Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 9/27/2004

Question
Hello Chrys.  What color is the cere on an adult male and female lutino budgie?

Thank you - Bev

Answer
Hi, Bev.  Thanks for posting your question.

Not an easy question to answer because lutino's can be difficult to sex!  Normally, a male's cere is all blue and a female's is any other color (particularly brown/tan/beige), including blue outlined in white.  However, in my experience with lutino's, a male's cere can vary in color.  For example, I have a lutino parakeet that I thought for years was a male by it's behavior and cere color (a combination of colors).  However, this keet ended up laying eggs.  Therefore, the best way I have found to determine the sex of a lutino keet (or any other adult keet I'm having trouble sexing) is to have it DNA sexed OR put s/he together with a keet of KNOWN sex and see how they behave together.  If it's a male/female pair, they will eventually preen each other, start feeding each other, etc. (normal pair-bond behavior).  2 females or 2 males may fight with each other or not pay any attention to each other if there are single "eligibles" around.  Another method you can use is to put an equal number of keets together in a cage and let them pair themselves up.  If the keet's eyes are red, the bird is an albino, which are just as hard to sex visually.    

I looked through some of my reference material and some websites, and didn't find any additional information.  

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, but some keet variations are difficult to sex visually.

Chrys