Typical budgie lifespan

[Sparkles99]

I'm interested in knowing what a typical budgie lifespan is. I read very conflicting reports, even on AA. Anywhere from 5-20 years old.

Please tell me what it is in your experience. If yours was a known outlier, please say so. Sort of like, yes, there are 21 year old cats, but a typical lifespan for a cat is 14-16.

And, please, only include budgies you've known personally, not your uncle had a co-worker who knew someone whose daughter's cousin's friend had one who lived to be 25 type of thing.

Thanks!

 

[FeatheredM]

Typically their lifespan is 8-9, but thats because most poeple don't know how to take care of them. Then we'll taken care of budgies can live around 15

 

[Chomskypom]

Konrad is 8. His flockmates (all came from the same pet store and so I assume from the same colony breeding situation) mostly made it to around 3. They are outliers because I took in the “damaged” budgies that couldn’t be sold for some reason, so each one had health issues.
I know from hanging out here that 8 isn’t terribly old, but every time I mention it to a non-bird person I get the same, distressing “I thought they only lived a couple years!” response.

 

[iamwhoiam]

I had my first budgie for 13 years and we don't know how old he was when we got him but he wasn't a baby.

 

[MC_Hahn's]

I had a male common green parakeet that lived to be eight (tumor), a male blue budgie that lived to be three (fatty liver disease), and a light blue and yellow male budgie that lived less than a year. I think that a lot of it comes down to genetics and the quality of care. My cousin had a female parakeet that lived to be six. My parakeet Percy is currently five, and Peridot is at least three years old (found outside).
I was recently talking to my avian veterinarian about the average budgie lifespan, and he said it's five or six.

Is it just me or did parakeets used to live longer? Growing up, my friends had budgies that lived to be in their teens, yet they lived with smokers in the house, weren't allowed to fly often, had tiny cages, and had poor diets with only the occasional parsley or lettuce.

 

[PunLover]

English Budgies actually have a shorter lifespan than the normal American ones you typically see. We have had a regular American Budgie live to around 15, her name was Tweety. A lot of the ones we've had died of frights outside, sadly. Tweety was so tough one time a python wrapped around her cage and mum went outside, grabbed a broom, and just started whacking the thing until it fled. Tweety was fine and lived for years after! We've found our blues for some reason tend to last longer. So, around 10 years on average for both breeds, I'd say, with longer lifespans for less stressed and more well kept birds. Genetics play a huge part, of course, as the reason English Budgies don't last as long isn't only because of size. If you keep breeding them together, you get something horrible called a feather duster budgie, and that's why they need those identifying breeders bands to keep and eye on their heritage. A lot of budgies fall prey to people giving them just seeds, which usually leaves them malnourished, fat, and constantly dehydrated. All in all, a good diet, decent breeding, low stress, and you'll easily get 10 years or more if they don't fall to desiese or shock.

 

[PunLover]

Forgot to add, temperature stress is a thing, and they need to be carefully monitored to find what their tolerance is. Smaller birds deal with heat better, which is why native budgies and bush budgies are so small. English budgies can't really deal with the heat too well, because of their size and long feathers. American budgies can be surprisngly susceptible to cold and heat, their body language is the main key to watch. Having to adjust to a bad temperature can add stress to shorten their lifespans, and combined with a bad diet, leave you with a bird that seems fine but dies early because of all the stress their body has gone through trying to keep themselves regulated, especially more so while dehydrated from a dry seed diet. You can find studies that show in the wild in America Pigeons get smaller the hotter is gets to deal with heat, but it lowers their lifespand as a result. Global Warming sucks, and budgies undergoing sudden temperature changes can go into shock too. A cold draft starting up after a good bath can hurt them.

 

[Sparkles99]

It seems like it's quite the range. I'm concerned about Marzipan, because he doesn't eat his vegetables. Pistachio & Aurelius are more adventurous & Winston eats them.

And I hope the blue budgie thing isn't true as none of mine are blue.

 

[AussieBird]

It seems like it's quite the range. I'm concerned about Marzipan, because he doesn't eat his vegetables. Pistachio & Aurelius are more adventurous & Winston eats them.

And I hope the blue budgie thing isn't true as none of mine are blue.

I don't think the blue thing is that true, but i don't know.

Also don't worry too much. Lj is 7 or 8 and was on a seed only diet almost all his life. Keep trying those veggies with Marzipan, you can do it

 

[PunLover]

The blue thing is just personal luck for us.

 

[Destiny]

I looked into this question last year and, from what I was able to determine, the lifespan of a pet budgie is quite variable. It really can be anywhere from 5 to 20 years, depending on other factors.

However, that wasn't really what I wanted to know. I wanted to know roughly how long I could expect my budgies to live, if I provided proper care and nutrition. And I want to know if it would be reasonable to consider it a "death by old age" if my budgie died at 4 years or 8 years or 16 years or 32 years old.

I could be completely wrong, but I personally think of ten years as the "tipping point". If your budgie lives more than ten years, then it has successfully reached "old age". If it lives for more than 15 years, that is a very old budgie. I am impressed!

In contrast, if your budgie lives less than five years, it died pretty young. That suggests to me that it either had genetic problems or something else contributed to an early death, like an accident, infection, poor diet, or bad husbandry practices. Like goldfish, an unfortunately large number of budgies are likely to die at this age due to poor husbandry and lack of veterinary care.

Many budgies also die in the 5 to 10 year range, for a variety of reasons. This is probably the "average" life expectancy for pet budgies But with better care, I think most budgies should be able to reach the 10 to 15 year range.

But if your budgie is already pretty "old", don't give up on him too quickly. The oldest recorded budgie lived to almost thirty years old!

Australia's Oldest Budgie - Burke's Backyard

Australia's Oldest Budgie - According to the Guinness Book of Records the oldest budgerigar ever lived in England. He was called Charlie, and he reached...

www.google.com

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Quick thought on this topic - considering the hugely varied opinions/information out there, I personally think it has a lot to do with their genetics/breeding, moreso maybe than other birds. Just because (some) budgies are "farmed" to such an insane extent with often no regard for bad genetics, inbreeding, bad care initially in their lives, etc. But of course it's hard to know when you buy, especially if you're buying from a pet store, and while it's very sad it doesn't change the fact that the badly raised/bred birds need loving homes too.

 

[AussieBird]

it doesn't change the fact that the badly raised/bred birds need loving homes too.

Exactly! Even if they only live to a year old that time should be spent in a loving, caring place!

 

[Destiny]

I think another big factor is the low cost of budgies. They are cheap. And it is an unfortunate reality that, in some people's minds, a cheap pet is a disposable pet.

Budgies are the most common bird for sale at the big box pet stores in my area and they cost less than a bag of dog food. If someone buys a budgie at the store for twenty bucks for their kid, are they going to spend $200 for a vet check and blood tests when it looks a little sick a few weeks later? Probably not.

All birds can potentially suffer from inadequate or inappropriate care, but I think budgies (and zebra finches) get hit with this problem even more often because they are readily available and very inexpensive to aquire. Budgies are very likely to be someone's first bird experience and very frequently get sold with little or no instructions regarding proper care.

Honestly, I think it is a testimate to the hardiness of budgies that they are able to survive as long as they do, considering the conditions that many of them are forced to endure.

 

[Olliebirb]

The blue thing is just personal luck for us.

What is "the blue thing?"

 

[Dorcas George]

Quick thought on this topic - considering the hugely varied opinions/information out there, I personally think it has a lot to do with their genetics/breeding, moreso maybe than other birds. Just because (some) budgies are "farmed" to such an insane extent with often no regard for bad genetics, inbreeding, bad care initially in their lives, etc. But of course it's hard to know when you buy, especially if you're buying from a pet store, and while it's very sad it doesn't change the fact that the badly raised/bred birds need loving homes too.

This is why I tried for months to find a budgie that wasn’t from a pet store. Twice. They just are scarce around here, it seems, except for the pet store birds. But I look at my two and think, “Well, you are a joy whether you live long or not.” Still, it is sad. I think of Packer suddenly dropping to the cage floor—and gone. Why?

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

This is why I tried for months to find a budgie that wasn’t from a pet store. Twice. They just are scarce around here, it seems, except for the pet store birds. But I look at my two and think, “Well, you are a joy whether you live long or not.” Still, it is sad. I think of Packer suddenly dropping to the cage floor—and gone. Why?

It's awful. But he knew love, health and freedom in your home so I know he was happy.

 

[Mybluebird]

My first experience with budgies was the green one we had when I was a teenager. At that time (I'm now retired, so a few years ago!) not much was known about their care and people were told to feed them seeds. He lived slightly more than 7 years with us. Based upon what I know now, I think he had liver disease/tumor pressing on nerves in his feet. He lost feeling in one foot and we found him dead one morning a couple months later. We did take him to a vet but didn't get much help. I had another budgie when I was in my early 20's and again she didn't get good nutrition which even today makes me so sorry for her. She lived a little over 5 years. My current two are both 1.5 to 2 years old. I hope I'm doing everything right for them.

My avian vet did tell me that the healthiest budgies are the green ones similar to what's found in the wild in Australia. She said budgies today are bred for the exotic colors and not for health and they show up in her office with a lot of hereditary problems.

 

[Dorcas George]

My first experience with budgies was the green one we had when I was a teenager. At that time (I'm now retired, so a few years ago!) not much was known about their care and people were told to feed them seeds. He lived slightly more than 7 years with us. Based upon what I know now, I think he had liver disease/tumor pressing on nerves in his feet. He lost feeling in one foot and we found him dead one morning a couple months later. We did take him to a vet but didn't get much help. I had another budgie when I was in my early 20's and again she didn't get good nutrition which even today makes me so sorry for her. She lived a little over 5 years. My current two are both 1.5 to 2 years old. I hope I'm doing everything right for them.

My avian vet did tell me that the healthiest budgies are the green ones similar to what's found in the wild in Australia. She said budgies today are bred for the exotic colors and not for health and they show up in her office with a lot of hereditary problems.

I know what you mean. When I think of pet budgies I had years ago and those little cages, and no idea that they shouldn’t just eat seed, well, still makes me sad. Poor Pete, Blue Boy, and Andrew. They never even were offered lettuce. Blue Boy did eat oatmeal out of my bowl...heh.

 

[Mybluebird]

Yes @Dorcas George even when we fed our family pet something other than seeds, I'm pretty sure it wasn't good for him. He loved mashed potatoes and fed them to the bird in his mirror!