I have a keet named Speedway, who has a purplish/mauve cere. We adopted another one, who has a brown cere, about 3 months ago. A few days after we brought her home, Speedy went over and sat on top of her cage.Then she went in. After a while they started bonding--playing, singing, "kissing", etc. Over this past week-end, though, Speedy started jumping on Bleu's back. Then they both would fall off the perch. It's only happened a few times, and she just sat on her. Could Speedy be a boy?

slighter - welcome to the forum.

It certainly sounds like it. Purplish/mauve, expecially if it is a pretty intense color is a boy. Brown is a girl. It sounds like your probably need to read up on breeding parakeets. It is very important to educate yourself about breeding parakeets. There is a thread that is excellent. It is about the fourth thread in the Parakeet Breeding section.

http://www.wineintro.com/forum/ubbthread...TS_n#Post169056

It's not a really intense color, but I guess she is a boy. Damn. I don't want to breed, so I guess I'll have to watch them carefully and separate them if I have to. Speedway has had the run of the house for over a year, but I can keep Bleu's door shut when we're not home.Speedy like to sit on top of the cage anyway, more so then being inside. Thanks for the welcome, it's a great forum!!
Sue

Ok here is a tip...use to give talks about situations like this as a lot of folks think u need to separate if genders are male/female to avoid egg laying..while in some cases this is true the whole secret to that is...make sure cage is large enuf..second here it comes ..its in the diets we feed to our birds which brings them into breeding..if u feed just a good straight mixed daily seed ur not bringing them into breeding condtions as spring is when there is a variety of foods in wild to ensure the good rearing of young..when we do the same and offer alllll kinds of foods veggies fruits etc we actually are keeping our birds in a breeding ready condition..but u can keep opposite sex birds together with enuf room and staying on a bland seed diet NO GOODIES lol..they may go thru mating rituals but usually no eggs are produced...remember there are exceptions to every rule but ..keep in mind even in wild they dont breed year around becuz of lack of all the extra foods for raising young

Good point IFantasy - another tip is to keep their days shorter than their nights. Cover their cage and turn out the lights so they get 10 to 12 hours sleep. This simulates winter and will also discourage coming into breeding mode. Something else, even if Speedway is a girl she may be exibiting dominate behavior because of the new comer. If you could post a pic of Speedway, mabe we can give you a better informed opinion as to gender.

thx for picking up on my slack regarding that point also but id leave a small nite light on as it helps to prevent nite fright.

Thanks for your help. Sometimes the female is dominant, but that could be because it's her cage. Speedway likes being able to go to her/his own cage when she wants some alone time. They sleep separate, also. They like it that way. They do only like seed, I've tried other things, but no go, except popcorn, they like that, and their millets, of course! I will try to post a pic of Speedy asap, though.