Two Questions:

[Virgil]

I have two male free flying budgies. Just purchased a breeding pair and two hens from a breeder going out of business; she told me the pair was less than 3 years old and the hens were about 7 months old. However, all the birds have a "no bar halo" above their ceres (I read that young birds have the barred feather pattern all the way down the forehead to their cere).
1) Is this feather pattern a good indicator of age for budgies?
2) Do American Budgies have a breeding cycle? If so, when do the hens come into breeding condition in the midwest USA?
Would appreciate any information to help me out here.
Virgil

[CocosMomma]

Hi, Virgil - I am not a budgie breeder, but I can give you some general information that may help a little. :)

The babies are going to lose their baby bars by their first or second molt, so if there are no bars on the head, that baby could still be around 7 months old. That is feasible. Generally, it is recommended that the female be closer to 1.5 or 2 years before starting to breed, and the male at least 1 year. If they are of the mutation where they have an 'eye ring', and the bird has its eye ring, then it is at least a year old. You can see the white eye ring in Strider's picture below just outside of his black pupil.

Budgies do have breeding cycles, and come in and out in patterns that may not make sense to us. When a female goes into 'breeding condition', the cere will turn dark brown, get crusty and look uneven... almost nasty looking... then as she comes out of breeding condition it will return to a smooth, lighter color.

The males that have blue ceres due to their mutations will have their ceres get deep and waxy looking when they are in breeding condition. The mutations wherein the males have pink ceres are a little harder to distinguish, but their ceres will also become deeper in color and have a waxy appearance. But they do not get crusty like the females.

Here is a website that will give you all sorts of budgie pictures, as well as clarify what they look like if they are not in breeding condition, and as they go into/out of breeding condition:

Female Budgie Pictures (http://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/geschlecht-weibchen_en.htm)

Male Budgie Pictures (http://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/geschlecht-maennchen_en.htm)

Hope this helps a little. :)

[Eriisu-chan]

Female Budgie Pictures (http://%5Burl%5Dhttp://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/geschlecht-weibchen_en.htm%5B/url%5D)

Male Budgie Pictures (http://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/geschlecht-maennchen_en.htm)

Hope this helps a little. :)

If I may correct the "mislink"

Female Budgie pictures (http://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/geschlecht-weibchen_en.htm)

This (http://thebirdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9088&highlight=mites&page=2) is what my little girl looks like... my hubby thought she had mites at first, until Robin, here, sent us the website. Hope it helps you like it helped me! :agree:

[Shirley]

I agree with what has been said regarding breeding age - although Bourke's breed at 12 mos - however, I was very surprised to learn while watching the birds of Australia show that Budgies breed as early as 6 mos!! I would make them wait a year, but I personally would not feel they should have to wait 2 yrs.

[Debbieknd]

It help me..thanks Virgil.. for asking this question
Some nice links to the pictures of budgies

[Virgil]

Thanks for your helpful (and rapid) responses to my questions. I feel much better about the age of the hens because of the response from Cocos Momma. I also rechecked the 'correct cere' websites.
I won't be breeding the budgies until next fall (at least after July when we return from our three week trip). Do I hear any volunteers to 'bird sit' while I am gone? I am going to try to get the cages down to 4 aviary type cages. (one each for Bourke's, Budgies, Societies and African waxbills). Everyone might have to live on seed and pellets for three weeks as my bird sitter will only come every other day at the most.
Virgil