budgie's nose changed colour
T-Jay Waldock
I have a 5 month old blue budgie which used to have the most beautiful
purple nose(I'm not sure what to call the nostils above the beak).
Recently this area has turned beige and is has a flacky look to it.
Any suggestions? If there are any readers in this group from the
Montreal area I would also appreciate if you could point me in the
direction of a bird vet. I've looked but can't seem to fine one.
Eric Keerbs
This is normal. The cere changes color from blue to brown for a female,
and remains blue for males.
Eric
T-Jay Waldock
>This is normal. The cere changes color from blue to brown for a female,
>and remains blue for males.
>
>Eric
Oh boy the pet store said it was a male. Actually what is bothering me
isn't the colour so much as the flaking. Is this normal? I mean the
nose looks like parched earth.
Oliver and Cathy Kneip
The crusty flakes you're talking about are *also* normal... it just means
that your little girl has come into breeding season....
HOWEVER>>> if it's white scales vs. brown/beige flakes then you have a
health problem.
-cathy-
Joyce Loughmiller
This is normal.Your bird is a female in breeding condition.
BarbarAnn
Oliver and Cathy Kneip wrote:
> >
> >>This is normal. The cere changes color from blue to brown for a female,
> >>and remains blue for males.
> >>
> that your little girl has come into breeding season....
>
> HOWEVER>>> if it's white scales vs. brown/beige flakes then you have a
> health problem.
>
> -cathy-
Hi -
My newly acquired <I thought> female,(I've had her about 6 weeks), had the
brown cere just as my other female has, but about a week ago the cere turned
very pale blue. I'm a little confused, but otherwise she<?> seems to be the
happiest little budgie I have known. Is she a he? Should I be concerned?
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. :-)
Thanks,
Barbara
Chet Swanson
T-Jay Waldock wrote:
>
> I have a 5 month old blue budgie which used to have the most beautiful
> purple nose(I'm not sure what to call the nostils above the beak).
> Recently this area has turned beige and is has a flacky look to it.
> Any suggestions?
As a guess, has your budgie gone through HER first molt yet? It sounds
like she is quite normal. The cere on a mature male will normally be
fairly blue in color and on a mature female it should be close to brown.
The "flacky" look could just be hormones, as that will happen when a hen
is in breeding condition.
However, and this is a big however, it could possibly be a medical
problem and you will want to have your bird checked by a vet to be safe.
I would honestly say that in my very humble, non-professional, opinion
the odds on 80-20 that there is nothing abnormal with your budgie. She
is just turning into a young adult bird.
By the way, there is a very active budgie mail list you may want to join.
To do so,
Send Mail To: budgies...@globaldialog.com
Subject subscribe
Message body: blank
Chet
--
Chet Swanson
Everett, WA
swa...@everett.com
T-Jay Waldock
On Thu, 23 May 1996 20:40:05 GMT, wal...@accent.net (T-Jay Waldock)
wrote:
>I have a 5 month old blue budgie which used to have the most beautiful
>purple nose(I'm not sure what to call the nostils above the beak).
>Recently this area has turned beige and is has a flacky look to it.
>Any suggestions? If there are any readers in this group from the
>Montreal area I would also appreciate if you could point me in the
>direction of a bird vet. I've looked but can't seem to fine one.
I was just overwhelmed by the responses I received from this posting.
Many people chose to email as well. Thanks a lot. I think the verdicts
in and IT'S A GIRL. I had wanted so much not to have to worry about
the birds mating; I have 3 others, 7 weeks younger, so by the end of
summer I guess I'll know better when their ceres change. This area is
just the greatest. I've learned alot and hope one day I'm knowledgable
enough to reciprocate.
Ray Dennis
T-Jay Waldock wrote:
>
> I have a 5 month old blue budgie which used to have the most beautiful
> purple nose(I'm not sure what to call the nostils above the beak).
> Recently this area has turned beige and is has a flacky look to it.
> Any suggestions? If there are any readers in this group from the
> Montreal area I would also appreciate if you could point me in the
> direction of a bird vet. I've looked but can't seem to fine one.
You just found out that you have a female. Sometimes, when they are
young, it is hard to tell. The females look as you describe as they
mature. Sometimes it is white, and sometimes brown depending on their
cycle. We just had the same thing happen. Fortunately we had used a
name that would work for both sexes. She is a sweet, friendly little
bird.
Ray Dennis
Sara Silva
T-Jay Waldock wrote:
>
> I have a 5 month old blue budgie which used to have the most beautiful
> purple nose(I'm not sure what to call the nostils above the beak).
> Recently this area has turned beige and is has a flacky look to it.
> Any suggestions? If there are any readers in this group from the
> Montreal area I would also appreciate if you could point me in the
> direction of a bird vet. I've looked but can't seem to fine one.
I don't really think this is the case, but I once knew a budgie whose
sex was indetermined. I don't think you could call it a "hermaphrodite",
but it really looked like he-she had both sexes. It belonged to a friend
of mine, who bought it as a young female. She was a gift to a recently
widowed adult male and she DID grow as a female. Her nose became dark
brown, although she never layed eggs. Everything was normal, until she
got ill and was therefore put in a different cage, away from the male.
In less than one week, her nose became, not pale, but DARK AND BRIGHT
BLUE! She became a different bird! Began acting like a male, making a
lot of noise, etc. She became HE! The vet told my friend that he had
already seen a similar case. When HE got well, HE joined the male again
(at the time, my friend didn't really know what to do!) and a couple of
days later his nose was again dark brown...! HE was a SHE once again!
Have you ever heard of anything like this?
Sara Silva
Leslie
>Her nose became dark
>brown, although she never layed eggs. Everything was normal, until she
>got ill and was therefore put in a different cage, away from the male.
>In less than one week, her nose became, not pale, but DARK AND BRIGHT
>BLUE! She became a different bird! Began acting like a male, making a
>lot of noise, etc. She became HE! The vet told my friend that he had
>already seen a similar case. When HE got well, HE joined the male
again
>(at the time, my friend didn't really know what to do!) and a couple
of
>days later his nose was again dark brown...! HE was a SHE once again!
>
>Have you ever heard of anything like this?
>
>Sara Silva
>
>sa...@cnig.pt
I was just going to post a question about this when I ran across your
comments. . . my female 8 month old budgie developed the classic dark
brown cere. Last night my daughter asked me what happened to Sunny's
cere -- when I looked I noticed it was white again, with blue
tints!!??!! She hasn't laid any eggs that I know of, but her sleeping
arrangements have changed in the past few days as I had to rearrange
the cages to accommodate some new birds. Could stress change the cere
color?
Leslie
Allynn Wilkinson
Leslie wrote:
>
>
> I was just going to post a question about this when I ran across your
> comments. . . my female 8 month old budgie developed the classic dark
> brown cere. Last night my daughter asked me what happened to Sunny's
> cere -- when I looked I noticed it was white again, with blue
> tints!!??!! She hasn't laid any eggs that I know of, but her sleeping
> arrangements have changed in the past few days as I had to rearrange
> the cages to accommodate some new birds. Could stress change the cere
> color?
>
> Leslie
I can't answer Sara's post (about a female's cere turning *bright* blue)
but I *can* say it's quite normal for a mature female 'keet's cere to
turn whitish with a touch of blue. I don't know if it's so much a
'stress thing' as a 'breeding thing'. Maybe Sunny decided she didn't
like the look of those new birds and didn't want to encourage any
unwanted advances!
An enlarged brown cere indicates a female in peak breeding condition
(though my poor little darling has been chasing her uninterested mate
around for *weeks*!). A whitish-blue cere on a female indicates that
she's not ready for breeding (hormonally speaking). My female's cere
tends to be whitish in the winter months.
Years ago I had three female 'keets all housed together. To the best of
my memory their ceres were *always* whitish.
Allynn
Jlammons
I don't know if this helps, but when my hen was feeding her last clutch
of 6, her cere became rather light blue(although not anywhere near
the color of her mate). She still managed to raise that clutch & lay 10
more eggs, 6 of which have now hatched and are doing well.. I guess she
was ready to breed. Jeanette
Sara Silva
Leslie wrote:
>
> I was just going to post a question about this when I ran across your
> comments. . . my female 8 month old budgie developed the classic dark
> brown cere. Last night my daughter asked me what happened to Sunny's
> cere -- when I looked I noticed it was white again, with blue
> tints!!??!! She hasn't laid any eggs that I know of, but her sleeping
> arrangements have changed in the past few days as I had to rearrange
> the cages to accommodate some new birds. Could stress change the cere
> color?
>
> Leslie
Females do change nose color from brown to pale blue. The story I told you
was really unique and I understand it's a very rare situation. Unless your
female begins acting like a male, I wouldn't worry about it! But please be
sure Sunny doesn't have a health problem, because I think that could change
her nose color, too. But I'll leave that subject to the experts... ;-)
Sara
Cathy Quinones
In message <4om5fe$6...@sjx-ixn4.ix.netcom.com> - fra...@ix.netcom.com(Leslie )
writes:
:>
:>
:>>Her nose became dark
:>
:>>got ill and was therefore put in a different cage, away from the male.
:>
:>>In less than one week, her nose became, not pale, but DARK AND BRIGHT
:>>BLUE! She became a different bird! Began acting like a male, making a
:>>lot of noise, etc. She became HE! The vet told my friend that he had
:>>already seen a similar case. When HE got well, HE joined the male
:>again
:>>(at the time, my friend didn't really know what to do!) and a couple
:>of
:>>days later his nose was again dark brown...! HE was a SHE once again!
:>>
:>>Have you ever heard of anything like this?
:>>
:>>Sara Silva
:>>
:>>sa...@cnig.pt
:>I was just going to post a question about this when I ran across your
:>comments. . . my female 8 month old budgie developed the classic dark
:>brown cere. Last night my daughter asked me what happened to Sunny's
:>cere -- when I looked I noticed it was white again, with blue
:>tints!!??!! She hasn't laid any eggs that I know of, but her sleeping
:>arrangements have changed in the past few days as I had to rearrange
:>the cages to accommodate some new birds. Could stress change the cere
:>color?
I think all our Ru-Paul budgies should get together and do a little show :)
Our 1st budgie, Tiki, is blue, with a (now) brown cere. Farli, our 2nd
budgie, is yellow, with a touch of green, and red eyes; he has a plump, pink
cere, and chatters a lot. Tiki was always quiet and depressed looking (he had
a light blue cere) so we got Farli. A few months later, Tiki's cere started
getting darker and browner. After a while, the top layer would slough off,
and the cere would again look blueish. This is now a regular pattern. Our
old vet did bloodwork on him about a year ago that revealed some sort of
infection (got treated with antibiotics) but NO hormonal weirdness. He said
that he thought Tiki was a male, and that perhaps he has an estrogen-producing
tumor (although no masses or limping are present). Tiki will chatter a bit,
but is otherwise pretty quiet. Farli (whom the vet said is a male, that with
his color mutations, he probably will never have a blue cere) chatters a lot.
Tiki is the dominant budgie (will chase Farli off perches, food bowls), but
they get along allright. They will groom and sometimes regurgitate for one
another, but I've never seen them mate, not even close.
I'm glad to hear there are other "sex-changing" budgies out there!
I posted about this before, and the replies I got (and info I later read
elsewhere) mentions "cere hypertophy" as a condition where the cere GROWS and
gets brownish, bumpy, and the nostrils may get obstructed. I don't think this
is what is going on with my budgie or yours, though.
This cere thing drives me nuts, here's the possible explanations I've come up
with:
- the tumor hypothesis: male bird is producing enough estrogen to get 2dary
female characteristics
- the birds ARE females, who matured late OR that are, for whatever reason,
cycling in and out of breeding condition. Could be their current mates don't
quite "do it for them" ???? This may be our case: our budgies were VERY
lovey-dovey when they first met but now are more like buddies, they groom each
other randomly, do regurgies for each other also randomly
- question for all of your fellow transexual budgie owners: WHAT DO YOU FEED
YOUR BIRDS?? Mine get ~50% Roudybush pellets, a little bit of seed, and a
cooked home-made grain/veggie/bean mix. HOW MANY HOURS OF SLEEP DO THE BIRDS
GET? Mine have their cages covered for 10-12 hours/day (used to be closer to
12, now it's closer to 10, cere still changes, but *may* be staying brown
longer).
What a mystery!!
===========================================================
Cathy Quinones quin...@mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~mintz/coverpg.html = bird care info
Poicephalus rule!!
Sara Silva
Cathy Quinones wrote:
> I think all our Ru-Paul budgies should get together and do a little show :)
>
> Our 1st budgie, Tiki, is blue, with a (now) brown cere. Farli, our 2nd
> budgie, is yellow, with a touch of green, and red eyes; he has a plump, pink
> cere, and chatters a lot. Tiki was always quiet and depressed looking (he had
> a light blue cere) so we got Farli. A few months later, Tiki's cere started
> getting darker and browner. After a while, the top layer would slough off,
> and the cere would again look blueish. This is now a regular pattern. Our
> old vet did bloodwork on him about a year ago that revealed some sort of
> infection (got treated with antibiotics) but NO hormonal weirdness. He said
> that he thought Tiki was a male, and that perhaps he has an estrogen-producing
> tumor (although no masses or limping are present).
Curious, the female/male I told you about died not long after she/he changed nose
color, and the vet said that it could be a tumor, but he didn't refer the estrogen
producing. She/he was having breathing problems, so I don't really know the cause of
death. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to do an authopsy.
> Tiki will chatter a bit,
> but is otherwise pretty quiet. Farli (whom the vet said is a male, that with
> his color mutations, he probably will never have a blue cere) chatters a lot.
> Tiki is the dominant budgie (will chase Farli off perches, food bowls), but
> they get along allright. They will groom and sometimes regurgitate for one
> another, but I've never seen them mate, not even close.
>
> I'm glad to hear there are other "sex-changing" budgies out there!
Me too!
> I posted about this before, and the replies I got (and info I later read
> elsewhere) mentions "cere hypertophy" as a condition where the cere GROWS and
> gets brownish, bumpy, and the nostrils may get obstructed. I don't think this
> is what is going on with my budgie or yours, though.
Although she/he was having breathing problems, her nostrils were alright. She was a
normal female until she was put apart from the male.
> This cere thing drives me nuts, here's the possible explanations I've come up
> with:
>
> - the tumor hypothesis: male bird is producing enough estrogen to get 2dary
> female characteristics
Maybe, maybe...
> - the birds ARE females, who matured late OR that are, for whatever reason,
> cycling in and out of breeding condition. Could be their current mates don't
> quite "do it for them" ???? This may be our case: our budgies were VERY
> lovey-dovey when they first met but now are more like buddies, they groom each
> other randomly, do regurgies for each other also randomly
But females wouldn't have a bright blue cere, would they? I know they can have pale
blue cere, but nothing like what I've seen.
> - question for all of your fellow transexual budgie owners: WHAT DO YOU FEED
> YOUR BIRDS?? Mine get ~50% Roudybush pellets, a little bit of seed, and a
> cooked home-made grain/veggie/bean mix.
Only seeds, veggies (carrots, lettuce and other greens) and some fruits (mainly
apples). I can't give you any details because, as I said before, the bird wasn't mine;
it belonged to a friend of mine.
> HOW MANY HOURS OF SLEEP DO THE BIRDS
> GET? Mine have their cages covered for 10-12 hours/day (used to be closer to
> 12, now it's closer to 10, cere still changes, but *may* be staying brown
> longer).
From dusk 'till dawn, I guess. The pair was not inside the house, and their cage was
never covered. When she turned to male, the only change that could have caused it was
the fact that she was separated from the male.
> What a mystery!!
Yap! :-)
Sara Silva
sa...@cnig.pt
i16...@caravela.di.fc.ul.pt
Liz Day
The cere mystery continues:
Big One, an adult female parakeet, apparently banged her nose (possibly
when she hit something in flight) and the thick skin fell off HALF
her cere. Now she has a cere that's brown on the right and smooth
bluish white on the left. Boy does she look odd.
Liz Day
Indianapolis, Indiana, central USA
LD...@indy.net (use this address - not the 'r' key)
Jlammons
I must be a wierdo. I've had budgies for 40 years & never missed on
determining sex. Yes there are verying hues, particularly when hen is
laying eggs
or chicks are young, but if the bird is old enough to be bought (eight
weeks) there should be no problem sexing the bird, particularly if you
have others for comparison. Jeanette
Tohru1529
> I have a 5 month old blue budgie which used to have the most beautiful
> purple nose(I'm not sure what to call the nostils above the beak).
> Recently this area has turned beige and is has a flacky look to it.
> Any suggestions? If there are any readers in this group from the
> Montreal area I would also appreciate if you could point me in the
> direction of a bird vet. I've looked but can't seem to fine one.
jasmin...@btinternet.com
michael...@live.com
> I have a 5 month old blue budgie which used to have the most beautiful
> purple nose(I'm not sure what to call the nostils above the beak).
> Recently this area has turned beige and is has a flacky look to it.
> Any suggestions? If there are any readers in this group from the
> Montreal area I would also appreciate if you could point me in the
> direction of a bird vet. I've looked but can't seem to fine one.
Clueless.
