Budgie Gender a Boy or a Girl?

Do you have a Budgie at home but not sure about the gender? Or are you going to purchase a Budgie but having a hard time deciding whether you should buy a boy or a girl. Whatever your concern is, identifying the Budgie gender of this fun-loving bird is important. An expert can differentiate the gender with his keen eyes. But the untrained eyes; it would not be possible for them.

However, there are few details which can be of great help in knowing if your Budgie is a boy or a girl. For all the details about Budgie’s gender differences, we have prepared a gender difference guide. Let’s learn the dimorphic nature of Budgies.

Understanding Budgie sex Differences

How old is your Budgie? This would be the first consideration while deciding the sex of a Budgie. Sexing in budgies can be easily defined once you know their age. If your Budgie is less than a year old, it may be impossible to tell his gender. Budgies develop physical dimorphism aka gender differentiation after one year.

Are there any personality differences between a male and a female Budgie? Well, definitely yes. A male budgie and female budgie are two different personalities with varying hormones. In general terms, each Budgie has his unique personality. However, gender differences play their role too.

A budgie boy is mostly head bobbing, very social, and outgoing. He will enjoy more, sing often, and learn to talk real quick. Whereas a Budgie girl is not very social but can be louder. She’s always bossy and loves to chew. In the wild, girl budgies are experts at gnawing holes in trees for nesting. More often than not, if your budgie chews everything down in minutes, that’s a girl.

What can be the health concerns of Budgies depending on the sex? Budgies are healthy and hardy parrots. They require a healthy budgie diet. In girl budgies, there is a risk of becoming egg-bound. Egg-binding happens when an egg gets stuck during the laying process. This can end up being a life-threatening issue for a budgie girl. An immediate response is required for this condition. Hence, a female budgie always needs a proactive and caring budgie parent.

How to Identify Budgie Gender?

After this little behavioral gender differences guide, let’s learn how to identify budgie’s gender. If we look for physical dimorphism budgies happen to have only one difference, and that too only when they are older than a year. That lies in their ‘cere’. Let’s learn to identify a girl or boy budgie in three simple steps:

Look at the Cere

Cere is just above the beak. You can find a cere of your budgie where his nose is. Male and female budgies have different colored cere.

• Boy Budgie Cere: If your budgie has a bright blue or purplish cere, you can tell he is a boy. The cere in a boy Budgie will be slightly larger than that of girl budgie. Also, the color mutation has a great range in budgies. If your Budgie is recessive pied, albino, lacewing, or fallow, you can find the cere color in the violet or pink shade, depending on your Budgie’s color.
• Girl Budgie Cere: A girl Budgie cere will be less colorful and bright. Mostly, it will be tan, white, or dull pink. A girl budgie cere will be smaller to a boy budgie cere, with the difference that it will be rougher in texture and look flaky.

If your budgie is not older than a year, this criteria would fail. The cere color starts to develop only after a year. The sex of the bird, then, determines the color of cere.

Watch their Behavior

To know the gender, observe your bird’s behavior. A girl budgie will be more aggressive and a boy budgie, more outgoing. Male budgies will be friendly and receptive to you and your female budgie will be bossy and temperamental. If you ever watch a flock, find out which group is interactive and which group is aggressive. Boy budgie will be more active and head bobbing.

Listen to them

This can be the easiest way to find out a budgie gender. Both of the budgies will make sounds albeit different. A boy budgie will sing more. They are known to make happening sounds. Whereas a girl budgie will make angry noises and mad sounds. If you are hearing some weird aggressive sounds from your budgie, be sure she’s a girl. And when your Budgie is singing, he’s a boy. Boy budgies also make mad sounds but not as consistently as girl budgies.

How To Tell the Gender Difference in younger Budgies?

As discussed, Budgies can be differentiated by looking at their cere when they are older than a year. But identifying if a budgie is a boy or girl when they are younger, is challenging. Do not just try to find out when they leave the nest. It’s better to give them a few weeks. Here are the ways:

• A boy budgie cere will be round and bulging. And a girl Budgie cere will appear more flatter.
• When you see a dull white ring around the nostril of your Budgie, she’s a girl.
• You may see a blue shade surrounding the white ring. As blue cere is an indication of boy budgie, do not confuse here. This is not a boy budgie. A slight blue shade around the white ring is a sign of a girl Budgie.

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Conclusion

Budgies, the lovely parrots, are not hard to sex. You can tell if your budgie is a girl or boy by a few simple checks. Know the age, watch the behavior, and hear the sound. These steps can fairly tell you about their gender. Try focusing on what they do and what they don’t. While it’s easier to know the gender of an adult budgie, have a keen eye to differentiate a young budgie and use the above-mentioned checks. And you’ll have a conclusion.