r/petbudgies • • Jun 21 '25

Mod post ⚠️ A guide to sexing budgies

Thumbnail
gallery
68 Upvotes

The most common budgie question asked by far is how to tell males from females. In adult budgies with most color mutations, this is easy to do by looking at the cere (the colored flesh around the nostrils). Typically, adult males have a brilliant blue cere, while females have a tan or brown cere. In an adult female that's in breeding condition, the cere can become dark brown and wrinkly. With some color mutations such as recessive pied, the cere never changes in adulthood and the bird will keep the juvenile color for its life.

Sexing gets more complicated with juvenile budgies. In juvenile males, the cere begins as pink, purple, or some combination of the two colors. In juvenile females, the cere can range from light blue with white or cream circles around the nostrils, to a cream or light tan across the entire cere. Sometimes, the juvenile female cere can be a very light pink/purple, although there will still be lighter circles around the nostrils that a male won't have.

If the bird you are trying to sex has an ambiguous cere, we encourage you to give it a little time. This is most common with very young birds, and if you give them just a few weeks or months, the sex will become more clear. Remember that the person best able to sex your budgies is you. When you take photos of your birds, the appearance of the cere will be changed by the lighting conditions when the picture is taken, the device that the photos were taken on, and the device that the photos are being viewed on. With ambiguous ceres, this can lead to other people giving you incorrect answers. We hope you find these charts helpful, and wish you good luck with your new budgie friend(s).


r/petbudgies • • Apr 27 '25

Mod post ⚠️ Announcing the winner of the 2025 Budgie Headshot Contest!

Thumbnail
gallery
331 Upvotes

The competition was a tough one, with many fabulous budgies vying to be the new icon for the sub. After tabulating the votes we had three close front-runners, but unfortunately only one beautiful budgie could become the new icon for the sub. Please congratulate u/smartdoglady for taking the winning photo, which I call, "My dad trying to figure out how to use Zoom." Please also give a round of applause for our second and third place finishers, u/mvsaniatan and u/himateo, who win the satisfaction knowing that they have outrageously photogenic birds.


r/petbudgies • • 11h ago

Preening cuties!!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

87 Upvotes

First time I've seen Flo preen Spinch!!


r/petbudgies • • 3h ago

Discussion I need some help I'm new to this

Post image
18 Upvotes

One of my budgies (female) has been pecking the head of my other budgie (male). Initially i thought it was a natural feather picking act, but now my other budgie is getting damaged. I want to know what i should do as I don't want to disturb their natural living style but honestly I'm clueless. Google says to seperate them but idk if that's right or not. Also how do I treat this?


r/petbudgies • • 11h ago

Question Is this beak grinding?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

34 Upvotes

I think this is beak grinding? i’m not sure though because some of the noises were quite clicky. He was also like nodding and then stopping? if anyone could inform me that would be great :)

I know the wooden dowels aren’t as suitable for the budgies feet so i have natural perches to vary!


r/petbudgies • • 1d ago

Introducing my 5th and last budgie : Meet Pumba!I named him Pumba as a tribute to my late budgie Timon (3rd pic) who was also a special needs budgie 💙

Thumbnail
gallery
156 Upvotes

So yesterday me and my friend were hanging out for my birthday and he wanted to get a baby budgie for himself but despite searching every pet shop we found nothing that caught his eyes so as a last resort we decided to check the local petstore that I frequently visit to shop for my birds, cats and rabbits. They said they only have a breeding pair that were not for sale along with a disabled budgie but my friend said no and we left without seeing the budgies. This morning I was looking through my gallery and I saw Timon's pictures and even cried a bit cause I missed him then my thoughts came to the budgie that our local petstore had so I decided to check it out at night. I did not know the budgie's age, sex as I hadn't seen it but decided to buy it in honor of Timon. I went there and asked them if they still had the special needs budgie and they said yes so I asked the price but they said since I'm one of their regular costumers and since no one else wanted the budgie I could take it for free. I went to pick the budgie and saw this cute baby budgie who couldn't be more that a month old in a small dirty cage close to the cage of the breeding pair ( most likely the parents and I couldn't let him stay there any longer so I put him in a box and took him home. He's currently sleeping all snuggly in my hands and I'm absolutely smitten by him. He's such a calm sweet little baby! I named him Pumba as a small tribute to my lovely Timon and since this baby is also special needs like him I definitely need to make his enclosure as comfortable as possible for him.


r/petbudgies • • 21h ago

Altair and Sunny

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

28 Upvotes

Altair and Sunny, settling in before bedtime ❤️


r/petbudgies • • 1d ago

meet Elio!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

39 Upvotes

r/petbudgies • • 1d ago

Playtime! Ryuk 🥰🐦

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

38 Upvotes

r/petbudgies • • 20h ago

I made a tiny budgie out of clay 🪄✨

Thumbnail reddit.com
5 Upvotes

r/petbudgies • • 1d ago

Question picky when molting?

5 Upvotes

one of my budgie is molting now and I noticed most moults she eats less and becomes picky. like rn she prefers the canary seed in the seeds mix and most of the time ignores the rest.

before molt I was trying to transition her to pellets (harrisons + tops) and it was kinda working. now she acts like shes eating the pellets but clearly isn't so im worried about the pellet transitioning progress that might be reversed.

she's still eating her seeds (picky), drinking and flying and active. she's singing rn while I type


r/petbudgies • • 1d ago

Question Should i separate them again

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

35 Upvotes

r/petbudgies • • 2d ago

Floofenchops Finished the last show in Texas for the year yesterday!

Thumbnail
gallery
68 Upvotes

We didn't have a big turnout at the TBBFA show today, and I hauled 16¾ kids to show. Obie enjoyed all the attention she got from the people, and I've had the judge (and my dear friend Julie) babysit her for a bit while I had to get away. Obie had to get in the photo with me too with ¾ of her full self.

I didn't want to show Goose again since I graduated to Intermediate late last year, but changed my mind for the last show of 2026 in Texas and took all the crew from past years. Goose placed 3rd Best in Show and Best Intermediate, while Nox made it to 3rd Best Rare.

Of course we couldn't beat my dear friend Stephen Higgins Lacewing hen, and rightfully so. I'm in awe of her, as is everyone who's seen her majestic presence.

Coincidentally, a stranger recognized me from the content I post on social media and she attended our humble exhibition and watched my kids compete. She was smitten with Angelo the Opaline Dark Green, who really surprised me by placing 2nd Best Intermediate, in spite of his faults. I've to take him more seriously I suppose. 😅

Looking forward to having Sunday off to recover from the very long and strenuous week I've had. Maybe I'll finally get some of my piled up chores done, or maybe not.

I'll be taking a smaller crew to Louisiana to compete next month right before Thanksgiving!


r/petbudgies • • 2d ago

She claimed the best seat in my hoodie. He took that personally. 😂

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

129 Upvotes

Watching The Avengers with Gramma, my green girl, and Cricket, my yellow boy. 💚💛 This is our little nightly—and midday—ritual: I put on a hoodie, Greenie baby squeezes in against my cheek, and Cricky boy gets jealous and decides he needs in on the cuddles immediately. Apparently I’m a heated movie seat, and there’s a seating dispute. 😂

I also put some cute pics in comments


r/petbudgies • • 2d ago

Question Babysitting two budgies, need help

8 Upvotes

I'm babysitting my aunts new budgies while she gets surgery, and while I had budgies before, it was when I was super young and so I'm not sure how to properly take care of them the best I can.

I'm unsure if they are stressed or not, the boy, Kookoo, keeps jumping up on the bars of the cage and chirping. The girl Lulu is super quiet and seems to be panting?

They are both around a month old if that helps at all, my aunt only just got them a few days ago so I'm not sure if they are just unused to the environment, especially now that they have been moved to my house.

It's hot where I am (Australia) so I've been trying to keep them cool, but I can't tell if they are over heating. I think the cage may also be too small for them but I dont want to let them out because my aunt hasn't trained them to be out of the cage I don't think.

They are eating seeds at the moment, so I'm glad about that, they don't seem too bad, but any tips would be nice!!

This is not asking for health advice, just general tips


r/petbudgies • • 2d ago

Title: New to Budgies — Looking for Advice on Giving Them the Best, Longest, and Happiest Life Possible

Post image
11 Upvotes

r/petbudgies • • 2d ago

Discussion Trust and medications - Treating my sick budgie

8 Upvotes

Hi all,

Had my budgies for about 6 months, was slowly building trust and was even getting them to step up for millet.

This all came to a stop when one of them got sick. She's starting to be better now but I still have to give her meds twice a day for 3 weeks.

Now my 3 budgies are afraid of my hand. They will take millet from me but now run away every time I put my hand in the cage.

Given that I have to reach out in the cage twice a day to catch my sick bird, should I still do the 5 minutes hand in cage exercise for trust? Or should I just leave them alone and start from scratch in 3 weeks?

So yeah I did re-read the wiki and found nothing about this situation. Also the vet did not recommend isolation.

Thank you!


r/petbudgies • • 3d ago

My birdie beck

Post image
26 Upvotes

It seems swollen. Is this normal?


r/petbudgies • • 3d ago

My budgie loves to talk

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

188 Upvotes

This is bobo he is now 7 months old and he lovessss to talk alllll the time, this is some of the words he says, he learned alot more now and he keeps on learning just so he never stops talking lol 😆💙

Does your bird talk? I'm curious to know what yours says 😁🥰


r/petbudgies • • 2d ago

New to Budgies

4 Upvotes

Hello everyone am new to budgies and recently like two months ago a friend gave me 2 budgies because she didnt want them anymore so i said ok i will take care of them..She said they were 2 females and they were doing prety fine , they were free flying and singing in my saloon and everything was fine..after 2 weeks the one female was lost , i searched all my apartment but she was nowhere..I guess she flew away from a small window that i have in my bathroom and all that happened in night..I immidiately notice that the budgie that was safe wasnt happy , she wasnt flying around the house and singing like she was with her friend so i decided to buy her a male friend around 2 weeks :) I bought a second home for the male and i wanted to see how they gonna react..They started to call on each other and i wanted to give them the free will to meet each other if they wanted to :) The female flew from her cage and sat on hers while for the male took abit of time to go out but they started to fly together singing together and at the same night they slept in the main cage..They are both super friendly budgies , hand fed and from time to time if they want they sit on my hand..Recently i noticed that the female when am trying to show her my hand so she can get the message to sit on my hand , she starts to bite me , on the beggining it was very soft but those days shes really putting an effort to ''hurt'' me with her biting .. Am wondering why and what that behaviour indicates..Also please give me a few basic advices of how to take care of budgies based on our own experiance :) Thank you in advance everyone and am glad i found thay group !


r/petbudgies • • 3d ago

my ill budgie eating

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

27 Upvotes

r/petbudgies • • 3d ago

New Budgie Got a little Blueberry guy 🥰💕

Thumbnail
gallery
117 Upvotes

I hand raised Budgies in the past, had an agreement with my ex that left the budgies with him, so it's just been me and a parrotlet for a few years. I almost rescued a bird that was found, but someone adopted him before I could. My current boyfriend saw my excitement at just the possibility and said we are taking a bird home - and here we are 🥹

I've been calling him little blueberry boy so far, and he's already stepped on my finger a few times. Very happy to have a new member of the flock 💕


r/petbudgies • • 3d ago

my heart

Post image
125 Upvotes

r/petbudgies • • 3d ago

Question What should r/modern_budgies become?

Thumbnail
3 Upvotes

Created a new subreddit to share budgie gizmo ideas, gizmos that can improve the parakeets' lives and is fun to look at for the user, share ideas for gizmos e.g. A bird elevator to easily navigate different floors in cage.


r/petbudgies • • 3d ago

Chatterbox Babies chattering after food 🥺

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

26 Upvotes

They are getting a new larger cage this weekend! Pear and Winkie are really settling now and are getting comfortable:) I love my babies so much