Budgie Genders- 3 Weeks to Adult

Here are the basics on a budgies cere depending on its age, sex, and mutation and breeding condition.

For the baby pictures we have one of each baby when they are 2-3 weeks old on the left, and again from 6-8 weeks of age on the right so you can see the change and difference between a male and a female, as well as their mutations which can have an effect on the color.

Most baby male budgies will have a more even color to there cere when compared to females, especially around the nostrils. They are normally light pink to dark purple in color depending on the individual and will get more blue as they get close to the age of the first molt.

Most baby females budgies will have a light blue/white cere with pink/purple around the edges depending on their age. As they get older it will get more white with very light powder blue until they come into breeding condition when it will turn brown.

Male Normal

Female Normal

Male Opaline

Female Opaline

Male Single Factor Spangle

Female Single Factor Spangle

Male Greywing

Female Greywing

Male pied babies will have a deep pink/ purple cere as with other mutations. As they mature, it will change to a normal deep blue, mottled pink/blue or pink depending in the pied effect, or lack of.

Female pied babies can often have a more pink/purple to begin with than a non-pied female. As they mature it fades to the normal light blue/white until tan/brown during breeding condition.

Male Single Factor Dominant Pied Spangle

Female Single Factor Dominant Pied Spangle

Male Double Factor Dominant Pied

Female Double Factor Dominant Pied

Male Double Factor Spangle

Male Dark Eyed Clear

Female Double Factor Spangle

Female Dark Eyed Clear

Male Recessive Pied

Female Recessive Pied

Male Recessive Pied Left- Female Recessive Pied Right

Males: Baby males of the ino, cinnamon and lacewing mutations will have a deep and even pink.

Females: Females of these mutations often tend to keep a pink/purple cere longer than other mutations, and can resemble males for a number of weeks longer than normally expected.

Male Albino

Male Cinnamon

Female Albino

Female Cinnamon

Male Albino Left- Female Lacewing Right

A budgies mutation can also have an effect on their cere, although this is not always the case.

When they have dark, grey or violet factors, it can cause their beak and cere to be darker even black in some places. The effect is usually the most noticeable around the center and outside edges of the cere making it darker, and causing a black color to the beak.

By the time they go through their first molt these pigments usually have lightened, but it can confuse some on the true sex of their baby, thinking they have a boy because of the darker color, when it is really a girl by the true color of the cere.

Male Grey Green Normal

Female Violet Opaline

Females that are mature but are not in breeding condition will have light blue/white ceres. When in breeding condition they will have light nut brown ceres, and when coming out of breeding condition they will have dark brown ceres. Here are some examples of each.

Females In Breeding Condition

Females Not In Breeding Condition

Males that aren't in breeding condition have light blue ceres, especially in the center of the cere and around the nostrils. When they come into breeding condition they turn a bright, deep shade of shiny blue.

Males In Breeding Condition

Males Out Of Breeding Condition

Recessive pieds dark eyed clears, inos (albino/lutino), lacewings and fallows do not have a typical blue cere as a mature adult male. They stay light purple/pink from the time they are young and through adulthood.

Dominant and clearflight pieds can also have a different colored cere when mature when the pied mutation effects it, causing a mottled pink/blue appearance