upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hello to all,
I'm the new person to the group today. In November I purchased two male parakeets. I have enjoyed them so much that I got another one this past weekend. One boy is a cobalt blue, the other a yellow faced blue/green. The newest is a yellow latino. I understand it is very hard to determine the sex of latino especially to a novice. Any help on that out there?

Also he/she is in a cage alone and does some strange haning upside down and getting in a corner and turning on his back (weird)!! Is this a normal thing. He/she also has not eaten but a tiny bit of seed. How soon should I really get concerned. I got him on saturday and he has not eaten anywhere near what the other two boys eat.

Thanks a lot for any information anyone can give.
Quigley

I found this info about sexing lutinos, which might be helpful to you:

Not an easy question to answer because lutino's can be difficult to sex! Normally, a male's cere is all blue and a female's is any other color (particularly brown/tan/beige), including blue outlined in white. However, in my experience with lutino's, a male's cere can vary in color. For example, I have a lutino parakeet that I thought for years was a male by it's behavior and cere color (a combination of colors). However, this keet ended up laying eggs. Therefore, the best way I have found to determine the sex of a lutino keet (or any other adult keet I'm having trouble sexing) is to have it DNA sexed OR put s/he together with a keet of KNOWN sex and see how they behave together. If it's a male/female pair, they will eventually preen each other, start feeding each other, etc. (normal pair-bond behavior). 2 females or 2 males may fight with each other or not pay any attention to each other if there are single "eligibles" around. Another method you can use is to put an equal number of keets together in a cage and let them pair themselves up. If the keet's eyes are red, the bird is an albino, which are just as hard to sex visually. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Parrots-1638 ... budgie.htm

Two bits of advice: get a scale so you can keep track of your birds' weights and quarantine the pretty lutino for at least 30 days for the protection of your other two. Even if they've already been exposed to a contagious infection, their immune systems might be strong enough for them to fight off illness at this point, while continued exposure might have sad results. It's good to take every new bird to an avian vet for an exam to assess health, especially when you have other birds at home.

If you need help finding an avian vet near you, selecting a scale, or with quarantine tips, just ask! Glad you're here and hope the new arrival is fully healthy. If her poop has a dark, solid part, s/he's eating! If s/he hadn't eaten since Saturday, she'd be in bad trouble by now.

Paca

Paca,
Thanks so much for all of your info on sexing the latinos. I'll take your advice and leave he/she in the cage alone for 30 days. I'm pretty sure the bird is healthy as I got her from a lady who had rescued four birds from a breeder who passed away last February. All four of the birds looked like they were well cared for. The lady I got the bird from thought he/she was a he. Who knows. I'll wait the 30 days and purchase another bird that I can tell the sex of. I'm looking for a breeder in the Richmond, VA area if you know of any. Thanks also for the info about the scale. I want to learn as much as I can about these adorable birds.

Quigley

Latino is an ethnic group.
Lutino means yellow.

How old is this lutino budgie? Do you have a picture of it? Or can you accurately describe the color of the cere?

The little one still needs time to settle in.

The bird is yellow and it is at least a year old because the breeder passed away last February and the bird was taken in by the lady I got it from.

The cere is pinkish purple around the outer edges and a pale bluish/purple around the nostrals.

He/she is singing and eating well now.

Thanks again for your help.
Quigley

My guess is most likely a male... as if it was a female it SHOULD at least have a white cere or be tannish in color (however, I have seen a male with a tan like cere, it was however different than the tan cere of a female). If the lutino acts like your two other males (vocalness and behavior) then it probably is a male!

Here's somthing that may help...



This is a near to complete guide to visually sexing budgies. In some budgies, it can be hard to tell for sure. In others they may be too young. It's best to wait until they are mature to visually sex them!

Male budgies, as adults have bright blue ceres, or even a vibrant purple cere. As young chicks, they normally have pink ceres. In some mutations, such as pieds, lutinos, and albinos, the males normally retain a pink cere, but it is not completely unknown for some to have a tan cere (rare, but it has happened... It's also rare for one a lutino or albino to have a blue cere, but it has happened!). Here are a few photos of male budgies!





Femle budgies, as adults, will have a crusty brown cere when in breeding condition, and a white cere with blue tints when out of breeding condition. Young females have white ceres with varient amount of blue in them, and possibly even tan or brown coloring. This is true for ALL mutations (even pieds, lutinos, and albinos). Here are some photos!






I hope this is a helpful guide for all of those looking to sex our budgies! This was done with 3 of my budgies, one of Kathy's budgies, and a few random budgies (I believe), which were prodived by Kathy!

Thanks so much for the great information on sexing budgies. I believe my yellow bird is definitely a male. He also sings like my other two males. He is a beautiful bird. I wish I had a picture to send. Maybe I can get one out there soon. He is big and very deep yellow. From what I understand (I may be wrong) but the breeder crossed an American with an English. He is definitely bigger than my other males. His eyes are not round like the two American parakeets but more oval shaped and his head is a lot bigger. Thanks again for all your help.

"American" (pet/wild-type/normal) and "English" (show/exhibition) are the same species. The English version came from the normal type.... so it is indeed possible to have an English or English/American. However, even in the American budgies, their sizes CAN vary....

Thanks so much to all of you who have so generously given me all of this information. I truly appreciate it. I'm sure I will have more questions in time.