Hen with blue ceres, still?

[littlestar]

Hey all,
I will get a photo ASAP, but just thought I'd float the idea to begin with:

I've had my female budgie nearly a year now, and whilst my cockbird's ceres is now fully coloured (deep royal blue) hers is still a sky blue with paler rings around her nostrils...
Perhaps I've sexed her wrong? Or can it just take a while sometimes for hens to reach sexual maturity?

Thanks all.

[BudgiesBuddy]

Some hens can have blue/white ceres. Here is one of mine.

[littlestar]

Peatrie's doesn't seem to be that same misty-white blue...





Sorry about the quality of pictures, not the keenest on having her photo taken!

[Donna Lee]

That definitely looks like a boy to me! I've never seen a female with a cere that blue!

[littlestar]

Really strange isn't it.... compared to my boy budgie it isn't AS blue. His is really developed and deep...
eh?? lol

[moonkira *Julie *]

What colour is your other budgie ?

[barrieshutt]

Dec 18, 2012 21:43:01 GMT littlestar said:

Peatrie's doesn't seem to be that same misty-white blue...





Sorry about the quality of pictures, not the keenest on having her photo taken!

100% male

[littlestar]

Dec 19, 2012 10:03:18 GMT moonkira *Julie * said:

What colour is your other budgie ?

My other budgie is a sky blue with black barring down his head, and black markings on his wings. Quite classic.

Thanks for the confirmation, everyone. I thought it was really strange that after all this time her ceres was still not going browny or even changing at all!
Gonna be weird adjusting to calling Peatrie a HE, now. I think I may start spelling it Petri too. lol

[Donna Lee]

Haha, that's so cute! Isn't the actual Peatrie a boy?

[littlestar]

Dec 19, 2012 20:17:06 GMT Donna Lee said:

Haha, that's so cute! Isn't the actual Peatrie a boy?

Well originally when I bought him I thought he was a boy... but not 100% so put pics on here, and everyone thought it was a hen and I agree he did look like one! So he has changed genders a couple of times so far. lol
I was gonna name him Petri after the little dinosaur in land before time though, thought it was cute.

[Ryan.W]

some hens have a constant blue cere for their lifespan due to a hormone imbalance but it's highly unlikely. It's most likely she's just late to mature, some hens take a year and half to two years before they mature and get a brown cere, some get a brown cere at 6 months, it just depends on the bird. Females have always taken longer than the males to mature in my experience, with males it's usually (for me) around 8-9 months and the females are any where from a year old to a year and half never before. but that's just my experience. it's certainly nothing to panic about .
Just noticed the photo, i'd also say that's a male .

[Hezz]

Dec 20, 2012 7:49:19 GMT littlestar said:

Well originally when I bought him I thought he was a boy... but not 100% so put pics on here, and everyone thought it was a hen and I agree he did look like one! So he has changed genders a couple of times so far. lol
I was gonna name him Petri after the little dinosaur in land before time though, thought it was cute.

Just goes to show all can be wrong now and then ......... even the experts.

[littlestar]

Dec 21, 2012 0:45:17 GMT Hezz said:

Dec 20, 2012 7:49:19 GMT littlestar said:

Well originally when I bought him I thought he was a boy... but not 100% so put pics on here, and everyone thought it was a hen and I agree he did look like one! So he has changed genders a couple of times so far. lol
I was gonna name him Petri after the little dinosaur in land before time though, thought it was cute.

Just goes to show all can be wrong now and then ......... even the experts.

Well Hezz, I was also quite convinced that was the case! As compared to my boy budgie, she does look much smaller, and has a smaller head. But like all animals, he's probably just a bigger build.