do I have a male and a female?

[lydiafaith]

Hello fellow budgie lovers! I am brand new to this forum and so glad that I found it. I have already learned a lot from you all by sitting back and reading. I thought you could probably help me figure out if my new friends are male or female. I think I have one of each pictured here. They are siblings and absolutely love each other! They are often preening and always sitting close together, I even think I have seen them try to feed each other as their mother would have fed them. King is on the left in both pics and Betsy is on the right.
They are about 3-4 months old. I have had them for just over two weeks. They are happily living with my blue budgie, Blissa, who I have had for about a year now. 
These two are almost identical except for their cere color. You may also note that King (on the left) has a boo boo on his cere
He ran into something when they were flying freely around the house recently. I have not wanted to let them out since! What are your opinions on letting budgies out for fly time? Also, please let me know what you think, male or female?

[Marianne Marlow]

Welcome!

To me they do look like a female and male. The lighter cere looks female and the pink one, male.

[Shirls]

Welcome to the forum lydiafaith. I'm not good at sexing budgies, but with my limited knowledge I would agree with Marianne Marlow. Very pretty birdies.

[OP]

Hello and welcome lydiafaith, I am also nowhere near as experienced as Marianne or Shirls but I think the one one the left in the second picture is a female, whilst the one on the right is a male. They really are beautiful looking young buds.

[Hezz]

Can only echo the above opinions: girl on the left, boy on the right. You might want to be thinking of a name change/swap?

You need to put time into hand taming your new birds before allowing them out for flying time, and then, in my opinion, keep them contained in a smallish room such as small bedroom or bathroom for fly time for the first few times until you know that they are responsive to your getting them back into their cage. Accidents do happen, but make sure you cover windows and mirrors so the new birds do not mistake expanses of glass for open areas. Once your birds know their environment they will not be making these sort of mistakes, and you will be able to lighten up on keeping the windows etc covered.

[lydiafaith]

Thank you for all of your responses! I'm glad you all agree. And, yes, Hezz I do agree that it is time for a name swap . This was part of the reason I wanted to sex them. I have been going back n forth with the names trying to decide which is which. Now I feel pretty confident that the one on the left is Betsy and King is on the right
Very good advice on the flying time, Hezz. The birds will both eat from my hand while in their cage and for the most part do not mind me, or my children putting our hands in the cage. They sit on our finger and rarely bite, just nibble mostly. But...when I've taken them out it is very hard to get them to back in as they do not willing come to me and I refuse to grab at them. I make sure that I am interacting with them, getting them to eat off my hand and practicing finger perching, a few times daily. Any other suggestions for getting them to come to me? Be more friendly out of the cage?

[OP]

For all of mine except Joey I use a spare perch t get them togo in the cage when I want them to. Joey is my eldest male, but sometimes if he is not ready to go in the cage I have to resort to the spare perch. It's a lot less fuss and stress and I can reach up to higher places with the perch. My one budgie that is the friendliest of the flock 'Whiskers' even he is fussy when it comes to stepping up onto a finger. The thing is they are all different and patience is the one thing that is needed.

[lydiafaith]

Thank you OP! I will keep that in mind. I wish patience was something I came naturally But I definitely trying with these guys they deserve it!

[Hezz]

Just don't expect things to happen quickly. Budgies need to built up their trust in you; it doesn't come naturally or is readily given, like with a dog for instance. It must be earned. A spare perch is great, particularly if they land on a curtain rail, budgies do like to go high, they can see what is going on around them then. Getting them stepping up and down on and off your finger is the best thing to have them doing regularly. They will get to the stage where you don't have to say anything, just offer your finger and they will step on but it does take regular practice and time before you and they will get to this stage. It is all a matter of them getting to know you and learning to trust you.

[milliej]

I don't let my budgies fly free for reasons given in other posts but I sometimes think I could almost get in their with them! their cage is huge, more like an indoor aviary as has been said....time and patience. All the best.