# Budgie mystery



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

About 4 months ago we split our budgies into 2 aviaries, cocks in one and hens in another as the hens were fighting badly and we didnt want them to breed. All has been well and peace has reigned. Yesterday we noticed that the lining of the shed has been chewed and watched a budgie hen come out of the gap(we thought it was mouse damage,we are in the process of getting rid of them). When she was out we then heard chicks calling for her:gasp: How the hell has this happened? We sexed the birds and no blue ceres in the hen aviary so unless a males can never colour up we have all hens. The cock aviary is on the other side of the sanctuary so no mating through the wire can of happened.

Puzzled!


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Are their any lutino or albino 'female' Budgies in the aviary?

Also, some males ceres can be a very un-blue colour due to age, health & sexual status.


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Zoo-Man said:


> Are their any lutino or albino 'female' Budgies in the aviary?
> 
> Also, some males ceres can be a very un-blue colour due to age, health & sexual status.


Hmmm if the all yellow ones are lutinos we have 2 of them and they are the ones that have the babies :gasp: How do you sex them?


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Shell195 said:


> Hmmm if the all yellow ones are lutinos we have 2 of them and they are the ones that have the babies :gasp: How do you sex them?


Lutinos have red eyes, white ear patches & thei cere colour is generally just pink, but the males often have a slight purpleish tinge to their cere. It is hard though.


----------



## 123dragon (Jan 15, 2011)

i used to breed budgies as well so i understand how you made the mistake with the lutinos. 
if i was you i wouldn't split them until the chicks are fledged but one way i found to sex a pain of identical birds is to spook them, 
the female should go to the nest to be with the chicks and the male will just flap around making lots of noise


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

123dragon said:


> i used to breed budgies as well so i understand how you made the mistake with the lutinos.
> if i was you i wouldn't split them until the chicks are fledged but one way i found to sex a pain of identical birds is to spook them,
> the female should go to the nest to be with the chicks and the male will just flap around making lots of noise


 
We have left the pair and havent touched the shed lining as we dont want to end up attempting handrearing. We already have 2 budgie aviaries, one for males, one for females so maybe we now need one for the dont knows:lol2: Flipping birds, we have tried so hard to stop them breeding:bash:


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Zoo-Man said:


> Lutinos have red eyes, white ear patches & thei cere colour is generally just pink, but the males often have a slight purpleish tinge to their cere. It is hard though.


 
The open day is only 2 weeks ago Colin so you can have a look and see if you can sex the flipping things:whistling2:


----------



## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

best way ever is remove nest boxes they wont breed when theres no nesgt boxes but now theres chick let them rear them to be honist if you sell the babys its money to the charaty 


feck myt spellings bad send me a pm with how to donate to wherwe you work soz am a bit drunk lol but colin can tell you am a good person xx


----------



## 123dragon (Jan 15, 2011)

they do breed if there is no egg boxes as they mate before they find a nest,
plus if you have mixed sexes with out places to lay eggs you run the risk of hens becoming egg bound


----------



## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

123dragon said:


> they do breed if there is no egg boxes as they mate before they find a nest,
> plus if you have mixed sexes with out places to lay eggs you run the risk of hens becoming egg bound


We removed all the nesting boxes and ours haven't mated/laid since.

As Zoo-Man said the ceres are not always clearly defined with Lutinos


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

i used to breed lutinos and it is possible to sex them, just takes experience though, when they`re ready to start breeding there is a difference in cere colour and their different behaviour helps too.

out of breeding condition they all look the same though.

maybe you need the lutinos/albinos in a seperate house while you sort out what they are?

only other way is if you know what colour their parents were as ino is sex linked......might help sex the babies too


----------



## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

Some hens can have a blue beak. If the blue is solid its a cock bird and if there are white rings around the nostrils this is a hen bird. This shows up a lot in juvenile hens and is where a lot of people go wrong. If you are unsure of any send me some photos and i will sex them for ya.


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Shell195 said:


> The open day is only 2 weeks ago Colin so you can have a look and see if you can sex the flipping things:whistling2:


No worries, I'll take a look at them for you then hun


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Zoo-Man said:


> No worries, I'll take a look at them for you then hun


 
Haha Ive just seen my typo it should say away not ago :blush:


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Shell195 said:


> Haha Ive just seen my typo it should say away not ago :blush:


:lol2:


----------



## SilverSky (Oct 2, 2010)

they sound worse to sex than quail!
i bet the one/two lone males in with all those girls thought all their christmas's had come at once with all that choice of ladies though!


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

quails are easy, lol, turn upside down and squeeze gently and if foam comes out its a boy

:lol2:


----------



## SilverSky (Oct 2, 2010)

pigglywiggly said:


> quails are easy, lol, turn upside down and squeeze gently and if foam comes out its a boy
> 
> :lol2:


 
lol yeah i know, but you have to wait til they're full grown, its a pain, cos i'd rather have some of the boys dispatched when smaller, firstly for small snakes, and secondly its such a waste all that food! lol


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

what type of quails? japs i can tell by 10 days max by the reddish feathers coming through on their chests, unless they`re range coloured, with those i have to wait till 6 weeks to vent sex.


----------



## SilverSky (Oct 2, 2010)

pigglywiggly said:


> what type of quails? japs i can tell by 10 days max by the reddish feathers coming through on their chests, unless they`re range coloured, with those i have to wait till 6 weeks to vent sex.


yeah once they're about that old we vent sex them, dont even try til then as its just impossible.
i have japs in various colours, gold, tuxedo, and a few totally mixed colours, theres no difference between them visually


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

only ones i cant sex at 10 days are whites and tux`s......the others the speckly girl chest feathers and males reddish ones are enough to see who`s in a pie.


----------

