How Old Did Your Budgie(s) Live to Be?

[AussieBird]

I never knew the age of most of my adult budgies who passed. Opal must have been four or five. I lost a few far too young, under one year.
My current oldest I estimate to be about eight, but I have no way of knowing.

 

[Ripshod]

What was the more typical lifespan of your budgies?

I don't think my average would represent budgies as a whole as so many of them came to me for EOL care. Ignoring those, and the budgies that came to me just for post-op care, the budgies that stayed with me for their full remaining life lived to an average 8 years. Going through the records that's an average for 31 budgies.

 

[Dorcas George]

I had two in young years. Both were in too-small cages and only got seed. Sad to think of now. Both lived less than five years. My sis had the most charming little budgie ever. Free flighted, very tame, ate seeds and odds and ends from our plates. She had him about two years but I don’t know where she got him or how old. Breeze was a young bird who met with an accident so doesn’t count, poor little Packer lived only two years and died suddenly. I don’t know why. It was awful—no necropsy because I was very sick with Covid. Frost is young and Jewel is just matured, so I’m hoping for the best!

 

[Aksarben]

We just have the 2, Adrian and Rocky, that we got in early December 2021. I was a bit concerned when someone had posted (elsewhere) that Rocky looked to be an English, and was purported to be issues with health as The are more bred for looks. But then an English Budgie in this thread lived to be 16, @JLcribber which sounds better.
I think proper eating and enough sleep will play an important role in lifespan. Our Toy Fox Terriers are senior dogs and Little Bear is 15 and still going strong. MUCH love as all 4 sleep in bed with us, BUT they all do take a lot of naps during the day. Good diet, but not TOO much of it, IE too overweight, or too much fat taxing o the liver, along with decent amounts of Vitamin A, as well as minor nutrients and calcium.

One thing that I think gets overlooked is "US" our mouth and saliva has gram negative bacteria in it that is toxic to the point of being deadly to the parrots. I read that recently. Kissing them, sharing food "our of our mouth" I feel can be a possible gateway for a bacterial infection that they struggle to fend off. Now here is the thing I did read....that the bacteria is pretty much made safe once it dries, but it is the wet saliva, or mucous (nose) that poses the most threat. So a sneeze on your shirt, and it's dry, will not likely have any effect on a Budgie. Sneezing direclty on them probably will.

Genetics, weight, exercise, sleep, balance nutrition, and most of all love and affection will, I believe, create a scenario for a longer happier life. You do the best you can, and learn all you can, .... what more can we ask for?

 

[FeatheredM]

[QUOTE="Aksarben, post: 3554462, member:
One thing that I think gets overlooked is "US" our mouth and saliva has gram negative bacteria in it that is toxic to the point of being deadly to the parrots. I read that recently. Kissing them, sharing food "our of our mouth" I feel can be a possible gateway for a bacterial infection that they struggle to fend off. Now here is the thing I did read....that the bacteria is pretty much made safe once it dries, but it is the wet saliva, or mucous (nose) that poses the most threat. So a sneeze on your shirt, and it's dry, will not likely have any effect on a Budgie. Sneezing direclty on them probably will.

[/QUOTE]
Actually, I think that you shouldn't directly share spit, like eating something then feeding it to your parrot, but I think kisses is ok. A kiss is just a soft peck on the lips, so your bird is not receiving any spit, and I've heard of it from websites that it is dangerous, but not from people experiencing that danger, including here

 

[Ripshod]

Actually, I think that you shouldn't directly share spit, like eating something then feeding it to your parrot, but I think kisses is ok. A kiss is just a soft peck on the lips, so your bird is not receiving any spit, and I've heard of it from websites that it is dangerous, but not from people experiencing that danger, including here

I fully agree. If we get anal about bacteria in our home we'd keep our birds segregated and wear face masks and forensic suits every time we visited. It's a fact that where we find humans we'll also find their bacteria.

 

[Sparkles99]

I don’t see why anyone would want to feed them from their mouth/ chewed food anyway. It’s species inappropriate, could make imprinted birds hormonal & is frankly abusive. What would we say if someone did that with their cat? It’s just as revolting an idea with birds.

 

[keikoasmom]

My best friend's budgie in the 60s, lived to be 23.
I don't remember with my own, but it wasn't that long.
My grandson's budgie lived to be 10 or 11, died due to an accident.
He was the smartest bird I've ever had, next to Keikoa, he could say
everything the big birds said, whistled, or sounds they made!

 

[Sylvi_]

Such an interesting thread!

I haven’t had budgies in many years but my friend recently had her old budgie pass. Sky must of been at least ten or twelve as she got him in childhood and she’s now in her 20’s. He was a blue budgie from a large chain pet store, if you’d believe it.

 

[Sparkles99]

I just got an update from the vet. They didn't put the tissues in a preservative over the weekend, so were unable to do the histopathology. I had originally opted for a regular postmortem, so they didn't. However, they don't think it's something like that anyway. Instead they sent samples to test for polyoma, herpes & beak and feather disease. Delays for results may be up to a month, so I don't anticipate knowing any time soon.

 

[webchirp]

I can't vote but I can tell you what the vet's office told me. Breeding issues and if they don't get a tumor by three, average span is 7. But unfortunately, tumor's are prevalent in these little babies.

 

[BirdyBee]

My show budgie Grumpy lived to be about 20 months, one year and eight months.. cause of death is uncertain, I assume it was starvation or an underlying illness I didn't know about. It was very sudden and unexpected, I only noticed he was very hungry when I few him some seeds, I think it was because I only left veggies in the cage for him to eat(I was intending to breed him and his partner, but I didn't know any better). So I think he starved himself because he wanted no veg.

I had a gut feeling that he may pass away someday, I don't know why, maybe God was warning me my sweetie was going to pass, I dunno. All I know is I started to collect his feathers(he was moulting at the time), and I took more pics of him and spent more time with him...

I got him and his partner, Sunny, in October? of 2020, the breeder didn't take the best care of his birds to say the least..
Grumpy(sitting on my PC ):

This is my favourite pic of my sweetheart, missing you buddy.

Sunny(sitting on Mom's lap ):



(sorry for this sad post.. I just wanted to share his story)
EDIT: Sunny is still alive by the way

 

[DannyT]

My boy Spezi lived to be almost 10, barring his accident I think he could've lived longer. He was definitely showing his age but he never let that stop him!

 

[~Drini~]

I had gotten a budgie when I was 10 from a chain petstore. He died one year later (took to vet, was no help). Probably the hardest loss I have been through yet -- I missed 2 whole weeks of school because of the grieving.

From now and on I will stay far far away from over-bred bird species.

 

[Tara81]

My two budgies past last year. I got them at the pet store when they were 6 months old. They had lost their baby rings. Pinto lived to be 10 1/2 and Poncho outlived him to be 11 years. Pinto never showed any signs of illness until the day he passed. His feet went paralyzed and he passed before I arrived to the vet. Poncho would get sick off and on for four years until he passed. He was sick for five days when he died, but, on day three he started eating and moving more, energy wise, so I thought he was going to recover. Every time he was sick, he was given antibiotics and syringe fed for the first few days he would stop eating. I didn’t think he would outlive pinto by 7 months or so.

they were not fussy eaters, and had an open cage most of the time. Even in their last few months they flew , just not as often as when they were 8 years old. Pinto was extremely active and Poncho was laid back like a cockatiel.

 

[Ivan.Vanca]

Whitey came here when she was about a year old. English budgie. She lived for16 years. A number of those last years with a pretty big tumour. She was the boss of the littles.

View attachment 400510

Please, what color mutation is this budgie? MY beloved budgie Glory who died recently was also this color,.

 

[Ivan.Vanca]

Good age, like my Kukuciacik. Did he live in apartment or house?

 

[zERo/]

I guess I'll have to see which of my four budgies lives the longest, the oldest is Hedwig, she was two when I got her so this June she'll be 4 roughly. The boys are all around 2-2 1/2.