Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,803
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Jan 23, 2012 10:00:52 GMT
Definitely a hen. Bramble is a gorgeous girly too
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May 6, 2024 0:17:17 GMT
clinton9
Guest
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Post by clinton9 on Feb 14, 2012 9:54:10 GMT
Your bird Bramble is less than 10 months old.
In immature budgerigars, the juvenile feathers in wings are smaller, duller coloured than adult feathers. Last juvenile feathers to shed, are middle primary coverts, which are shed when budgies are few months past 1st birthday. All feathers are fully adult at 24 months old. Immature budgies can be aged as yearlings between 3 months old and 20 months old. Most budgies start breeding at 6-8 months when in new 1st adult plumage and primary flight feathers 3rd-10th. Secondary flight feathers 1st-6th are not replaced until between 10 and 15 months old. I studied the moults of domestic budgies in 1990s. Juvenile male budgies have pale purple cere, while juvenile female budgies have pale blue cere. Adult male have blue cere, while breeding female budgies have nut brown cere. When female budgies are start to moult in autumn, the brown layers are shed, leave the cere to become firstly white, then pale blue. Longest primary flight feathers (9th) took 28 days to grow.
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Post by samwiseg on Feb 14, 2012 11:54:22 GMT
Hi all, After a period of Bramble (aka Dave, aka Horace!) refusing to leave the cage, he/she has 'chirped up' and finally started being a little bit sociable again. I also had the simple/genius idea of putting up net curtains so I could let the daylight in without any nasty collisions, and have managed to take a couple of better photos of birdie. The blue cere screams "boy" to me, but there is a white circle around the nostril and a crusty yellow bit, so I'm still not sure! Any second opinions (on age, too, if it's feasible) PLEASE... Hi Paul My Monty is exactly the same in the cere department - she started off with a brown crusty nose but then it changed to a light blue...here: So would say your bird is a hen - but not sure of her age. Hope that helps!
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