What Sex is my Parakeet?

User Question
Hi there! Last November, I purchased my second parakeet from a pet store shortly after I lost my first one. My first question is, how can you tell what the sex is? I know you can look at the skin color above its beak and determind the sex from that (males-blue & females-brown and white). My bird though, has a white color, but sometimes I can see blue incertain areas. Does that mean the color is going to change later, or stay white?

My second question is, Ceasar (my bird) is wild. But he/she seems to be more sociable from being a pet shop part of her life. My she wont come near me. I have tried all kinds of ways to allow her to come near me when I change her food, but she acts like I am going to cook her for supper! I have tried food, but that doesn't help. Do I have any other options?

Lisa's Answer
It's often impossible to guess at a parakeet's sex by its nose color. Many people own a parakeet for years thinking it's one sex and in the end it turns out to be another. I would guess that yours is female, since it's not a solid blue, but in the end unless you're breeding the parakeet it really doesn't matter :) You can always bring him/her to a vet if you want to know for sure for some reason.

It's strange that you've had this bird since November and it is still panicking when you put your hand in the cage. She should have been long past that stage. Try putting your hand in the cage at least twice a day, each time just leaving your hand in there for a few minutes and talking soothingly to her. She shouldn't jump on it, but she shouldn't panic either. When you get her to the point that she's not panicking any more, then you can start with the perch training and go from there. But the first step MUST be that she is calm when your hand in the cage, so she can focus on what is going on.

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