How long do Conures live? Inherited 27 y/o Cherry head

[freakaccident]

We inherited a 27 year old Cherry headed conure. He is a sweetheart and is super lively.

We inherited him from a 91 year old woman who had to move into a nursing home.

I don't think she had cared for him well over the past few years. When I first brought him home he bit me a lot when trying to handle him. After a few days he started to open up and love on me. We have had him for several months now and every day he seems to come out of his shell even more.

I am the only male in the house. My wife and two daughters are the other 3/4s.

Oddly enough the bird connects with me more than them even though he lived with a woman for 27 years. He kisses me, goes nuts when I get home, never bites me, and really seems to like being with me. He bites my wife and kids if they get near him but he eats treats from my lips.

He has started to mimic the dog. He barks and it sounds exactly like the dog. He also talks occasionally but only when I am in the room. My wife thinks I am lying about it.

How long do these birds live? I have read that 27 is pretty old.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

[freakaccident]

Fixed image of Rojo. He is eating a carrot in that pic.

 

[freakaccident]

OH and I figured out by chance early on that he is blind in his left eye. You have to be careful how you approach him or he will bite. He somehow has grown accustomed to me and can smell or hear me and never bites me no matter which way I come at him. I never realized these birds were as smart as they are.

 

[freakaccident]

Just tried to get a video of him kissing and snuggling. He hates cameras apparently. I might be able to splice a few clips of him letting me scratch stuff off of his beak and some audio of kisses after I laid the camera down.

He lets me scrape my finger nails all over his upper and lower beak to clean them off. Weird I know but he likes it.

 

[ksuyen]

Cherry-Headed Conure Birds says 40 years old plus. So he might still have more than 10 years, plus and minus. How noisy is he?

 

[Allee]

Welcome to the forums, Aaron and Rojo! Cherry headed conures are a hardy species. The average life expectancy is 40+ years. Rojo is a beauty!

If you have a chance you should read, "The Parrots Of Telegraph Hill", by Mark Bittner, a documentary about a feral colony of cherry-headed conures.

It's a special gift to be chosen by a parrot. Thank you for giving Rojo the loving home he deserves.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome! Since I am 64, I hope there is someone as special for my JoJo when God says,"Check please"!

 

[PetoftheDay]

Perhaps if the other family members try, now that you know about his blind side, and his "rules" etc., he might begin to accept them as well! Slow and easy, bless you for taking him in!

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

I really think that while life 'expectancy' is important to know, life 'potential' is a better goal to aim for.

For example, my vet says in their experience - budgies live an average of 2-4yrs, cockatiels 5-7yrs and sun conures up to 10yrs. All three of those species can live much much longer than that.

Life expectancy is usually how long the species normally lives. Whereas life potential is how long they are capable of living.

For example, cockatiels can live into their 30s. Though many don't.

Diet, genetics and exercise are the three things that have the biggest impact on a birds lifespan.

Skittles will be 6y/o in March and I really believe that sun conures can live 30-40yrs even if some sites say 15-25 or up to 30yrs. I think the biggest reason why most sunnies don't live that long is because of being poorly cared for as well as household accidents.

Also, and this is just my opinion but in my experience, a bonded bird lives longer than an unbonded one. The two birds I have/had longest were Sammy (my parakeet who lived to be 11) and Peaches (my cockatiel who will be 21 in March). Aside from Skittles, those two I had the strongest bond with.

 

[Tropical]

That vet is nuts... and I highly question his "experience". Cockatiels "usually live 5-7yrs"? That is absurd, not the case.

 

[Birdman666]

That vet is nuts... and I highly question his "experience". Cockatiels "usually live 5-7yrs"? That is absurd, not the case.

Only because people don't take care of them....

I've known plenty of 'tiels that were in their mid 20's and still going strong.

Generally speaking a well cared for conure usually lives somewhere between 30-40 years.

 

[Birdman666]

Welcome! Since I am 64, I hope there is someone as special for my JoJo when God says,"Check please"!

Yeah. Tell me about it.

I think my CAG has a remaining life expectancy of around 48 years... and that is the bird with the "shortest"

Other than Lila, who is 43 now, they should all outlive me. She could live to be twice that age, so maybe not...

 

[Flboy]

Welcome! Since I am 64, I hope there is someone as special for my JoJo when God says,"Check please"!

Yeah. Tell me about it.

I think my CAG has a remaining life expectancy of around 48 years... and that is the bird with the "shortest"

Other than Lila, who is 43 now, they should all outlive me. She could live to be twice that age, so maybe not...

Kind of a reality check for several reasons!

 

[Kalel]

My first bird was a budgie who lived for 13 years. I can't see a cockatiel not living at least that long and a conure even longer.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

That vet is nuts... and I highly question his "experience". Cockatiels "usually live 5-7yrs"? That is absurd, not the case.

Perhaps you should 're-read' my post. I have COMPLETE confidence in my veterinarians. Peaches would not be alive today had it not been for that same vet whose experience you are questioning.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

My vets made their statements based on their experience with their clients and those they've seen. You could ask 10 different vets the average life expectancy of any species and get 10 different answers.

What SHOULD matter to people is life POTENTIAL. Cockatiels are more than capable of living into their 20s, some even make it into their 30s. But it isn't as common as it should be.

I don't know of any other bird owner in my area (and I know quite a few) who feed their birds Harrisons or anything equivalent. Most of them are on seed diets. I use my experience with it to educate these bird owners and hope they consider a better food source.

Even on this forum, how many members have spoken of taking in a rescue/unwanted bird that was not cared for properly? It's too common.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Only because people don't take care of them....

I've known plenty of 'tiels that were in their mid 20's and still going strong.

Generally speaking a well cared for conure usually lives somewhere between 30-40 years.

Funny, I asked my vet this same question at Skittles last visit. They said it's entirely possible that Skittles could live that long especially since I've taken such good care of Peaches. She'll be 21 in March.

But to be honest, I'm not sure how much longer she has. She has very bad balance and for the first ten years of her life she was not fed properly at all. I hope she lives a lot longer, but I want her to have a 'quality' life.

 

[Tropical]

Even with the "worst diet" in the world a tiel is not going to pass away at the young age of 4-7 yrs.... unless it flew out the window, got stepped on etc. A 4-7 yr old tiel is a rather young tiel.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

The whole point of my posts is that encouraging proper care and diet only serves to enrich and lengthen a birds life.

Personally, I can't see any cockatiel surviving 5-7yrs on the 'worst diet'. If you don't give any animal or any person for that matter proper nutrition they will be much more susceptible to illness/disease not to mention malnutrition and starvation.

Think about what the 'worst diet' would include. The worst thing you can feed a bird is avocado and chocolate.

I'm not saying that a bird has to be fed Harrisons to live over 20yrs. It certainly doesn't hurt - but there are plenty of ways to ensure proper nutrition of our fids. Pellets, fresh fruit, fresh veggies and whole grains.

But no bird will survive long on a diet consisting only of sugar and salt.

 

[Tropical]

When I was referring to "worst diet' I was referring to an "all seed diet".... not a bird being poisoned with avocado/chocolate.

I'm very aware of how an unhealthy diet plays a massive role in the majority of diseases in birds and humans for that matter (just look at how obese, sick and diseased majority of amercians are... they eat tons of JUNK then blame it on their genes while completely disregarding something called "environmental triggers"). I'm a whole foods plant based vegan and take health very seriously (eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle is my passion)... but NO tiel on this planet is going to die at the young age of 4 or 7 from an all seed diet aka "bad diet"... I was referring to THAT type of diet. That vet must be dealing with people who are feeding their tiels sugar cubes and greasy pizzas to be kicking the bucket at such a young age. Bizarre.