Difference Between a Male & Female Parakeet

Determining whether a parakeet is a male or a female is not always cut and dry; while most parakeets are sexually dimorphic, others are not so. This means that some parakeets will display indications of their gender while others will be harder to determine. There are a number of hints that will let you know whether your parakeet is a boy or a girl. If you cannot make the determination on your own, your vet can administer a blood test for an accurate determination.

  1. Cere

    • The characteristic that is most obviously sexually dimorphic in parakeets is the cere. The cere is the fleshy area where the nostrils are located above the beak. While many of the other physical characteristics are similar between male and female parakeets, the cere is colored differently based on the gender of the parakeet. In a female parakeet, the cere is likely to be brown or mauve in color. In a male parakeet, the cere is a bright or dark blue.

    Behavior Differences

    • According to Bird Tricks (see References), some veterinary experts agree that behavior differences exist between male and female parakeets. While this is not exact science, it can aid in the identification of the bird's gender. Male parakeets are said to be more likely to bob their head, they are more social and active and they tend to sing more. Female parakeets are louder, tend to behave in a bossier manner and do not generally sing as much.

    Talking

    • Another behavior difference between male and female budgies is that males are perceived to be better talkers. Generally speaking, a parakeet that is quicker to learn to speak and appears to be much more interested in speaking or mimicking is going to be a male. Again, this is not an exact science but is still helpful in the act of gender-identifying parakeets.

    Band

    • It is rumored that you can sex a parakeet based on the band around its ankle, but this is not actually true in most cases. The band is placed on the ankle of the parakeet, generally within two to three days following hatching in order to identify where that bird came from. It is rare to find a breeder band on the ankle of a parakeet that accurately denotes the parakeet's gender.

    Surgical Sexing

    • In parakeets that are younger than 12 months, visual identification is nearly impossible. Parakeets at this age have not fully developed and so their colors and other physical characteristics are not yet reliable. A veterinarian will perform this a surgical sexing exam on your parakeet in order to determine its gender by way of blood testing.