by kaylayuh » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:56 pm
You can't really tell the sex of a budgie until after it's first molt. Mine molted at about a year old, but their ceres started to change colors a bit earlier.
My lutino is a female and her cere is all white. Her cere was a light purple/pink color until she was about a year old which led me to think she was a male. After she finished her first molt, it became a creamy white color and has stayed that way since.
My slate budgie is a male and his cere is in the process of turning a light blue color. He began his first molt a couple of days ago, but I noticed his cere changing colors at the beginning of March. Right now, his cere is blue towards the nares and more purple towards the beak; but I notice it changing a bit more every day.
I had a pretty good idea that my slate budgie was a male because he was much larger than the lutino even though he's a couple of months younger. He also has a louder chirp and sings throughout the day which is supposed to be a sign of a male budgie. Pigpen, the lutino, is much quieter and really only makes sounds when she's screaming. She only screams when she's displeased with something, but No Name, the slate, will chirp throughout the day.
Because I'm guessing the budgies are no older than six months, I'd say it will take another six months before you know for certain what their sexes are. Normal males will have a blue or purple cere, while normal females will have a white or flaky brown cere.
If the store you got the birds from told you they were one sex or another, I'd guess they either don't know much about how to sex a budgie or they thought they were much older than they actually are. Once you notice the black bars on the budgies foreheads disappearing, you should also notice the cere starting to change and you should be able to tell definitively soon after that.
Either way, they're very cute and I'm surprised you can tell them apart. I got my budgies in two different colors because I was afraid I'd mix them up.
"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird