FINCHforum

What's the oldest zebra finch you have ever had?

My original pairs that are 7 years old are still breeding and producing excellent chicks

My eldest Zebra was 7 going on 8 when he passed away. He came from a rough start and lived in an outdoor aviary with us. We assume he was a young bird when we got him, but in truth we didn't know his age at all. He survived a horrific disease that passed through my aviary and killed all except two! He was infertile at about 6yrs old.

Yours sound like they are still doing well.

monotwine...what was the disease?

I have a male and female zebra...brother and sister that were 10 years old on February 15th. I'm still in shock they've lived so long. I bought them from a private home breeder and think I just lucked out with the great genetics for the most part. I haven't done anything spectacular that I think added to their long life. I have given them organic seed a lot of times. I've always given them distilled water because of fear of contaminates where we lived. Also figuring they got minerals from their vegetables, etc. I always have a full spectrum bulb on them for a good part of the day. I figured it doesn't hurt...the extra sunlight. It works for me. Mostly I think I've just been blessed. The female has had a chronic eye cold for the last almost 3 years that we battle and shows her age some. (feathers turning white though she's a fawn color). She lay dozens and dozens of eggs but never reproduced a baby that lived. Though she did foster birds that others booted out of the nest. The male fathered two only. One died. He stopped mating about 7 months ago. Looking at him you would think he was about 2 years old.

Corkysgirl....10 years that's a long time...i read that the record is 17 years

Dutch, I heard that too. I would be beyond happy to get a few more years with, especially "my girl!" I love the male too but he's so ornery! He was with his sister and never could stay with her very long. He terrorized her! He terrorized any bird he's ever been with except one mate who recently died. She only lived a couple years. I just got him a new mate and he lives to make her miserable. You would laugh seeing him. He plots to keep her...or anyone from taking a bath, wanting one himself, by standing guard on the side of the bowl. No one can eat. No one can drink. "No soup for anyone!" I finally had to remove him today and he's alone...once again. I give up! He's never getting another mate. He's just going to be in a cage nearby others.

Corkysgirl....he sounds like a stubborn old man....no soup for you!...seinfeld...love that episode

That he is. I love it too!

Ditto. The cranky old man zebra. LOL.

dutch.
Is the record really seventeen years?
My two terrorists hadn't even gone through their first molt when I got them, even though the person at the store thought they were old, because their colours 'were not very good'...

My other two boys, I'll never know. Got them through the humane society from a hoarding situation, so they were not in the best of shape when they came home with me. They have sure made up for it since though, but I don't know how old they are. What's the best way to tell?

So does that mean I have another fifteen or sixteen years of beep beep to put up with?

lovezebs....17 years is what i found googling ....

My original pairs were all adults when i purchased them 7 years ago....so i really don't know how old they are

Hi there,

My oldest current bird is my canary, Kevin, who is 12 or so. I don't really know his EXACT age as I got him as a breeding male (1 or 2) and I've had him for about 10 years. My last star finch, Fruit, was 7 when I had to have him put down. His was a good age, I guess for a finch. Not sure of what their upper lifespan is! My current Zebbie is 1 yr old, and Merl, my other star finch is about 2.5 - 3 years

Best of luck


Zebrafincher
Proud owner of:
Kevin aka “The Old Man” - cranky canary – 12 years old
Beaky aka “Beakster” the Zebrafinch – 1 year old – and a real, real cutie!!!
Merlin aka “Merl” the Starfinch – 2 years – and “bossy as anything for such a small fry!”

Heya zebra lovers.
So does anyone know how to tell the age with zebbies? I mean, is it all about the feet, or are there other signs. I would love to know the age of Max and Micky. Any thoughts?

Hi Lovezebs,

I have heard generally you can (roughly) estimate the age of a bird based on the condition of the scales on the feet (canaries) and the beak (finches) (but I may be wrong!). Generally older birds have less intense coloring on their beaks, and they may have grooves, cuts etc from illness, fights and physical conditioning from their kind of food (is lack of nutrition). With all birds, feather condition may also be worse in older birds, generally, but there are ALWAYS exceptions.

I've been told that older parrots (ie which live 30-90 years) suffer from the same kind of decline or disease such as you might see in a cat or dog of equivalent ie alzheimers disease, heart disease and similar.

Hard to tell.

Zebrafincher
Proud owner of:
*Kevin aka “The Old Man” - cranky canary – 12 years old
*Beaky aka “Beakster” the Zebrafinch – 1 year old – and a real, real cutie!!!
*Merlin aka “Merl” the Starfinch – 2 years – and “bossy as anything for such a small fry!”

dutch. Sorry I cannot remember exactly. At that time I did not have an avian vet and I only got advice from one up country over telephone, so no proper diagnosis was made. That was when I just started keeping finches and didn't have the contacts I have now. He said there was nothing I could do but give them vitamins and see who survived.

17 is super old. wow