I am a bit confused

[gizmodium]

I have a pair of budgies the first one my mum gave me because she could not cope any longer with him any longer he is called Bobby i felt a bit sorry for Boobby been on his own so i bought him a friend which i assumed was a hen because she had a brown cere. they get along ok. when i looked today i noticed Bertha actually has a blue cere it must have changed colour, is this normal in budgie or was he young when i got him? so i have Bobby and Boris now

[Kerry C]

Hens can have ANY of the following colored ceres:

Powder blue (white rings will be around the nairs)
tan
brown
dark brown
almost black

The colors will change as the hen's hormones cycle.

[ArticunoGail]

Hi Gizmodium,

If you put up a picture of Bertha/Boris in this subforum, with a good shot of his/her cere (perhaps titled 'Male or female? Help please?') perhaps somebody with experience of sexing budgies can help. I'm sure someone did that here recently. And FYI, I was shocked recently to see my girl Julie no longer had a 'wrinkled walnut' cere but a powder blue one. after a worried post I was assured - she's just out of breeding condition, and it shows in her behaviour. When she had the walnut cere, she certainly ACTED all P.M.S-ey LOL, she now seems to be somewhat calmer without all those hormones at peak!

Hope this helps.

ArticunoGail

Good luck