The simplest way to tell if your budgie is male or female is to look at the cere (the bit above it's beak) and see what colour it is.
Most of the time, a young female will have a pale blue cere with white rings around the nostrils whereas a young males will be a purple-pinkish colour.
Adults are a little different. An adult male budgerigar will have a blue cere and the female will have an almost white cere with a hint of blue.
Then of course there's the ones that are in breeding condition. Here a females cere will start going brown when she's coming into season, and dark dark brown just as she's coming out of it,
whilst a male budgies cere will get a vibrant royal blue for the whole breeding season.
Are you confused yet? The pictures should help you with that confusion.
Young Hens:
Young Males:
Mature Females:
Mature Males:
===============Resource Box===========
Anna-Marie Stewart keeps and breeds pet budgerigars.
Visit Adorable Budgies for information, pictures and forum
http://adorablebudgies.co.uk
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