can a bird be dubbed old?

[xreinx]

At what age is a bird considered "old"? when I turned 18, I met a 38 year old 'Too, Im not sure what it was, I had the impression that it had a yellow crest.

It acted like a baby, hanging upside down and flapping wildly. It had a cute little squeek, but for some reason it really didnt talk. As a guest I asked polite questions but the owner and his wife really didnt let us interact with the bird on its play stand, I didnt see the cage, but their house was huge, so it could have been anywhere.

So at what age can a bird be called old and do they ever act like it?

 

[oled]

Mentally newer more than 5 yers they say. My children says that I am old but I dont feel that way. When a bird feels old I dont know

 

[Spiritbird]

My avain vet has a Cockatoo that is 75 years old.

 

[xreinx]

does it act like its old? Cause this one didnt, it was having a grand time, though it listened when they told it to quiet down, or they were going to cover it.

 

[Mayden]

I think that's one of the beauty of birds, they're just constantly playful and free spirits!

Anyone with that kinda attitude can't be dubbed 'old'!

 

[oled]

I thing that a Cockatoo that is 75 years is an old parrot, 50 as well, 20, not really. So maby arron 30-40 could be named as an old parrot ?

 

[Spiritbird]

The 75 year old too gets very excited whenever he sees Rosie. He gets loud and comes to her. He has a special room in the vets office where he can be seen. It is tiled on the walls and floor with large plexi glass windows and lots of PVC pipe perches, toys and nets. He got so excited one day the vet had to take him out of his room and in the back office to quiet down. His name is Chuck.

 

[CAGLulu]

Wow, a 75 years old too. That sounds impressing. The owner(s) must have been taking very good care of him.

The oldest parrot I know is a 40 year old too. He lives in a very big cage in a pet store (a parrot that they take care of. The owner is on tour with a circus) with a 5 year old Amazon. He seems very happy and active. When someone go over to talk to him, he begin to jump around and make happy noises. My dad thought he was 2 years old because his feathers was so pretty and snow-white. Seriously, you'd think that the amazon was older than the too .

 

[mtdoramike]

Too me, the only time I would take age into account is if I'm buying a bird or animal. I'm not going to pay close to full retail for a bird older than 2-3 years old. The older the bird the less I'm will to pay for it. The older the bird the more set in it's ways that it will be. Bad habits from previous owners have have pretty much ingrained and harder to train out.

But in the end, it really depends on the bird and the circumstances.

 

[Pedro]

I have rehomed quite a few parrots over the years & i can honestly say not one has been a problem bird for me. I think if your lucky to have the ability to understand a parrot it really doesn't take to long to get a bird to trust you. I took on a SC Too about 5 years ago he is now 10 or 11 years old. When he first came to live with me he was terrified & over 6 months he started to settle down, by 12 months we were building trust & today i can do almost anything with him.

The oldest parrot i took in was over 50years old, by the time he reached his 70's he was blind & looked very old indeed.

Most of these large parrots are still breeding into their 50 years. I know of a pair of Eclectus that are still breeding at 30 plus years. I guess it all depends on the health of the bird.

 

[Spiritbird]

Well, Chuck is the bird of an avian vet. He has been with this vet most of his life I understand. Makes for a long living Cockatoo.

 

[Remy]

When I was bird shopping I met an 80 year old Military Macaw. I think that qualified as old. Apparently she is vicious with anyone except the store owner. She was missing a lot of feathers (age or plucking, not sure), and she did look old, especially since she is grumpy.

I think a macaw would make a great guard animal. They can be scary!! I'm way more nervous around growling macaws than growling dogs.