Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This little guy landed on my patio table 2 years ago. He had a really choppy whing clip on one side, and was luck to get 4 feet off the ground and get on the table and low tree branches, there were a lot of cats in the neighborhood. Anyhow, I had a little girl (Skye, she stays near Salty, or he stays near her, whenever I'm at the cage. But since he landed, I've been calling him "he"... Just because he "seemed like a boy" But being a white bird, I've ready that their cere is not the same as the more colored varieties. The pic attatched was the best I could get, if I try taking it from in the cage the 4 of them fly all over the place.

His cere is nearly colorless, but has a slight hint of lavender. Also once he settled in (we only had Skye when he first moved in) He immediately started head bobbing and feeding her those nummy "pukey balls", I also whitnessed mating behavior...he was on her back holding on for dear life untill she wiggled her way free from under him. Does the mating/breeding behavior mean he is definately a boy? Or could he just be mounting her because someone else did it to him and he's really just a butch girly bird?

He really likes her too bad she doesn't seem to feel the same..hehe

Can anyone tell if he's a boy or girl? And maybe give me some better info on sexing the white keets?

For some reason the pics didn't show up. In white budgies the best way to tell if they are male or female is look closest to the nostrils or the "framing" of the cere. If right around the nostrils or the framing is white you have a female. IF more color is showing right up against the nostrils more than likely it is a male.

Two females housed together or two males housed together will go through all the motions of breeding. They will mount each other and "perform" during season. This has nothing to do with how feminine or masculine they are it is more about dominance. The more dominant of the two birds will take on the role of the male and do the actual mounting while the less dominant will take on the female role. This is common in many species of animals. We have had cockatiels housed together that "bred" every season at their previous home and their owners never could figure out why there were no eggs (they were both males). We have amazons here that were housed together that bred every season and did produce eggs but were never fertile in their previous home (they are both females).

My guess is without seeing your birds that you have two females and the white one is more aggressive or dominant and your other female is trying to show her own dominance by getting away from the white one. You might try providing more perches, more toys or housing them in separate cages to let your one female have a break from dominance issues.

thanks, if I get him to stand still long enough to look real close, He...errrm, I guess She...lol, does have rings around her nostrils.

I don't think they need to be separated, Salty doesn't try to mount Skye anymore, and hasn't for the past year. But it seems Skye really enjoys Salty feeding her, and I think the larger Salty makes Skye feel safer when I stick my giant head in the cage Skye flies to Salty for protection.

I guess little Pepper...I very young little boy, has a herem Every boy's dream=)

Thank you for the description...It's been so hard figuring out Salty, hmm, maybe I change her name to Saltie..more girly

Maybe this pic will work better than the links in the text.

Pepper is just a itty bitty baby boy now. But when he grows up he'll probably really like having 3 girls all to himself=)

Also, in response to the more perches and toys idea...they have about 6 perches in various places and directions. I don't really want to add more or they may end up just bouncing from perch to perch, sorta defeats the purpose of a "flight cage". But I did just add 4 new toys. And Skye's nose in the pic above looks scabby, but that's just the camera/light angle, her whole cere is that ugly girl cere, and getting really dark now that it's spring, like it does every spring

And this whole "salty's a girl thing, explains his chattyness! He squaks as much or more than Skye...ooof, I gotta get used to calling SaltIE a girl...lol after 2 years of calling her him!

another of Pepper just because he's so cute=)

and one of the youngest girl in the herem..Sea She was the hardest to photograph because she's so new. Still very nervous when I get to close.

(yes I have a thing for making the names go together...in odd ways...Saltie, Pepper, Skye and Sea. ok goofy, but it works for us )

In the rescue we get in so many with "unacceptable" names (cuss words, mean names etc) that when we have to rename them we stick to "like" names. Our cockatiels are weather words, we have Foggy, Cloudy, Rainy, Stormy, Sunny, Crispy, Moony etc. Our finches are "spice" words Salty, Pepper, Sugar, cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Paprika sometimes they get shortened from there but on paperwork they all go together. Easier for all the volunteers to remember as well

You do have some real cuties. My computer is finally letting me see all the pics. We have a little budgie named Lucky that looks a whole lot like Shiek and another one named Snowflake that looks a whole lot like your Salty. We have others but those look really close to yours

Oh, and keep an eye on that many females together. We have had females housed together with and without males that get along wonderfully. But every once in a while there is that dominant female that wants to be "head" of the family and will pick on the other females sometimes injuring them or not allowing them to eat. Like I said this doesn't always happen or even in my opinion happen most of the time but since it does sometimes happen just keep an eye on them especially when any seem to be more hormonal and wanting to lay eggs.

Good job with the many perches and toys, I always have to add that suggestion in because so many put in one perch or swing and one toy and think that should be enough to entertain their birds.

Thanks I'll keep an eye on the girls. The only one I'm concerned about is the one who I thought was a boy..lol, Salty. She seems bigger than the other two, and she's most certainly the most boisterous! But I'll just hope they get along. If there's any trouble I'll just have to run out and get two more boys and a couple more nests (my boyfriend may move out...lol) Matching up the #'s would maybe solve that issue wouldn't it, as long as all 3 boxes are the same and at the same height? Could one little Pepper (the "meek shiek" has he's come to be known) be enough for all them girls? I'm assuming no, since he'd have to sit on 3 nexts at once. I'd rather not have to keep them in seperate cages. Kind of defeats the purpose of creating a "flock".

For now I would just keep an eye on them. In many cases the most dominant female will breed while the other females won't. Adding more nest boxes may actually add to the dominance or fighting issue as even though they might be the same the most dominant female may want them all, LOL! Sometimes they will race back and forth between nest boxes picking on the other females just to keep the others from breeding. If Salty is not actually hurting the other females or keeping them from eating etc I would say just leave the flock as it is. You may at some time want to even up the numbers a bit but give them time and watch their flock dynamics to see how the current birds are doing and make sure if you want or need to add more flock members.

If any of your birds decide to breed it will probably be the more dominant female with the male and the others won't bother even trying but again something to keep an eye on.

Good luck with your little flock let me know if their attitudes toward each other turns bad or if you have any other questions.