My parakeet is white with with yellow neck and forehead. It”s chest is blue and the back of neck is blue with black stripes. It is a year old. It’s cere is lavender with white around holes. Legs are pink. Her white feathers seem to be turning yellow. I’m so confused. Is it make or female. I want to purchase a mate for it. They are so young when purchasing them. No one at the pet store can determine the sex. Please tell me if Budgee is male ore female.
Hi Donna,
The cere color is how you can tell the sex of many parakeets. But in some of the mutations, you can’t tell by their cere. This is usually with the solid colors or pastel colors. Since your bird has a lavender cere, it sounds like one of these mutation so unfortunately, you will not be able to tell the sex unless you have a blood test run, or unless it lays an egg at some point. Now, some breeders swear that if the cere is lavender with white rings right around the nostrils, it is a female. This is really still a guess. The plumage and leg color and markings you mentioned have nothing to do with the bird’s sex.
Is your bird tame? If you get another one and put it in the same cage, the birds generally will not stay tame. They bond with each other and stop wanting human companionship. The other problem with getting another bird is the cage. You can’t put a baby in the same cage with a one year old. And parakeets should not be allowed to breed until they are 2 years old, so you really should not put a male and female together until both birds are 2. If you put a younger female with an older male, she may try to lay eggs when she is too young, and this can put her at a high risk of getting egg bound and dying.
Sometimes the animal shelters will have adult parakeets for adoption or there may be a parrot rescue near you that has parakeets. And sometimes the pet shops will have adult parakeets that someone didn’t want anymore. But if you do get another bird, it needs to have its own cage at first. And depending on the sex, it might be a couple of years before it is safe to put the birds in the same cage. Also, not all birds get along, so you might end up with two birds that don’t like each other. It’s a lot to think about, and unfortunately it still doesn’t answer your question about male or female.
Thank you for Asking Lafeber,
Brenda
