Things You'll Need:
- cage to house your parakeet
- bird seed
- fresh greens and other veggies for better nutrition
- parakeet toys
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Step 1
This baby parakeet clearly shows the brownish coloration on the beak typical of very young babies. You can also see the dark eyes with the absense of the white iris seen in adultsLook at the sides of the top mandible of the budgies beak;
Very young, just weaned baby parakeets will show some dark color on their beaks. Typically this is brownish and up near the cere looking like the beak is smudged with chocolate or other dark substance. This color is transitory meaning that as the bird gets older it will fade to the yellow color you usually see on a Budgerigars beak.
This dark color usually fades by the time the baby is 2 1/2 - 3 months old although some babies have lost this color by the time they fledge (leave the nest).
The baby in this photo is female -
Step 2
This young baby is sleeping but you can see the gray bars or banding on the forehead to denote him as a baby, If you look closely you can also still see the dark coloration on the sides of his beak,Are there frontal stripes?
If you look at the face of your prospective pet you will notice gray bars on the neck, if young babies these gray bars go all the way forward and down to the cere on the top of the beak.
As the baby gets older you will see a gradual progression of these gray bars receding and being replaced with white or yellow, until finally around 6 months of age the entire frontal area will be covered with the white or yellow feathers typical for adult parakeets.
The baby in this photo is female -
Step 3
Adult tame dominant pied parakeet. This bird is female, the dark under the cere is actually greenish and not brown and is typical of adult dominant pied keetsWhat do I look for if the parakeet is a Dominant Pied?
There is one color phase of parakeet where step 2 may not apply and that is the dominant pied. These parakeets have a white patch of feathers at the nape of the neck. In these birds you may have babies that have an all white cap or even a few adults with a gray banded feather hear and there in the "cap" region of their forehead. These are striking birds with a variety of colors and patterns of white feathers intermixed with their regular body color.
Dominant Pied are different from the normal pied parakeet (which may age determined using the method in step 2). In a normal pied parakeet you will not see the white patch of feathers behind the neck.
Normal pied parakeets may be age determined using step 2 above but Dominant pied parakeets can not be age determined unless their entire cap is gray banded, if there are a few white feathers you may or may not have a baby.
These parakeets are called dominant pied because if you mate one with a normal parakeet you will have pied offspring. If you mate a normal parakeet with a regular pied parakeet you will have normal colored offspring. -
Step 4
This is an adult male parakeet, notice that he has yellow feathers on his forehead and his eyes have a white iris. His cere is a bright blue indicating that he is a healthy male in breeding condition.Examine the eyes? Eye color is everything in baby birds
Lastly, you can look at the iris of the budgies eyes to determine if it is a young bird or baby. Adults will have a white iris while babies will have a dark iris.
Adult eye color typically begins to show at around 5-6 months of age.
The bird in this photo is an adult male -
Step 5
baby male parakeetPhoto shown for comparison; the baby in this photo is male. Note his cere is pink and not whitish. He also shows the brown smudging on the beak typical of babies, and shows the gray banding on the forehead quite nicely.
Comments
msibley said
on 11/17/2009 I love parakeets and really enjoyed your article! 5*
betterbody said
on 11/12/2009 Very informative. Thanks for the 5 * details. Nice pictures.
jeni10 said
on 11/11/2009 Great article on how to pick a baby Budgerigar (Parakeet). Wonderful pics! 5*
johndoe2150 said
on 11/8/2009 had a parakeet that used to imitate an atari, brought back some good memories.
e-Rambler said
on 11/2/2009 I had four parakeets that have lived to their full life expectancy. I might get another few in the future. Budgerigars are fascinating and fun pets!