Found budgie, need help with gender and age

[justwigglin]

Hi everyone, I am new here, as I have just found a lost budgie outside last week. I have searched high and low for the owner and have made posts of my own to try to find them, but no one has claimed her (I am assuming that she is a she, though I am simply google-educated, hahaha!). I have gone back and forth many times on whether I am going to keep her or find her a new home, but I am currently leaning towards keeping her. I do not take getting a new animal lightly. I am someone that if I get a new animal, I have to be confident that I can care for it properly for the rest of it's life. I am someone who believes in forever homes, and would never re-home any of my animals unless there is an extreme circumstance that I could have never planned for. I had a few budgies when I was a child (oddly enough, my first budgie was one that I found as well), but that was right before the internet age, and although I did an ok job, I now know that I could have done a much better one. I am pretty animal smart, and have worked in both generic vet offices and exotic vet offices (I want to be a vet eventually, but am working on my undergrad right now), so I have a fair idea on bird care, though I know there is far more I could learn. I would really like to know about my budgie's gender and age. I am assuming that she is a female in breeding condition, as her cere is brown. I question this because it seems that she might be quite young, based on her apparently still having her baby bars on her forehead, and her eyes not having a white iris. I have read though that both of these characteristics can be affected by mutations though, so I don't know if she is actually very young and her cere color might be due to something else (mites? I have no clue, due to my google-education! hahaha!), or if she is an adult but has retained her baby bars and her black eyes. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!! Let me know if there is any other information you need or any other pictures. Thank you so much!!!

*Please excuse her slightly green beak. She is still wearing a bit of her lunch, which included romaine lettuce. Hahaha!!

[samwiseg]

Hi and welcome justwigglin and what a find! She is gorgeous!

I would definitely say a hen and as you have learnt already about the iris rings but if you look really closely in the second picture there is a faint iris so would say she could be a year or more

She is a pied budgie too (does she remind you of Smudge Hezz?)

Am so glad you found us - if you do decide to keep her make sure she has company or lots of things to do if you are studying as a few members who have had heavy study have had to give up their birdies. But if you are willing and able to put in the time then by all means care for her as your own

She is such a pretty bird I can see why you have fallen in love with her already!

[Deleted]

samwiseg has answered your questions much more knowledgeable than I could. Well done for saving her. She is very beautiful. Have you named her yet?

[justwigglin]

Thank you so much everyone!!! And yes, I have named her Lemon, Lemy for short. In the pictures she looks white and blue, but she is actually mostly a pale yellow color with blue and then white on the tips of her wings and tail. I am very thankful for my vet experience, as I probably would not have been able to catch her otherwise, cause she was pretty scared! Now she is a velcro bird though! She will sit on my shoulder all day if I let her! I pretty much let her free fly a good portion of the day. Pretty much, if I am planning on staying home for a bit and can keep an eye on her, I let her out as much as possible. I really believe in naturalistic pet keeping and try to give all of my pets the best nutrition and environment that I can. If I feel like I could not do that, then I would not keep them. This is actually the second parrot I caught this month! I don't really know why, but I have always seemed to come across lost or hurt animals. The last one was a monk parakeet whom I name Bebo. He was a looker too (I'll put a picture of him below)! I honestly fell head over heels for him (I say he is a him, but even though I brought him to the vet, I did not get him sexed, so I don't actually know). I would have loved to keep him, but I knew that he was just simply too much parrot for me at the moment. I gave him to woman who I have known for a good bit that had a flock of her own already, and we felt that he would make a wonderful addition. Lemon just felt like it was meant to be. She is just the amount of parrot that I can handle right now. She also is just such a good bird. She is pretty quiet (relatively) and a BEAUTIFUL singer. She mimics all of the birds outside so well!! She rarely makes angry noises. She also is already finger trained and shoulder trained. She is relatively accepting of veggies and healthier foods. She does not really care for fruits very much, but I have heard that seems to be a budgie thing, and I don't mind too much as it will be easier to limit her sugar that way. She sleeps so well, and pretty much stays completely quiet if her cage is covered. She is just a happy, sassy little girl! She does nip quite a bit, but she has never bit too hard. I am not nervous about animals biting at all and it does not really phase me much, so hopefully she will start to realize that she can not get her way by nipping and will listen when I say not to bite. She seems super intelligent. I could probably go on about her for days!! Hahaha! I probably will become a common face around here as I have a million and one questions already, and I'm sure that I will come up with more!! Thank you guys so much! (here is a picture of Bebo, the monk parakeet I found a month ago)

[Shirls]

Hello and welcome to the forum justwigglin. You've come to the right place for very useful information.

I would love to see your pictures but for some reason can't at the moment. Hopefully my lap-top will right itself in a few days. Postimage is a problem for me for some reason.

I am so glad you found this little bird too, and that you have decided to keep her.

[Hezz]

Okay, she is very definitely a girly-hen. How old she is, is not able to be determined. She is a recessive pied, so will never acquire an iris ring like most other budgies will in their first year of life. I'm not convinced about her baby bars either, as some bird will have what is known, and considered a fault in showing, as flecking, meaning that they will always have some degree of barring across the top of their heads, making them appear as though they might still be youngsters. The fact that she is very much in breeding condition, says to me that the remnants of bars across her head is flecking rather than baby bars. A hen should not get such a dark degree of brown cere until at the very earliest, the second half of her first year. Hope this is of some help.

[justwigglin]

Yes, you guys have been very helpful! Thank you so much!

[rose]

So pleased to hear you'll be keeping Lemon - she is one lucky bird to have been found by you!

[justwigglin]

I hope so! I'm trying to do my best with her! It is a bit challenging in order to work out our routines and figure out what works for her, but it is a work in progress. Thank you everyone for your help! I have other questions, but I'll take them to their appropriate sections. Thank you!