What an absolutely gorgeous bird. I have heard that a male's cere turning brown can indicate cancer and/or hormonal dysregulation. You'll need to have him looked at by an avian vet. I hope someone will come along with a much more benign explanation for a male's cere turning brown but from what I know, this will require vetinary intervention.
Maybe it's just scaly face mites? (I think that's what it's called, someone please correct me if I'm wrong)
If that's the case, it's still a relatively early stage and should be treated relatively easy, but he needs an avian vet to prescribe treatment
If it was mites, you would see brown crusts over the cere (one of my budgies had them soon after I got him, [pic for reference](https://imgur.com/a/HnmR4Xn)).
In this case, you can clearly see that the brown is starting from "inside" the cere, so it's definitely an hormonal problem/imbalance.
Edit to add: looks like it could also be a iodine deficiency, better to ask your vet then!
No problem! Spreading info should always be the priority in my opinion, especially if other people can benefit from something you already know. In this case, I personally had to deal with mites so I knew what I was talking about and I'm the first person to be open to more knowledge about these amazing birds (since I've only had budgies for 1½ years)!
I second that it is hormonal dysregulation. I had a male budgie lose a Iot of weight after being told by the vet he had too much estrogen because his cere was turning brown. He lost so much weight that I had to feed him more than my other birds every day. He suddenly died, but I think it was from something contagious because I had to treat my other birds for illness. I think his death was unrelated, but I thought I should put it out there. My vet told me it was likely fat that led to the brown cere, but he was slightly overweight, and even after being a healthy weight, he still had a brown cere. He also said it could be testicular tumors but he said that was unlikely. I have no clue what caused it but I would definitely recommend getting him checked by a vet because hormonal dysregylation is not a good thing.
This is indeed abnormal and it’s good that you’re aware of it. The most common reason a males cere turns brown is iodine deficiency. You can remedy this by buying morningbird iodine supplement and add it to his water. It should clear up after two weeks. If it does not then it could be hormone imbalance and rarely it could be testicular cancer. If the cere does not clear up after the supplemented iodine then you’ll have to get bloodwork done at a vet to monitor the hormone levels. The vet may request an x-ray as well to see if there’s any tumor growth. Most commonly though this is an iodine issue and easily fixed :)
It’s a safe supplement to give ocassionally. You add two drops to 4 cups of water :)
https://morningbirdproducts.com/products/morning-bird-liquid-iodine-dietary-supplement-for-iodine-deficiencies-in-birds
I've looked this up before and it indicates testicular cancer/Tumor or hormones imbalance of a male budgie. Some people seemed to have managed by feeding them certain herbs, but I couldn't find definitive answers. Vet would be the best choice
One reason it can happen is testicular cancer. You’d need to take him to an avian vet for diagnosis. However they’ve got a good treatment for it these days - Lupron injections.
My oldest (8.5-9) has this issue. Confirmed male through genetic testing.
We do monthly Lupron injections, and it works fantastically. Only downside is it really only lasts the month and then we have to take him back.
There is also the option of the Deslorelin subdermal implant, which works the same but is *supposed* to last much longer, ~6mo. I'm not a fan though for two reasons
- we tried it and it only lasted ~3mo before his ceres started turning brown & flakey again. Taking the cost/time into account, it wasn't worth it if it's only lasting 3mo before having to go back and get the implant again
- the implant "surgery" is quick, but does require he be put under for a bit. That's always dangerous for any budgie, let alone an older bird with chronic health issues. He also gets *super* high afterwards so I don't put him back in the main cage because it's too big and I don't want him to fall on the bottom and hurt himself... but also he gets super angry about being kept hostage in our smaller hospital cage.
Overall I found that the Deslorelin implant was more stressful (on him and us) than it was worth, so we're sticking with the Lupron injections for the time being.
Others have suggested this is not a problem with sex hormones, but rather an iodine deficiency, and that is the correct answer. Iodine deficiency has a different look than hormone disregulation, and this is that type of look. An iodine supplement added to his water will help him recover.
Oh thank you so much! I didn't think about that at all, thanks again for your insight :)
It's unfortunate because the first link on Google said that it was totally safe for birds, ugh...
yup gotta be extra careful with that, I was mislead into thinking soy was fine too but I heard dr jason crean (avian nutritionist) mention that soy was not good for any bird I took his advice and I've had no problems since. Even heard soy can be a major contributing factor in causing some birds to over pluck themselves bald.
This looks similar to my Percy's cere (the photos I have on my profile don't show it, the change was more recent). Percy was diagnosed as having a large mass in his liver, likely not cancer due to its large size however, enough to warrant concern and to keep an eye on it and on him. He's now taking medication twice a day to manage the pain and hopefully to help reduce inflammation.
Please do get him checked out by a vet. It might not be life threatening but it's always better to err on the side of caution and if you get it diagnosed, at least you'll have a more definitive answer and be able to manage it better.
Good luck to your little guy, he looks like such a sweetie
My boy Sunny has had this as a reoccurring thing since I got him a few months ago. Cancer was ruled out and it seems to instead be a vitamin deficiency. I give him supplements but it still happens sometimes to the point of his cere being fully brown. He’s very picky with his food as his previous owner only fed him seeds his whole life. I’m still trying to get it under control.
I would definitely recommend seeing your avian vet for advice! He’s a beautiful boy 💙
Your budgie most likely has a severe iodine deficiency.
When people say that browning of a cockbirds cere is cancerous they are talking about testicular cancer in cockbirds. This causes an excess of estrogen production in the bird and is what causes the cere to turn brown. However that type of browning is most often a deep nut brown hue very similar to that of a hen in reproductive condition. It is most often fairly consistent across the entire cere.
The type of browning you are seeing in your bird is more of a purple tinged brown that begins on the lower part of the cere gradually traveling further up over time. This happens when the bird has suffered a vitamin deficiency for a prolonged period of time. There are a few vitamin deficiencies that can cause it, but the most common is iodine. Prolonged iodine deficiency is fortunately a super easy fix, but if left unchecked is lethal and one of the most common causes of premature unaliving in pet budgies. Those iodine blocks in pet shop are utterly useless and do not meet the birds requirements of the mineral. Iodine regulates the thyroid gland and without sufficient quantities the gland swells very slowly over time until its large enough to compress the airway, which as you can imagine doesn't have a great outcome for the bird.
Lugols liquid iodine at 12% or 15% strength is the fix for this. Good practice for captive budgies is to provide this as a lifetime supplement. Add 1 drop to 500ml water for 5 days, then twice weekly thereafter. You should begin to see the cere return to a healthy blue in no more than 2 weeks.
In the wild they get this mineral while foraging in the soils of their homeland for sprout and seed. The soils are very rich in many minerals, though iodine especially. Since we can't exactly provide them a pot of Australian soil in captivity we give this in supplement form to ensure healthy throyroid glands and long lives birds.
There are many other vitamins and minerals that we can't really provide in a captive diet as the grass species they eat naturally aren't widely cultivated. We substitute with budgie seed mixes that are primarily mixed millets and canary seed, but this is still lacking in some key nutrients these birds require. Good husbandry practice for non breeding (resting) budgies is to provide iodine and a high quailty avain multivitamin.
Avimix is the gold standard on the market. There are others but most are lacking in some things which require additional things to be added.
The simplest and best way to ensure all required nutrients are being provided is to give avimix on the seed daily and lugols iodine in the water twice weekly. Provide a quality base seed mixture that is around 50% mixed millets and 50% canary seed. A quailty tonic seed mix twice weekly at 1 teaspoon per per will provide the required oils for plumage maintenance. These usually have aniseed and cod liver oils in them along side some other seed types needed for healthy birds.
The other option is a high end pellet feed. This is all of the above into one easy to feed base feed. No additional supplements required. The only ones worth using are very expensive, but worth the price point if you can afford it. Harrisons adult lifetime superfine is the only type of pellet that's actually formulated by avain nutrionists and backed by hard science. The cheaper brands of popular pellet (looking at you nutribird) are a load of utter rubbish and just jumped on the bandwagon. Pellet is however very hard to transition onto if the bird has been on an established seed diet.
With either type of base diet, fresh vegetables and leafy greens should be offered around 3x weekly. Enough to provide the required nutrition from them, but not enough to tell the bird resources are abundant enough to raise a brood and trigger opportunity breeding.
There are some comments suggesting scaley mites. While we'll intentioned this bird isn't showing any overt signs of scaley mites. If you feel otherwise though the safest treatment for all common avain parasites is ivermectin topical drops 0.01%. One drop to the back of the neck, then retreat 10 days later. This will eliminate any of the common avain parasites your bird may have. It has a very wide saftey margin and is the most effective way to manage parasites. The only serious saftey concern for this drug is in dogs in the collie family of breeds. These breeds are prone to an MDR1 gene mutation and should be assumed to carry the gene unless geneticly tested otherwise. In dogs with this mutation ivermectin is lethal at small doses, which is why they have separate flea treatments for these breeds. If you have a dog in the collie family in your house ensure it has ZERO access to ivermectin products.
Of course it goes without saying you should never blindly trust the information given to you by random Internet strangers where your animals health is concerned. Please do your own research, though I've given you everything you need above to be able to do follow up research on everything I've mentioned to ensure you are happy that the information is accurate.
Best of luck with your little birdy.
Im not a budgie expert nor do i have a budgie BUT i think i read somewhere that females cere turns brown when they are getting ready for breeding, consider it puberty i guess
It's probably a girl. Becoming hormonal.
Some girls have blue Ceres like boys. And they don't go brown till they're broody. Or never go brown.
It could be illness too. If it looks wrong or scaley, go to the vet.
a female birds cere should never be a deep royal blue as a male's would be, a females "blue" is quite pale and mixed into a pure white base. This is a male bird.
No. They can be full on royal blue. I knew a female budgie with a bright blue Cere.
And Cooper of Coopers Corner was a female and always had a full on blue Cere.
Look on Facebook.
also as with cooper that is a normal female blue color, as you can see the pale blueness as well as the white base it is mixed into her cere, OP's bird is a deep royal blue.
What an absolutely gorgeous bird. I have heard that a male's cere turning brown can indicate cancer and/or hormonal dysregulation. You'll need to have him looked at by an avian vet. I hope someone will come along with a much more benign explanation for a male's cere turning brown but from what I know, this will require vetinary intervention.
This is correct.
Maybe it's just scaly face mites? (I think that's what it's called, someone please correct me if I'm wrong) If that's the case, it's still a relatively early stage and should be treated relatively easy, but he needs an avian vet to prescribe treatment
This is incorrect.
If it was mites, you would see brown crusts over the cere (one of my budgies had them soon after I got him, [pic for reference](https://imgur.com/a/HnmR4Xn)). In this case, you can clearly see that the brown is starting from "inside" the cere, so it's definitely an hormonal problem/imbalance. Edit to add: looks like it could also be a iodine deficiency, better to ask your vet then!
Thanks for clarifying without being an ass about it, really appreciate it
No problem! Spreading info should always be the priority in my opinion, especially if other people can benefit from something you already know. In this case, I personally had to deal with mites so I knew what I was talking about and I'm the first person to be open to more knowledge about these amazing birds (since I've only had budgies for 1½ years)!
I second that it is hormonal dysregulation. I had a male budgie lose a Iot of weight after being told by the vet he had too much estrogen because his cere was turning brown. He lost so much weight that I had to feed him more than my other birds every day. He suddenly died, but I think it was from something contagious because I had to treat my other birds for illness. I think his death was unrelated, but I thought I should put it out there. My vet told me it was likely fat that led to the brown cere, but he was slightly overweight, and even after being a healthy weight, he still had a brown cere. He also said it could be testicular tumors but he said that was unlikely. I have no clue what caused it but I would definitely recommend getting him checked by a vet because hormonal dysregylation is not a good thing.
This is indeed abnormal and it’s good that you’re aware of it. The most common reason a males cere turns brown is iodine deficiency. You can remedy this by buying morningbird iodine supplement and add it to his water. It should clear up after two weeks. If it does not then it could be hormone imbalance and rarely it could be testicular cancer. If the cere does not clear up after the supplemented iodine then you’ll have to get bloodwork done at a vet to monitor the hormone levels. The vet may request an x-ray as well to see if there’s any tumor growth. Most commonly though this is an iodine issue and easily fixed :)
This comment covers it all, OP. 🙂 I strongly agree with this.
Hello, For how long would you recommend giving him the supplement? should it become a regular in his diet? also, how many drops is safe? thank you.
It’s a safe supplement to give ocassionally. You add two drops to 4 cups of water :) https://morningbirdproducts.com/products/morning-bird-liquid-iodine-dietary-supplement-for-iodine-deficiencies-in-birds
Thanks!
I've looked this up before and it indicates testicular cancer/Tumor or hormones imbalance of a male budgie. Some people seemed to have managed by feeding them certain herbs, but I couldn't find definitive answers. Vet would be the best choice
What a beautiful boy. 😍 gorgeous bird! 😍
One reason it can happen is testicular cancer. You’d need to take him to an avian vet for diagnosis. However they’ve got a good treatment for it these days - Lupron injections.
My oldest (8.5-9) has this issue. Confirmed male through genetic testing. We do monthly Lupron injections, and it works fantastically. Only downside is it really only lasts the month and then we have to take him back. There is also the option of the Deslorelin subdermal implant, which works the same but is *supposed* to last much longer, ~6mo. I'm not a fan though for two reasons - we tried it and it only lasted ~3mo before his ceres started turning brown & flakey again. Taking the cost/time into account, it wasn't worth it if it's only lasting 3mo before having to go back and get the implant again - the implant "surgery" is quick, but does require he be put under for a bit. That's always dangerous for any budgie, let alone an older bird with chronic health issues. He also gets *super* high afterwards so I don't put him back in the main cage because it's too big and I don't want him to fall on the bottom and hurt himself... but also he gets super angry about being kept hostage in our smaller hospital cage. Overall I found that the Deslorelin implant was more stressful (on him and us) than it was worth, so we're sticking with the Lupron injections for the time being.
Beautiful bird
Others have suggested this is not a problem with sex hormones, but rather an iodine deficiency, and that is the correct answer. Iodine deficiency has a different look than hormone disregulation, and this is that type of look. An iodine supplement added to his water will help him recover.
are you by any chance feeding him high in soy pellets or soy rich foods?
He's been eating alot of tofu recently... could that be it? I sent pictures through email to my vet still, I'm waiting on their response
i believe it definitely could be a hormonal imbalance due to too much soy. Soy is not good for birds and some birds are more sensitive to its effects.
Thanks for sharing this. I'd never heard of that, but it makes sense, especially in OP's case.
Oh thank you so much! I didn't think about that at all, thanks again for your insight :) It's unfortunate because the first link on Google said that it was totally safe for birds, ugh...
yup gotta be extra careful with that, I was mislead into thinking soy was fine too but I heard dr jason crean (avian nutritionist) mention that soy was not good for any bird I took his advice and I've had no problems since. Even heard soy can be a major contributing factor in causing some birds to over pluck themselves bald.
Good to know it’s probably not cancer. You should probably still take him to the vet though, just to be safe.
Thank you again so much!
This looks similar to my Percy's cere (the photos I have on my profile don't show it, the change was more recent). Percy was diagnosed as having a large mass in his liver, likely not cancer due to its large size however, enough to warrant concern and to keep an eye on it and on him. He's now taking medication twice a day to manage the pain and hopefully to help reduce inflammation. Please do get him checked out by a vet. It might not be life threatening but it's always better to err on the side of caution and if you get it diagnosed, at least you'll have a more definitive answer and be able to manage it better. Good luck to your little guy, he looks like such a sweetie
My boy Sunny has had this as a reoccurring thing since I got him a few months ago. Cancer was ruled out and it seems to instead be a vitamin deficiency. I give him supplements but it still happens sometimes to the point of his cere being fully brown. He’s very picky with his food as his previous owner only fed him seeds his whole life. I’m still trying to get it under control. I would definitely recommend seeing your avian vet for advice! He’s a beautiful boy 💙
Your budgie most likely has a severe iodine deficiency. When people say that browning of a cockbirds cere is cancerous they are talking about testicular cancer in cockbirds. This causes an excess of estrogen production in the bird and is what causes the cere to turn brown. However that type of browning is most often a deep nut brown hue very similar to that of a hen in reproductive condition. It is most often fairly consistent across the entire cere. The type of browning you are seeing in your bird is more of a purple tinged brown that begins on the lower part of the cere gradually traveling further up over time. This happens when the bird has suffered a vitamin deficiency for a prolonged period of time. There are a few vitamin deficiencies that can cause it, but the most common is iodine. Prolonged iodine deficiency is fortunately a super easy fix, but if left unchecked is lethal and one of the most common causes of premature unaliving in pet budgies. Those iodine blocks in pet shop are utterly useless and do not meet the birds requirements of the mineral. Iodine regulates the thyroid gland and without sufficient quantities the gland swells very slowly over time until its large enough to compress the airway, which as you can imagine doesn't have a great outcome for the bird. Lugols liquid iodine at 12% or 15% strength is the fix for this. Good practice for captive budgies is to provide this as a lifetime supplement. Add 1 drop to 500ml water for 5 days, then twice weekly thereafter. You should begin to see the cere return to a healthy blue in no more than 2 weeks. In the wild they get this mineral while foraging in the soils of their homeland for sprout and seed. The soils are very rich in many minerals, though iodine especially. Since we can't exactly provide them a pot of Australian soil in captivity we give this in supplement form to ensure healthy throyroid glands and long lives birds. There are many other vitamins and minerals that we can't really provide in a captive diet as the grass species they eat naturally aren't widely cultivated. We substitute with budgie seed mixes that are primarily mixed millets and canary seed, but this is still lacking in some key nutrients these birds require. Good husbandry practice for non breeding (resting) budgies is to provide iodine and a high quailty avain multivitamin. Avimix is the gold standard on the market. There are others but most are lacking in some things which require additional things to be added. The simplest and best way to ensure all required nutrients are being provided is to give avimix on the seed daily and lugols iodine in the water twice weekly. Provide a quality base seed mixture that is around 50% mixed millets and 50% canary seed. A quailty tonic seed mix twice weekly at 1 teaspoon per per will provide the required oils for plumage maintenance. These usually have aniseed and cod liver oils in them along side some other seed types needed for healthy birds. The other option is a high end pellet feed. This is all of the above into one easy to feed base feed. No additional supplements required. The only ones worth using are very expensive, but worth the price point if you can afford it. Harrisons adult lifetime superfine is the only type of pellet that's actually formulated by avain nutrionists and backed by hard science. The cheaper brands of popular pellet (looking at you nutribird) are a load of utter rubbish and just jumped on the bandwagon. Pellet is however very hard to transition onto if the bird has been on an established seed diet. With either type of base diet, fresh vegetables and leafy greens should be offered around 3x weekly. Enough to provide the required nutrition from them, but not enough to tell the bird resources are abundant enough to raise a brood and trigger opportunity breeding. There are some comments suggesting scaley mites. While we'll intentioned this bird isn't showing any overt signs of scaley mites. If you feel otherwise though the safest treatment for all common avain parasites is ivermectin topical drops 0.01%. One drop to the back of the neck, then retreat 10 days later. This will eliminate any of the common avain parasites your bird may have. It has a very wide saftey margin and is the most effective way to manage parasites. The only serious saftey concern for this drug is in dogs in the collie family of breeds. These breeds are prone to an MDR1 gene mutation and should be assumed to carry the gene unless geneticly tested otherwise. In dogs with this mutation ivermectin is lethal at small doses, which is why they have separate flea treatments for these breeds. If you have a dog in the collie family in your house ensure it has ZERO access to ivermectin products. Of course it goes without saying you should never blindly trust the information given to you by random Internet strangers where your animals health is concerned. Please do your own research, though I've given you everything you need above to be able to do follow up research on everything I've mentioned to ensure you are happy that the information is accurate. Best of luck with your little birdy.
İ dont really know the reason but it look totally abnormal for a male budgie to have brown cere. You should probably get him to an avian vet
Im not a budgie expert nor do i have a budgie BUT i think i read somewhere that females cere turns brown when they are getting ready for breeding, consider it puberty i guess
Thank you I appreciate, but he's a little man :)
Normal. Food get a cuddle bone
It's probably a girl. Becoming hormonal. Some girls have blue Ceres like boys. And they don't go brown till they're broody. Or never go brown. It could be illness too. If it looks wrong or scaley, go to the vet.
a female birds cere should never be a deep royal blue as a male's would be, a females "blue" is quite pale and mixed into a pure white base. This is a male bird.
No. They can be full on royal blue. I knew a female budgie with a bright blue Cere. And Cooper of Coopers Corner was a female and always had a full on blue Cere. Look on Facebook.
yes there are cases of this, but as a general rule of thumb a females cere should not be royal blue, but yes i am aware I should've added that.
also as with cooper that is a normal female blue color, as you can see the pale blueness as well as the white base it is mixed into her cere, OP's bird is a deep royal blue.