age

Question
QUESTION: hi i was just how to tell how old a budgie is i bought 2 from a pet store and one of my budgies has a purple nose and i was wondering what gender that is?

ANSWER: Hi jared!

You can tell how old a budgie is by the bars on it's head, it's color, and it's personality. All parakeets, except for lutino, albino, and some pied, have bars on their heads. These black stripes disappear from the very top of their head after their first molt. If your birds have bars all the way up to their cere then they are likely very young. You can also tell after they first molt, while in your care, by seeing if their color brightens dramatically when the new feathers grow in. Most chick's feathers are duller than their adult feathers. If your birds seem very energetic and acrobatic, then they are likely in their first three years. Most budgies from pet stores are younger than a year. As for your other bird with the purple cere, you'd have to tell me what color it was. Lutinos, yellow birds without bars on their wings or heads, albinos, mostly white birds without bars on their wings or head, and pied, mixed colors, usually green and yellow, that blend well, have purple ceres in males. I came across this in the one lutino and pieds I have had. A few times I have confused the males as females. The only way you can tell the sex of this bird is to look closely and see if it has a white ring around it's nostrils. You can also wait until spring when their breeding season usually begins and see if it's cere turns tan or brown. If you want, you can ask a follow-up question telling me what color your bird is and I can give you a bit more accurate response.

Hope this helps!
Erika

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: the one with the purple cere is blue

Answer
Hi jared!

Your bird might still be young, and it is still hard to tell without actually seeing your bird, but my best guess is still that your bird is a male. You really can't tell until the beginning of breeding season, but for now I'd treat your bird as if it was a male.

Hope this helps!
Erika