Also, do all females ceres turn brown when ready to breed? Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

Thanks again,

Eric

if it is a deeper pink and purlish you probably have a male who is under 4 months of age. When they molt it starts to change colors. If it is light blue with nasel rings it would most likely be a female. If it is darkening to a blue with not very prominant white nasel rings it would most likely be a boy.

 

Boys do the head bobbing more but females can too and females do more short chirps them males.

 

Budgies are suggested to breed at 12 months -18 months is more recommended. A female's cere can turn brown even when they are under a year so that is not a good indicator that she is ready for a clutch. Knowing her age is best.

Ditto what Lovey said.

 

Since your profile says you have 4 budgies now, I guess you are somewhat familiar with the physical differences between male and female budgies, and just pretty new to keeping multiple budgies. A few more things you can look for if your new budgie is out of quarantine and in with the other ones already:

 

1. Guarding the food dish. A favorite hen budgie pastime.

2. Wanting the space another bird occupies for seemingly no reason whatsoever, and at completely random times.

3. Not wanting to give up said space if another bird wants it.

4. As a general rule hens will be quieter than male budgies. Hen budgies will sing and warble some, but most of their calls will be one or two syllable chirps and whistles. Male budgies can string together long sonatas that go on for minutes and minutes on end. Hens can too, but usually do not.

5. Hen budgies tend to have flatter, boxy-looking heads across the top. Male budgies heads tend to be rounder at the top. Even when the bird has his feathers raised, males will tend to raise the ones nearest the cere, and hens will tend to raise the ones from the cere all the way back to the back of the head, creating a square look.

 

Hens can and will feed each other. I currently have four hens, and they occasionally feed each other, and will head bob and make clucking or "tut-tut-tut" noises at each other, while pinning their eyes and shaking their heads "no". They will preen each other as well.

 

All female budgies ceres will turn brown when they begin to go through puberty, and when ready to breed. The brown color is determined by the amount of estrogen the bird's body is producing, and this is why even birds as yound as 5 or 6 months of age may get a brown cere. As lovey said, cere color should not be used to determine whether a budgie is old enough to breed, and that is the reason why. Sometimes the cere color change does not occur until the bird is close to a year old. One of my hens was like that.

 

Hopefully this helps some, and I'm sorry for not welcoming you in the first sentence. Welcome! We love pictures of everyone's birds, so if you can post some that would be awesome. It would also help us determing whether you indeed have a hen or not.