Help with Crusty Cere

[Pensfan]

Hey everyone,
Thanks in advance for checking this out and helping me answer a couple questions. Our little girl (Kreacher) is about 2 years old, lives in a large cage with a male budgie (Dobby) and a male cockatiel (Jabberwocky). They get along great although Kreacher tries to tail surf on Jabberwocky every now and then and he doesn't really appreciate it times.

The past few days we've noticed that our female's cere is getting crusty. It is a normally a dark tan and mostly smooth. However, it is looking pretty rough right now. Her eyes are bright and clear, she doesn't show any signs of being in pain, and there are no signs of the same crusty build up around her eyes or feet. She has also been laying down in an upside down coconut toy recently; she normally just plays in it and chews on it.

I am 99% sure that this is normal for breeding age/season but I just want to make sure our little girl is healthy. Any thoughts here on this or should we take her to our avian vet?

 

[Zara]

I am 99% sure that this is normal for breeding age/season

Yes, I think that is normal Timothy.

@Lady Jane @Ripshod

 

[Lady Jane]

My female looks like that a bit. I was going to take her to the vet to have it checked out. My groomer, who is a vet tech, suggested a tiny bit of coconut oil on cere once a day for a week and it looked better. Now its back looking crazy. Truthfully I am about to make a vet appointment again to reassure me its not an issue.

 

[PoukieBear]

It's not an issue, this is totally normal for a female who is in breeding condition. Their cere's can get pretty gnarly looking compared to other times of the year, but still nothing to worry about.

 

[Lady Jane]

My groomer came today and cut toe nails and thought the same thing that PB wrote. Messy female cere.

 

[Gribouille]

when you said "Our little girl (Kreacher) is about 2 years old, lives in a large cage" I thought you were talking about a real little girl there for a while... Good to know you were talking about a bird

 

[Fergus Mom]

She has also been laying down in an upside down coconut toy recently; she normally just plays in it and chews on it.

If you are not trying to breed, it would be best to take anything 'nesty' out of the cage. (like the coconut hut).
She's very pretty!

 

[EnglishBudgMom]

We don't have a male bird around so I don't know if Bubbles will ever come into season, but yeeechhh they look so icky...

 

[Pensfan]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. Sorry about the bad pictures, Kreacher never stands still for a second unless she is sleeping, so that was about as good as I could get in that moment haha

 

[Gribouille]

We don't have a male bird around so I don't know if Bubbles will ever come into season, but yeeechhh they look so icky...

I don't think a female would need a male's proximity to mature... Why would they??

 

[PoukieBear]

I don't think a female would need a male's proximity to mature... Why would they??

The don't. Females will naturally get a crusty cere during breeding season (spring and summer) and they don't need a male around for this to happen. they can even lay eggs with no male present. (Just remove them from the cage if this happens.)

 

[EnglishBudgMom]

I read somewhere some females don't ever go into season?? Probably bad internet junk . No biggie, I understand now

 

[PoukieBear]

I read somewhere some females don't ever go into season?? Probably bad internet junk . No biggie, I understand now

And some never go OUT of breeding condition! Take my girl Candy for example. Her cere has been brown and crusty for her entire adult life and has never once faded back to blue. She gets a yearly check up at the vets, and everything is totally fine and nothing out of the ordinary. She's also never once laid an egg.
Budgies are complicated hormonal creatures. LOL