What do I have ? ? ?

Question

I have two parakeets, not sure of the age, they are rescues. I have had them 1 1/2 years.  One has a soft beige cere.  The other and deep blue.  I assume the one with the dark blue cere is a boy.  The 2 have been mating.   Now the one with the dark blue cere, it has changed to a very dark brown.   I have had 4 eggs but one of then brakes them open and I have seen her eat the inside.  My question. . .   Do males ceres change color? ?   He still sits on top of the female.  The eggs are also very round and small.
An other question. . .     I have heard that you can feed hard boiled egg to parakeets.  Is this true ? ?
Thank  you.

Answer
Hello Susan! Like you guessed, males cere's are a very deep blue and females are brown or beige. When a female goes into heat and wants to breed her cere will go from the dull beige to a dark brown and may appear flaky or crusty. The males cere probably changed color only because he is in the breeding mood. Next time your keets mate, watch whose on top. The male is always the one to mount the female. Most first time mothers do kill their eggs only because the don't know how to take care of them. The hens also crave the insides of the egg. When a chick hatches the female will gobble down the left over membrane from the egg. This is also how she keeps the nest sanitized. You can feed boiled eggs to keets, it is very healthy for them! Even the shell can be eaten. You don't want to give them too much off the yolk because solid fat will increase their chances of getting sick. But egg is very good for them, especially if they are breeding!