I've had my budgie Angel for 4 months now, and yet I'm still not 100% positive that she is indeed, a female. Her body is white with a sky blue belly and partially black wing feathers. (Sorry, I'm not good with mutations.) She still has black bars/lines going down to her cere, although they seem to be very faded. her cere is a very light pinkish/tan color. Is she a girl? Is she mature yet? Will her cere turn brown only when she is in breeding condition?

 

Help is much appriciated.

If it's tan then i would say she's a girl. Has she had her first moult yet? A picture would be handy.

Is the budgie a recessive pied? If so it could be a male with the pinkish cere. A picture would definately help.

I'm sorry its not good quality, and I'm afraid the color may be off, but it is the best I can get right now:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/kimi32187/angel.jpg

It does look like Angel is a recessive pied. I'd go with a female. I'm not 100%, but fairly sure.

Definitely a girl.

Definitely a girl.

 

I thought so..

 

I do have a couple of questions though, if you don't mind. She must be mature already, right? I'm pretty sure that she's at least 6 months old now. Will a female's cere turn brown only when in breeding condition?

A mature hen will have a tan cere most of the time, even though she's 6 months old she could be a slow developer which would be why her cere's still not completely brown. Blinkie's cere didn't go blue until he was 6 or 7 months old.

loves those recessives, Pretty looks like your Angel but male, you can see the difference in the cere from his picture being pink/purplish, he is about 7 months.

Yep, I agree with Bea. A girl - a hen can be in condition & not have a dark brown cere.

One of my albino girls is sitting on eggs & hers is a pale beige.