Male vs female personality

[scorpiosue]

I finally have the opportunity to get a hand-raised English budgie
I can choose whether I want a male or a female. Is there any difference in personality or talking/training ability of males versus females? I did not notice any difference between them at this point (and one did not seem to "choose" me so the choice is mine), but I know things change at adolescence and as adults with most parrots.
Thank you!! I am looking forward to browsing the posts and learning all I can about my new little friend-to-be. I've had bigger parrots before, but not a budgie, so this is new to me.

 

[itzjbean]

You've asked some good questions. I have never owned parakeets so I am not sure, but I do see very frequently that males are more of the singers and talkers. They can be identified by the color of their cere (nostril area) as they age, which turns different colors depending on male or female. Most of the time males will have blue ceres hough there are many exceptions.

Lots to learn here, stick around!

 

[bug_n_flock]

Hens are sweeter in my experience. They will cuddle and preen more, they are quieter in both volume and personality. IDK what it is about them, but when they bite they seem to bite harder than the males.



Males are more outgoing, playful, more likely to talk. A single male is more likely to be a singer and playful in my experience than a single female. But a hen will sit on your shoulder happily preening your face for ages in my experience.



There are plusses and minuses to each. But parakeets in general are fabulous.

 

[Laurasea]

I've wanted an English budgie since I heard about them!
Budgie bites are nothing in my book, they don't seem to be big biters anyway
Now being pierced by a GCC needle beak is an experience!
I vote male, don't have to worry about eggs, better chance at speaking. But if you get to meet the babies, then the one that chooses you is the best!

 

[Noahs_Birds]

I know a bloke who breeds cockateils and handrears them
He never DNA sexes his birds, he can tell by the males being bitey little buggers (until they get used to you of course) and the females being sweet as honey and only nibble very lightly
It reminds myself of when i first got Blue Faced Parrotfinches, because the female barely hurt when she bit but the male bites like a Fig Parrot (small but hurt like hell)
Thanks
Noah Till

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

In my experience the male is about 100% noisier than the female, they will sing, scream, chirp, generally do whatever possible to make noise of some sort all day long. They are hilarious, constantly in motion, gregarious is a word I would use to describe him, he has recently started taking more to hand training, but is generally not big on interaction directly unless there is food involved, and as soon as the treats go away, so does he lol.

Females on the other hand, almost never makes any noise, is on the whole a great deal less energetic and wild, she tends to be a bit of a bully with him, pushing him around and just generally more of a no nonsense type of personality. She will actively seek me out for affection and to hang out, not often for long, but she tends to like to call to me when she is ready to come say hi, then enjoys my company for a bit, then back to Beau, etcetera etcetera, usually this cycle happens a couple few times a day.

As to biting, I have never been bitten per se, nipped by him just once, but as he was in the process of sliding off my hand unexpectedly I imagine it had more to do with securing a purchase to climb back up than any malicious intent. She loves to wrestle with my hand and has a thing for trying to chew on my nails, and will warn me if she hasn't got any interest in interacting by very clear signs up to placing her beak on the offending finger and preparing to bite, but she's never gone further than that yet.

All told I would probably base my decision primarily on noise tolerance more than any other factor, especially if it is going to be a single bird, a bird who has no fellow budgies to "flock" with is going to be much, much more likely to seek out your attention and affection than multiple birds are...also much more likely to talk and attempt to imitate you.

 

[Smerft85]

Well, I've got 6 of them, so I'll give my unofficial opinion. Near as I can tell I ended up with an even split of male to female, out of 6 birds almost all of them have bitten me, the females in particular do seem to bite for blood, and they do get blood now and then. However my little "white" female is the sweetest of the bunch, she will step up, hang out with me and is the least likely of all to bite. I have one that I call "a rainbow color" that likes to play games and make you chase her when she has flight time, but when she loses the chase she will sit on my hand and she will go where I take her. My third female does not like being handled at all, when it's time to go back to the cage she will make me chase her all over the room, and when I do get her caught, she will bite and chew till I bleed or let go.

My males are all similar in one way, they love singing and chirping, I've caught two of them mimicking human speech, and none of them are keen on being handled, but the males seem to rarely bite, and if they do, it's generally not as hard as the females, and they don't "chew" when they do. There are many other qualities that are gender specific, but those are the main ones I see daily.

If I had to choose just one budgie based off gender, personally I'd go for a male simply because of the chirping and singing. However my experience has been clouded for one individual, they have become their own flock, and don't need me for much, if I were to have just one, it would be a coinflip decision: male for the singing, or female for the chance of a sweet bird to bond with.

They are capable of a bond, pretty singing, and biting regardless of gender. But I do admit I have a better bond with my one female in the bunch over the others, and in any pet store it will be hard to find one that likes you, or wants to step up because there are usually too many budgies in one cage. Four of mine were picked directly from the breeder, and all four are sweeter than the two from petco.

I hope this helped out even a little bit, but do keep in mind, they have tiny little sharp beaks, and they can pack a fairly big bite from such a small bird, I've bled on mechanics hands because of one female in particular a few times now, and my hands are like leather, it did still hurt!