How to tell the age of a budgie
This is actually very difficult unless the budgie has a leg band on that is closed with the hatch year- then you'll know the year at least, if no hatch certificate came with the bird, or the bird was bought at a local pet shop, or off craigs list then you may never know the exact age, But I'll try to explain below how you can give a good estimate on the budgie's age. But keep in mind If the bird came from a breeder the normal signs of how to tell its age, may not work because when a budgie is in a aviary setting they tend to ''mature" faster than a budgie who is the only bird in a home or just a few budgies living together, by mature I do not mean it's ready to breed at a month old, I just mean it's showing its gender or age earlier than most other budgies do.
Normally to tell the age of a budgie there are two ways I will start with Iris rings- This only applies if your budgie is not a recessive pied or a Dark eyed clear because neither of those two mutations ever get Iris rings they can be 20 years old and still have the "baby" bird eyes.
The following text and pictures are under Normal non aviary settings on how to tell how old your budgie is. Also keep in mind that once a budgie gets full white Iris rings you can no longer figure out his or her age You'll just know it's an Adult.
The following text and pictures are under Normal non aviary settings on how to tell how old your budgie is. Also keep in mind that once a budgie gets full white Iris rings you can no longer figure out his or her age You'll just know it's an Adult.
Black Eyes (0-4 months)
This picture is from budgieplace.com
When a non recessive pied or dark eyed clear budgie has coal black eyes it's 4 months of age or younger.
Dark Eyes (4-6 months)
This picture is from budgieplace.com
When a budgie has a hint of an iris ring you can estimate your budgie to be 4-6 months old, Again this is only for budgies who are not recessive pieds or Dark Eyed clears
Medium Iris rings (6-8 months)
This picture is from budgieplace.com
When you can visually see an iris ring with out struggling, or taking a bird into a room with better light, but the iris ring is not yet bright white you can estimate your budgies as being 6 to 8 months old. Once again this does not include recessive pied or dark eyed clears
White Iris Rings (8 months and up)
This picture is from budgieplace.com
If your budgie has very distinct bright white iris rings that can be seen very easily then your able to estimate your budgies Age to be 8 months and older
Using "baby" bars to tell how old your budgie is
This is another way you can estimate your budgies age, The "Baby" bars are the bars on the top of their heads- the mutations this does not work for are , Lutino, Albino, Double Factor Spangle, recessive pied .
Less than 4 months old
This picture is from budgieplace.com
As you can see from the picture to the left the bars on the top of the budgies head goes almost all the way to the cere . This means the baby is under 4 months old as most budgies have their 1st molt at 4 months old and the bars start to fade back.
4 months and older
This picture is from budgieplace.com
As you can see from the picture to the left, this budgie has no bars on it's forehead and it's considered a Clear Cap - cap is just another term for the forehead. as you can see the bars are faded back to the eyes - when they are like this they are very hard to tell their age because this could be a 4 month old or it could be a 8 year old budgie. At this stage they'll all look the same.
Some side notes to consider
You may read on website that Lutino and Albino's never have iris rings, even as young birds. This how ever isn't true. they get iris rings just like any normal mutation, and as I stated if they live in an Aviary type setting some budgies do get their iris rings earlier than they should
Also there are a lot of people who think Lutino & Albino birds are blind, This is a myth, They think because they have red eyes they can't see, Unless they have had a birth defect, or accident they are NOT BLIND and can see just as well as any other bird, Do not believe everything you hear no matter how old the "'breeder'' is.
Below I will post some pictures of how young budgies can look older than they really are, because they live in an aviary setting
Also there are a lot of people who think Lutino & Albino birds are blind, This is a myth, They think because they have red eyes they can't see, Unless they have had a birth defect, or accident they are NOT BLIND and can see just as well as any other bird, Do not believe everything you hear no matter how old the "'breeder'' is.
Below I will post some pictures of how young budgies can look older than they really are, because they live in an aviary setting
This budgie is only 50 days old
This budgie is 50 days old, Or 1 month 2 weeks 6 days old and by the photo's above he should not have any iris rings , instead he does - this picture isn't very clear , but his iris rings match the above for a 6-8 month old budgie. You can also see his iris rings are receded further back further than they should be for his age.
Young Males
Both the birds are 7 weeks old Or 1 month 3 weeks old, and you can see both are males- Dark purple translucent Ceres