my parakeets nose is swelling up

Question
Hi Chrys! See the thing is I'm worried about my budgie.I don't know how or why it happened but his nose sorta swelled up. It looks really bad and I don't know what to do. My other budgie, Baby, it's nose is just fine and is flat. Dude's looks all bubblely and dry. It basically looks like a person's lip when it's all chapped. I don't know what to do. Also I was wondering if their were any signs on how to tell if a budgie is a boy or girl. Some say it depends on the color of their nose but I'm not sure. Dude's nose is like brownish type of color and Baby's is like a bluish purplish light type of color. Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi, Melissa.  Thanks for posting!

Sounds to me from your description that you have a female (Dude).  A female's cere (area above the beak) is brown/white/tan/beige.  When she's in breeding condition (doesn't mean you should breed her though), her cere will turn dark brown, crusty, and flaky.  I think this is what you're seeing in Dude.  Baby sounds like a male...how old is Baby?  

Chrys