I had a female budgie for 9 years, and during the last 6 of those years she kept on laying eggs (no male present). She saw an avian vet pretty regularly. However, one day I came home and found a horrible sight. Her uterus was prolapse/just hanging ouside of her. It was heartbreaking, and I had her put to sleep.

 

I would like another budgie, but am worried about this happening again with a female. A part of me says maybe I should try and hope for a male, but I know it is really difficult to tell their sex when they are young. How can I prevent this from occurring if I get another female? I currently have a male Cockatiel. Second question...do you think there would be a problem with them getting along? (kept in seperate cages of course).

 

Any insight is appreciated.

Yes females can lay without a mate. I am surprised that your vet (avian?) did not give her some type of injections to try and control the egg laying if nothing else worked. Robin (Phoebe) very commonly seems to acquire female birds that lay eggs but she did have a constant egg layer where they would give her Lupren Injections.

 

A good breeder or pet shop clerk can 99% tell you the sex of a young budgie even if the cere has not yet changed.

A young female budgie's cere is usually a whitish pale pink and may have large white nostril rings.

A young male budgie's cere is a smooth bright pink may have small nasal rings or none at all.

 

If you are still worried about that and you are open for an older bird you may want to consider an older bird where you can see the difference in the cere (there a couple of mutations that do not change to the blue in males). To obtain an older bird (and that is 4 months or older) you can look in your newspaper, rescue organizations, craigslist, petfinder etc... in your area.

 

I personally went with 2 males because I was afriad of the egg laying issues. So if you do want a young bird above are some guidelines to help you sex them but again an experience eye can tell the difference. (yes there are some that will look one sex then end up being another but it is rare).

 

Also if you post a picture of the bird's cere on here (before or even after you purchase) we will can usually tell you if you have a female or male. Even when they are young.

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...&artlang=en