Hi all! I last posted when I introduced Bunny. Her cere started pink but slowly turned to blue and white so I’m fairly certain she is a female; she’s now a year old.
My new budgie is Sunshine aka Sunny, who I got at 4 months old with a very typically tan cere, so we all assume female. However, now at 5 months old, it’s turning blue?
Any chance Sunny could be a boy?
In the latest picture you posted of Bunny, I have to say that the deep blue on the cere looks like a male. However, that may simply be a trick of the lighting and my computer monitor (which is quite possible). Females have a light chalky looking whitish-blue coloration of the cere.
Let's see what the experts say...
With a mixed gender pair, one needs to do everything necessary to discourage breeding.
Rearranging their cage frequently, and limiting the light they get to 8 hours a day will help tremendously. Please be sure you never put a nest box or anything that could be used as a nesting site in their cage.
When they come into condition, limit the amount of protein in their diet at that time.
Wow thanks so much, I definitely thought Bunny was a female this whole time; that’s why I specifically got Sunny as a female so I wouldn’t have to worry about babies :,(
Definitely have been making sure not to promote egg laying behavior anyways for Bunny so I’ll just keep that up to prevent mating behavior.
I have to agree with Deborah here, that it ‘might’ just be a trick of the lighting and photo. The blue appears darker than typical for females. Although males can have ‘some’ white around the nostrils, it looks like a larger amount of chalky white there. I’m inclined to say female, BUT if you can post additional pics of Sunny, to see the depth of the blue in other pics, it would be helpful.
Sunny is your new bird in the last pic, right?... I think there was some confusion above with the names .
Hi thanks so much for the input! Yellow one is Sunny, she’s 5 months old and her cere just started turning a blue.
Bunny is my older with the white head, about 13 months old; was sure she/he was female, I didn’t know it was supposed to be chalky. Sorry it’s hard to get good pictures of Bunny, they love my phone so she/he tries to give it kisses every time I take a picture.