budgie questions

Question
Hi!  I have a couple questions about budgies.

I just got two babies a month ago.  They turned 3 months old Friday!  My first question is when will you be able to tell if they're male or female?  Their ceres right now are both a light white-blue.  The breeder I got them from said it was too early to tell and she wasn't able to tell me a time-frame.  Do their nails have anything to do with it?  One baby has brown nails and the other clear.

My second question is about one of the babies - "Chickpea".  'He' is a chewer, he chews on everything he possibly can get a hold of.  Well, last night, he threw up out of the blue 3 times in one hour.  He was acting totally fine other than that, and even would run right back to his food cup after he threw up.  Well, Chickpea has been chewing on the smooth wooden perches I have in his cage and I also noticed last night that he had chewed a crater about the size of a quarter in the perch.  So now I'm wondering if that's why he threw up, if maybe he digested some wood.  So my question is, first of all, how dangerous is that?  I won't be able to get to the store to find something new until this weekend...but if it's seriously a hazzard I will take off work to stop by the pet store.  Also, what kind of perches can I get that he won't digest?  Rope?  Pummace?  I'm kind of bummed because I know those perches are small and won't extend all the way across the cage.  But if it's what I have to do to keep him safe, I will.

The other baby's name is Parsley.  My only question about 'her' is instead of having a smooth chest, she has a "line" (almost like a crease in a piece of paper) that goes from her chest down to under her legs.  Does that mean anything or is it just how she is?

One more question :)  I also have two older budies, Kiwi and Sweetie.  They are 4 year old females.  Sweetie has some kind of light brown stuff growing on her cere.  She had it once before and took her to the vet.  They were able to kind of flake it off and said not to worry as long as it didn't cover her breathing holes.  It has since come back, and isn't covering her breathing holes, but I'm just wondering what it could be!

Sorry about all the questions!  Thanks!  Erin :)

Answer
Hi, Erin.  Thanks for posting your questions.  

Usually at about 3-4 months of age, the sex of a budgie can start to be determined.  However, this depends on the phenotype (coloration) of the particular bird.  Often times, white/mostly white and light colored budgies are difficult to sex until around 6 months of age.  I've even had some adult budgies that I could not sex accurately until she laid an egg or mated with a female who produced an egg!  The color of the cere identifies the sex...nail color has nothing to do with it.  The difference in nail color mainly has to do with the color variations/mutations in a bird's genetic history.  A male budgie's cere will be completely blue, even around the edges that meet the beak/face area.  A female's cere can be any other color, i.e., beige, brown, tan, purple, and even blue, but in a female with a blue cere, there will be a white "trim" around the edges of the cere where the cere meets the beak/face area.  Kinda like when coloring a picture how some people "frame" around the area they are coloring first, then color the inside of that area.  Take the above into consideration with behavior, and you should have a pretty good idea of the sex of your budgies.  As I stated though, if your budgies are white/mostly white or light colored, it may take more time before you can sex them with any degree of accuracy.

Chickpea's chewing is normal parrot behavior.  Baby parrots teethe just like humans babies do, so this chewing is not abnormal, especially for a baby.  All parrots chew just about anything they can get hold of that their beaks can destroy, so don't be alarmed if Chickpea's behavior continues throughout his life!  I would imagine that the throwing up is because he isn't able to digest the wood.  I wouldn't be too concerned about this unless he exhibits other abnormal behavior.  As I stated, Chickpea may continue to chew up his perches (and toys) throughout his lifetime.  Therefore, you may want to make perches out of tree branches from outside.  Make sure any perches you make out of tree branches are made from safe wood and ensure you thoroughly clean them before placing them in your budgie's cage.  These type perches are also good for conditioning/exercising their feet...use different sizes placed in different positions within the cage.  You can use rope or other type perches, but I've had problems with bird's nails getting caught in the rope-style perches and they tend to chew these up, too, so I don't use them.  Chewing wood won't hurt your budgies (it's natural behavior in the wild and in captivity), unless they get wood stuck in their mouths/crops, etc.  In the latter case, they would be showing other signs of distress, at which time you'd have to seek bird veterinarian assistance.

Parsley may be overweight.  If her chest looks like she has "clevage," she is overweight.  This would produce the type of "line" I think you are describing.  The line is produced when fat on her chest is sticks out farther than  her keel (chest) bone.

A budgie/parakeet that is in breeding condition will have a crusty, flaky cere and her cere will turn dark brown.  I believe this is what you are most likely seeing.  Nothing to worry about!

You might want to visit some websites on the internet in order to learn how to better be able to sex your baby budgies and to learn more about them.  There are some websites of budgie/parakeet breeders that describe how they identify sex at early ages.  Be careful though...I've been surprised many times when I thought one of my budgies was male and turned out to be female (when ceres are multi-colored, etc.).

If you have more questions, come back.  Thanks.

Chrys