As you can probably tell from the topic title, this is a pretty strange question.

 

At my work, we have a number of budgie owners but, alas, no budgie breeders to whom we can direct our budgie-related questions. Normally this isn't a problem, as few budgie-related questions arise in the course of a normal work day. However, today is an exception.

 

One of my colleagues claims that her nana owns a budgie which, over the course of its lifetime, has gone from being a male to being a female. Apparently it was identified as a male by her vet, and about 12 months later was identified as a female by the same vet.

 

My personal view is that my colleague's nana should consider finding a new vet. Nevertheless, my colleague insists that her nana's budgie is in fact transgender and underwent some form of natural sex change. I know this can happen with certain types of fish in an environment where there is an extreme shortage of one particular gender, but it sounds thoroughly implausible when applied to budgies.

 

Besides the opinion of her nana's veterination, she alleges that the budgie, when it was "male", was placed in a cage with a female, who laid an egg. She went on to explain that, unlike, for example, chickens, budgies will not lay an egg unless it is fertilised by a male.

 

So, I have two questions: firstly, is it possible for a female budgie to lay an unfertilised egg, and secondly, is it possible for, or does anyone know instances of, budgies undergoing involuntary sex changes?

 

Given that I am generally relied upon to find the answers to any bizarre question raised in this office, my reputation is seriously under threat by the lack of information on transgender budgies currently available on the internet. Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Thanks,

 

Michael B.

is it possible for a female budgie to lay an unfertilised egg

 

yes it is possible

 

secondly, is it possible for, or does anyone know instances of, budgies undergoing involuntary sex changes?

no it is not possible to change sex

1. are you sure it was a male in the first place

2. if it did have a blue cere then changed to a brown one so that it looks female then this is normally down to the malfunction of the ductless glands associated with the sexual organs

Edited October 27, 200519 yr by hath

Well Michael it looks like your reputation is safe. Just an added not, it is possible for a female budgie on her own to lay an egg, obviously it's not fertile! Good luck with answering more bizarre questions!

Michael lets clarify "Vet" some vets do not understand Budgerigars or Parrots. That is why we surgest you take them to an Aviarian Vet that speciallise in Parrots.

 

A budgerigar can appear to change sex a couple of times a year. Especially a Hen. She goes through her breeding cycle and at time to some may appear to have a blue cere. But she is still a hen. I think if you go to the FAQ Eterri has an issue on that question.Budgie FAQs

There are three reasons why a male might appear to be a female, I think the first was already mentioned and is the most likely situation:

 

1) It was a female to begin with but misidentified as a male. Even vets do this, budgies' ceres can be confusing. When out of breeding condition, females can have quite a bit of light blue to their cere. Once they come into breeding condition it becomes very deep brown and crusty, making the bird undeniably female. This is probably what happened here.

 

2) If this is an older budgie and the owner is 100% positive it was a male (not just going on the vet's judgement but the cere was very very bright blue to begin with and then changed to brown) there could be a tumor that has caused the cere to change to a brown color. This is something that definitely needs to be checked out and confirmed by an avian veterinarian.

 

3) This is highly unlikely, but if the budgie really is male and is in the company of other males (no females) the cere will sometimes change to brown to mimic being female. The budgie's actual gender *does not* change, just the color of the cere. I've never seen this happen, but I've read that it's possible. I really doubt this is the case though as it is very rare.

 

Hope that helps!

Welcome to the forum MichaelB, as you can see there's plenty of very useful help around.

3) This is highly unlikely, but if the budgie really is male and is in the company of other males (no females) the cere will sometimes change to brown to mimic being female. The budgie's actual gender *does not* change, just the color of the cere. I've never seen this happen, but I've read that it's possible. I really doubt this is the case though as it is very rare.

 

Hope that helps!

 

This interests me as I wonder if it is what happened when Sherbets cere appeared to change colour?

Could be, Julie! I did find it weird that Sherbert's cere was so very solid in its blue/purple color but then started to get just that bit of brown. How's it looking now?

I've posted an updated picture in the thread eterri, his cere looks totally male now-weird!

Thank you all, in particular the font of budgerigar wisdom that is eterri. For the record, my colleague has decided on option number three, that her nan's male budgie changed cere colour to mimic a female, although I am secretly maintaining that it was always female and was merely misidentified by her vet; it seems a far more likely explanation in my humble opinion.

 

I had no idea what complex little critters budgies were!! I might have to get one of my own after all this

 

Thanks again,

Michael

You will never regret getting one of these adorable, playful and intelligent birds Michael

3) This is highly unlikely, but if the budgie really is male and is in the company of other males (no females) the cere will sometimes change to brown to mimic being female. The budgie's actual gender *does not* change, just the color of the cere. I've never seen this happen, but I've read that it's possible. I really doubt this is the case though as it is very rare.

 

 

Thank you all, in particular the font of budgerigar wisdom that is eterri. For the record, my colleague has decided on option number three, that her nan's male budgie changed cere colour to mimic a female, although I am secretly maintaining that it was always female and was merely misidentified by her vet; it seems a far more likely explanation in my humble opinion.

 

I had no idea what complex little critters budgies were!! I might have to get one of my own after all this

 

Thanks again,

Michael

 

A budgies cere color is determined by hormones. I have never heard of a budgie changing it's cere color to mimic being a bird of the opposite sex. I have seen them act like birds of the opposite sex on occasion, but will maintain that since the brown color of the cere is due to the presence of elevated levels of estrogen in the birds' body, that if a male budgie has a brown cere it is most likely due to tumors of the sex organs. Michael, I think you are correct and the bird was misidentified as male when it was younger.

Edited October 28, 200519 yr by Rainbow

I've read in quite a few places that males have had cere color changes when in the presense of only other male budgies. That's not to say that they magically perform their own cere color change but it might be possible that it has something to do with the condition of the birds around them, their environment, etc.? It would be my luck that I'm having a lot of trouble finding the articles that I first read about this but I'll let you know once I do. Maybe it's not true, but I wouldn't rule it out just yet.

3) This is highly unlikely, but if the budgie really is male and is in the company of other males (no females) the cere will sometimes change to brown to mimic being female. The budgie's actual gender *does not* change, just the color of the cere. I've never seen this happen, but I've read that it's possible. I really doubt this is the case though as it is very rare

 

i must admit ive never heard of this either and i cant understand why it would want to mimic a female ?

What I read implied that it happened when males were all kept together and the urge to breed was really heightened by all that. Some day I will come across the articles again, as of now it's like someone is hiding them from me on purpose.

I would guess that this might happen out of sheer frustration with all males together?

I have to say that seems to be the case with Sherbet. His cere has now gone back to blue and the awful biting and aggressiveness is calming down again and he is much more attuned to us humans again like he once was.