Gender Confused

Question
Hi this is mat, i have two male budgies (yes i cant tell their gender very clearly.) They kiss, feed, groom, but they do not mount each other. They are in an aviary with 18 others, there are plenty of females all interested in them, so why are they pairing together. They are fully matured, and are definite males. They are two of my best males and i would like to successfully breed them. please help!

Answer
Hi, Matt,

Males have deep blue ceres (colored area above their beaks).  Male's ceres can be multicolored if their feather coloration is multicolored and they can be difficult to sex visually.  It might be that one of these birds is actually female.  Are these 2 birds related or were these 2 birds raised together?  Some budgies won't mate unless a nesting box is set up (this depends on the individual birds involved and their setup).  Also, it is not a good idea to colony breed budgies.  In your aviary, it would be better if you had the same number of males as you have females or house your males completely separate from the females.  Therefore, I recommend you try to verify the sex of the 2 birds you mention and if they are both males, select a good female for each (if you want to breed both), set them up in their own separate breeding cages and allow them to pair-bond, etc.  When they have pair-bonded, set up nesting boxes on their cages, and then let nature take its course.

Colony/aviary breeding usually doesn't work with budgies because of jealousy and rivalry between the females over nesting boxes, eggs, babies, males.  If you want to be successful breeding them, allow individual pairs to mate/breed in breeding cages.  When they are at rest, you can place them back in their aviary.  Parrots normally mate for life, so they will likely stay together even when placed back in the aviary (there is an occasional exception to this rule).

You have to admit, 18 females for 2 male birds is probably very intimidating!  However, be aware that homosexuality does exist in the animal world.  

Chrys