I have bought this beautiful budgie and I have been told it was a male. I do not have much experience and this is my first budgie. Now he has developed a brownish cere (see pics). I am trying to understand whether he is sick or he is actually a female undergoing hormonal changes:

 

 

Is he a sick male (diet?) or actually a female?

Please help

 

Thanks.

 

World33

Hi do you know how old it is? And what color was the cere when you got it?

 

thanks

I am not sure how old it is but he looked a bit smaller than the others when I bought it. The cere was light blue.

I think it looks and sounds female. Hens when are young or out of breeding condition they have light blue ceres. Do you have a picture of the bird before it went brown?

 

This is a picture of my hens blue cere

 

Edited April 10, 201312 yr by Nadene

Oh wow I've never seen a hen with a cere that dark lol

No unfortunately I do not have a picture when he had light blue cere. He is sharing a cage with a female budgie and they do not seem to bond. That is another clue that made me think he was not a male. At the same time, being unexperienced, I have fed them just with seeds and I learnt that diet can contribute to an unhealthy cere. Now I have added fruit and vegs. Is it possible after more than a month that 2 budgies of opposite sex do not bond? The one in the picture is a show budgie where the other one is a "normal" budgie. What kind of illnesses could cause a brownish cere? By the way lovely looking budgies Nadene

Edited April 10, 201312 yr by world33

Thank you world33

Birdlove I hadn't either, she was my first show bird and none of my pet types ever went blue. She wasn't in a good condition, she had bad scaly mite but I treated her and gave her lots of TLC and touch wood its never happened again and she's had 4 chicks.

 

World33 if it is a male it could have a hormone imbalance. Another member on here Robyn has a male bird that gets a brown cere and she treats him with iodine, hopefully she will read this topic and might be able to help

Hi, yes I had a Cock bird who's cere would change from blue to brown. On advice from a bbc member I gave him a soluble Iodine. 7 drops per litre of water, I gave it to all my birds. His cere changed back and forth a couple of times, he bred some beautiful chicks. Unfortunately he has passed away but I have a couple of his babies in the aviary so hopefully they will carry on his genes.

 

Only thing is the one I get from the Chemist is about $20.00 a bottle which for a couple of birds is expensive. All the birds need some Iodine, for which you can get iodine bells at pet stores which may be enough for him. BUT he just may still turn out to be a she.

thanks a lot! I will try the iodine. Is this betadine the one you are using? http://betadine.com.au/sore-throat-gargle

Hi, the one I use is Aqueous Iodine. Apparently humans can take it as well for some medical conditions. Add 7 drops to a litre. I give it to my birds about every 2 weeks.

 

The betadine you have would be a gargle, not swallowed.

Edited April 11, 201312 yr by robyn

Hi there, I had a budgie whose cere turned brown and he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and sadly he has since passed away. If you search the internet you will find this is a common cause. May be worth a trip to an avian vet to get a proper answer on the situation.

if the cere was pale blue before it was most likely a hen not in breeding condition but now is in breeding condition....A males cere is hardly ever light blue. If the brown goes on to get darker and peel off again it will be female

 

you wont need the iodine if its female