parakeet mating/breeding

Question
i currently have 2 parakeets. the blue one ive had since it was a month old and i just got a new one b/c the yellow one it lived with died. im not sure if it is male or female since when i got it as a baby the pet store said it was male. now it has a tan cere. what is its gender? i got a male parakeet as a companion and since we suspected the blue one was female we bought a nest box. they currently just hang out, but i really want them to breed, theyve been together for 4 days. how much longer must i wait?

Answer
Hello Angelica,

The bird with the tan cere sounds like a female to me. Female parakeets normally have beige or brown or tan ceres. The one with the bright blue cere is definitely a male. The birds are going to have to be with each other for more than 4 days to mate. They have to be pair bonded (feeds each other, preens each other, calls to each other if they are separated...etc) before they even think about breeding. Your birds haven't really gotten to know each other so there is no way they will be breeding any time soon. Maybe in a month or two. You should probably take the nest box out for right now until they know each other and are pair bonded.

Hope this helps!
Thank you for the question!
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Calyopea