You are here:

Budgies/new baby budgies- color/gender/eyes

Advertisement

Expert: - 3/25/2007


Question
my budgies, sophie (f) and sunshine (m), laid eggs that hatched last week. today they're 7,6,and 5 days old (3/4 hatched). ive been looking on the internet for answers, but nothing is really helping. can u? heres what i want 2 know:
a- how to tell gender
b- sophie is albino and sunshine green- what are the color possibilities
and c- none of the babies' eyes have opened yet is this normal/ how much longer?
thx for reading!

Answer
Hi, Luna.  Thanks for posting!

You won't be able to sex the babies until they are 3-4 months of age or even perhaps not until they go through their first molt at about 6 months of age (depends on the color mutation of the babies).

Need to know the color of the grandparents in order to try and guess color possibilities of babies.  Green is a dominate color in budgies.  

Eyes won't open until about 10-14 days.

Chrys

Budgies

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Chrys Meatyard

Expertise

I`ve been raising/breeding/handfeeding/selling parrots for over 20 years (parakeets/budgies, cockatiels, 6 subspecies of conures, parrotlets, amazons, lovebirds, etc.). I've been published in "Budgies" and "Cockatiels" offered by Bow Tie Productions, and have written avian articles for publication in England. I can provide advice in raising healthy birds, handfeeding/weaning babies, some health problems, nail/beak/wing clipping, general husbandry, etc. I also have experience with racing/showing homing pigeons. I cannot diagnose specific illness over this website. If you suspect your bird is ill or if you have an emergency, contact a certified avian veterinarian or emergency pet clinic ASAP.

Experience

Over 20 years breeding/raising/handfeeding/selling 15 different species of parrots.

Education/Credentials
American Federation of Aviculture, completed Level I course, Fundamentals of Aviculture. Keeping/breeding parrots and other birds for over 20 years.

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.