Budgies

I recently began raising Budgies also commonly known as parakeets, without any knowledge or preparation.....Dumbest thing that I personally have ever done.I have done tons of research since then and I did not realize that it would be such an ordeal just to find out whether they are boy or girl and how old they might be.Thankfully I continued with my research because now I can pass on what I have learned to those of you interested in these wonderful birds.First thing you should know is that to sex these little cuties is not easy to find out, but what I have gathered is that most sites will tell you that if the cere (the fleshy part above the beak) is blue it is a boy and if it is brown it is a girl unfortunately its not that simple because when they are immature (less than 6 months old) their ceres are almost Identical.My best advise is look for prominent white rings around the nostrils this is usually indicative of a young female Budgie and assume that if there is no white Rings that it is a boy.When they mature it is much easier because the ceres will usually be blue for boys and brown for girls with some exceptions depending on color and genes.Determining the 'round about age is a little simpler, if the budgie still has stripes across his forehead he is less than six months old and the closer the stripes are to the beak the younger they are.

Also eye color has a lot to do with determining the age here are some examples that I borrowed from http://www.budgieplace.com/ it is one of the better sites that I have visited

All Black Eyes (0-4 months)	Very Dark Grey Irises (4-6 months)	Medium Grey Irises (6-8 months)	Light Irises (8 months or older)

This should help quite a bit because I visited at least 12 websites before I learned this very basic information I will post more when I learn more

.happy hobbies to you