Hi there. I'm a mommy-to-be (exciting!) and have choice of the clutch. I would prefer a male, but will of course love him/her regardless of what they end up being. The seller has sent me a few photos of the babies and I'm curious as to which you think are males versus females. The seller thinks the blue baby is male, and I'm hoping that's correct - he's gorgeous! Thank you very much for any assistance.
P.S. I know one of the birds is turned around and there's no way to tell - guesses on the other two would be great, though.
In the first pic, the gray one on the left closest to dad, is male for sure. The blue one on the right has a female color cere. But, on the second pic, the baby’s cere looks more male. However, I’m going with female because the first pic is more clear with good lighting, and the blue one has a female color.
I’ll tell you how I’m determining this; baby males have a pink or lavender cere with a sort of ‘waxy’ almost translucent look. Either solid color or with just a little white immediately around nostrils. Baby females ceres have an opaque ‘chalky’ whitish in a large area around nostrils, usually with a light bluish and sometimes pinkish toward the base of the cere.
Is there any reason you’d rather have a male? It’s a myth that they make better pets than females. In fact, my female has a ‘better’ pet quality than my male. Each budgie’s personality is individual, and not determined by it’s gender.
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Last edited by RavensGryf; 04-23-2018 at 01:17 PM.
The two photos of the same bird (blue) 1st photo looks female. 2nd photo same bird male. Young males show more pinky/purple, hens more chalky blu-ish. Lighting in photos is important, real like is better. All birds are individuals including personality.
Thank you both for the replies. The reason I have a slight preference toward a male is because I'd like to avoid the complications (and vet bill) of an egg bound bird. I know it's usually avoidable by keeping mirrors away, but why risk it when it's easy enough to get a male? Plus I've heard from many, many people that males are more vocal and can have a larger vocabulary.
I agree with the above posters. It is hard to confirm the gender of the blue baby, although the grey is definitely male.
When looking for a new budgie to adopt, you should go and visit them and see which one seems the most outgoing and curious to you! That's a hallmark of a good single budgie that will bond well with humans
Also, whoever told you that it's hard to prevent female egg binding (which is very rare as long as there are no nesting sites, etc. provided) is wrong. Additionally, females have the potential to speak just as much as males do. Many members on the forums have male budgies that have never spoken a word in their lives, while others' females are great mimics.
Meanwhile, be sure to read through all the budgie articles and "stickies" (threads "stuck" to the top of each subforum for easy reference) to ensure you're up to date on the very best of budgie care practices as you prepare for your new little friend! If you have any questions afterwards, please be sure to ask as we'd love to help.
Hope to see you around!
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~StarlingWings~
and Princess Mallorn!
Thank you to Deb for her wonderful Faery magic