We get asked this question a lot! There is quite a bit of conflicting information on the internet and books about the sexes and pet potential, so here is our experience with the hundreds of babies that have been born in our aviary.

Many people get confused on the differences between a budgies sex, and its personality. Very often one has little if anything to do with the other so it is important to understand this fact.

If the sex of the bird was the most important factor in deciding how a budgie will be, we
would not spend so much time getting to know each baby as an individual. We could easily just pair up babies with their owners based on sex alone (and this would be much easier to do let me tell you) and that would be that.

However, we want to be sure that you have the  ideal baby for your family and to achieve that it is extremely important to consider the personality of the baby above the sex. For example, if you have a more outgoing and dominant personality male he is going to be more hormonal at times than a laid back female, and the reverse is also true. A more outgoing female will be much more likely to talk than a shy and quiet male, and the other way around would be the same.

In our many years of experience we have found it is the personality and not the sex that makes the bird you will love. If we thought that either sex made a better pet than the other, that sex would rightfully be worth and cost more at our aviary. However, we do not believe this in the slightest and that is why they are both the same. 

We have had males and females as pets personally over the last 17 years and they were both excellent and we saw very little difference in their personalities and potential for a pet. We have both sexes that talk, and almost all of our hand fed babies are talking before they are weaned both males and females.

It is also important to take into consideration the personality difference between english and wild type budgies. From hundreds of years of selective breeding for show, english budgies have different and more laid back personalities than the ones you will find in the wild and most often in pet stores. Even the most outgoing english budgie is generally more laid back than most of the laid back in a wild type I have raised.

Most articles have been written by well intentioned people with limited experience with

both sexes, and the variety in their personalities as a whole. However, having owned or raised only a few budgies does not give you a wide enough perspective on budgie personality and gender differences, but rather often only gives a limited and biased opinion which can cause a lot of confusion when true personality differences come out regardless of the sex.

Also, many articles written are in reference to the wild type, not english as well because they are more common as pets in most places with their ease of breeding and lower prices, so they are not the best reference for english budgie personalities in general as they are quite a bit different.

Please do not think that we are trying to sway you in one direction or another, if you have decided you like one sex over another purely for preference that of course is perfectly fine! But we would like you to know that if these reasons are based on tameness, talking ability or pet potential you are very likely to be disappointed if you choose the sex of your baby above its personality, as both sexes are equal in these regards and each budgie is an individual and needs to be evaluated as such.

The most important thing is to know what you want in a personality! That is what will make you the most happy with your new baby, and the sex is an added bonus if you prefer one over the other.