Cockatiel Lifespan In The Wild Vs. Captivity

Published by Joseph Calabrese on May 10, 2023May 10, 2023

Want to know how long cockatiels typically live before you adopt one as a pet?

Or perhaps you’ve already adopted a cockatiel and want to know how many years you’ll have to spend with them?

Either way, you found the right page!

Welcome to the only guide you need about cockatiel lifespans and life expectancy.

In this article, you’ll learn the following:

How long cockatiels live in captivity

How long cockatiels live in the wild

Their lifespans compared to other parrot species

4 Ways to ensure your cockatiel lives as long as possible

And finally, some common causes of death in cockatiels & how to avoid them

As a cockatiel parent myself, I’m more than happy to share the knowledge you need to decide whether or not cockatiels are for you. Or if you’re already caring for one, I’m happy to give you some tips on how to increase their life expectancy.

With that said, let’s get into it!

Cockatiel Average Lifespan In Captivity

The cockatiel is a medium-sized parrot belonging to the cockatoo “Cacatuidae” and Psittacidae family but also belongs to its own subfamily called Nymphicinae. Their official scientific name is called Nymphicus Hollandicus, but they also go by Weiro birds and Quarrions.

They’re the smallest of the cockatoo family…

And they have the shortest lifespan compared to other members of this family.

In captivity, cockatiels live for 16 – 25 years on average according to the Wiki page.^[1]

But depending on the situation, pet cockatiels can live far below or above this lifespan range.

When cared for properly, cockatiels kept at home can definitely reach this age range or even surpass it, as many have.

Pet Cockatiel Lifespan Compared To Other Parrots

You now know that the average domestic cockatiel can live between 16 – 25 years.

But how does that compare to other pet parrot species?

As mentioned earlier, cockatiels have the shortest average lifespans of all the cockatoo species, with most of them able to live well into their 60s. Some cockatoos, like Fred the sulphur crest, even live to 100 years of age, which is insane for a bird!

Alright, let’s look at the average lifespan of some other popular birds in captivity:

Budgerigars – 7 – 15 Years on average^[2]

Green cheek conures – Up to 25 years in captivity^[3]

Parrotlets – 15 – 20 Years on average^[4]

Blue & gold macaws – 30 – 35 Years on average^[5]. But they can live upwards of 60+ years if properly cared for.^[6]

Lovebirds – 10 – 20 Years in captivity if cared for properly^[7]

Canaries – 10 – 15 Years on average^[8]

It seems the green cheek conures have roughly the same average lifespan as pet cockatiels.

Most of the other birds on this list, except the B&G macaw, have lower lifespans than cockatiels when cared for in captivity.

How Breeding Impacts A Cockatiels Lifespan

Cockatiels are sometimes born with a lower chance of reaching their maximum potential age.

Their genetics simply give them a lower life expectancy.

Allow me to explain:

According to Lafeber, today’s mutation attempts through breeding, as well as inbreeding, lowers the life expectancy of some cockatiels. They continue by saying that these cockatiels only live for roughly 12 years, which is way lower than the average.

In the same post, Lafeber says that normal grey cockatiels have the strongest genetics.

To me, this implies that the original grey cockatiels tend to live longer than other mutations.

Cockatiel lifespan as pets — Left is a lutino cockatiel and right is a normal grey cockatiel

Oldest Pet Cockatiel To Ever Live (World Record)

As mentioned, there are some pet cockatiels who live well beyond the specified lifespan range.

One of these rare incidents was Sunshine the cockatiel, who lived to the mighty age of 32 before passing in 2016. ^[9] However, it’s important to note that there may be other cockatiels out there who have lived longer but weren’t recorded in the Guinness World Records.

After all, the GWR procedure is quite thorough, requiring a verifiable hatch date of the bird.

And most people, myself included, don’t have that.

Cockatiel Average Lifespan In The Wild

As you would imagine, the average lifespan of a wild cockatiel is significantly shorter than their domestic counterparts. This is because cockatiels in the wild face many more dangers than they would in the safety of human homes.

So, to answer the question:

The average lifespan range for a wild cockatiel is 10 – 15 years.^[10]

This is about 10 years lower than their potential life expectancy as pets.

Due to how harsh the Australian Outback is, many wild cockatiels don’t even make it to adulthood or even past the fledging stage.

Some of the common and fatal dangers wild cockatiels face include:

Birds of prey (hawks and eagles)

Large bird-eating reptiles (snakes, some lizards)

Bushfires

Other natural disasters (floods, storms, cyclones, etc.)

Being killed by farmers under permit (because large cockatiel flocks can destroy farmer crops)

Just from this short list, you can see that cockatiels in the wild face a lot more dangers than they do in captivity.

Wild Cockatiel Lifespan Vs. Other Wild Parrot Lifespans

In the wild, cockatiels share their large Australian outback habitat with many other parrots.

For the sake of sharing interesting info, let’s compare the wild lifespans of neighbouring birds with the established lifespan of wild cockatiels:

Budgies – 4 – 6 Years on average in the wild^[2]

Galah cockatoos – Up to 20 years in the wild, but can live much longer as pets^[11]

Sulphur-crested cockatoos – Around 20 – 40 years^[12]

Rainbow Lorikeets – 7 – 9 Years in the wild^[13]

Australian magpies – Around 25 – 30 years^[14]

While a 10 – 15 year life expectancy doesn’t seem like much, it’s a lot longer than other wild parrots of similar sizes, such as the budgie and rainbow lorikeet.

Cockatiel lifespan in the wild — Image source: Pixabay

How Many Human Years Is Equal To 1 Cockatiel Year?

“How do cockatiel lifespans compare to our human lifespans?”

Obviously, we humans have a much higher lifespan than our crested feathered friends, but how many human years is equivalent to 1 cockatiel year?

For this calculation, we’ll assume the cockatiel will live to 25 years and the human will reach 75.

To figure out how many human years = 1 cockatiel year, we’ll need some math skills.

In short, we need to find out the missing number from this equation:

25 x __ = 75

Because we know that 25 x 1 = 25 (cockatiel expected age), the number in the middle (1) is how many human years are equal to a cockatiel year.

So, after a bit of messing around on the calculator, this is what I’ve found:

25 x 3 = 75

This means 1 cockatiel year is equivalent to 3 human years.

If you count 1 cockatiel year as 3 years, it’ll result in 75 years when the cockatiel reaches 25 years.

That was some very rough math, so feel free to correct me in the comments if you find a better way to work this out 🙂

how long will cockatiels live in captivity?

4 Ways To Increase Your Cockatiel’s Potential Lifespan

No, this part isn’t about helping your cockatiel live past their maximum lifespan and reaching 80 years old or anything ridiculous like that.

That’s impossible.

In this section, I’ll share 4 ways you can help your cockatiel reach their maximum age potential.

By following these tips, your cockatiel will have a greater chance of living into their late 20s or even their 30s!

Starting off with the #1 most important tip:

1. Feed A Nutritionally Balanced Diet 🥗

A nutritional diet will give your cockatiel almost everything they need to live a long and healthy life.

Without absorbing enough of the proper nutrients, cockatiels are prone to specific nutrient deficiencies, which often lead to serious health issues. Additionally, if your cockatiel eats an all-seed diet, they’re prone to obesity and fatty liver disease, both of which often reduce the bird’s lifespan.

Here’s a brief overview of the vet-approved diet I feed my cockatiel:

High-quality pellets (40%)

Budgie seed mix (30%)

Fresh vegetables (20%)

Fruits (5%)

Treats like sunflower seed and millet spray (5%)

Those percentages represent how much of that food should make up the overall diet.

For example, pellets make up 40% of a cockatiel’s overall diet plan while fresh vegetables make up just 20%.

Regular access to a cuttlebone and a weekly serving of a hard-boiled egg is also beneficial.

Ideally, you should know exactly how to feed a cockatiel before adopting one.

Read My Full Guide To Feeding A Nutritionally Balanced Cockatiel Diet

2. Keep Everything In Their Environment Clean 🧽

While eating clean is essential to cockatiel health, so is a clean environment.

Neglecting to keep a cockatiel’s environment hygienic and germ-free will likely result in them getting sick in various ways. For example, cockatiels can get bacterial infections by interacting with things that contain bacteria.

And pretty much everything in their environment can breed bacteria if not cleaned regularly, such as:

The cage

Perches

Toys

Food and water dishes

As a responsible cockatiel owner, you’ll need to clean these items often.

Personally, I clean the perches every week and the cage gets a deep clean every fortnight.

If any items are commonly pooped on by your bird, they’ll need to be cleaned even more often.

Learn How To Easily Deep Clean Your Bird’s Cage

3. Encourage Plenty Of Exercise 🏃‍♂️

Cockatiels who don’t exercise are prone to illnesses like obesity, similar to humans.

In order to keep your cockatiel physically fit and healthy for a long time, you need to encourage various exercises.

Obviously, the best exercise for a bird is flying.

But some other exercises you could encourage are:

Climbing

Walking

Shredding tough objects

Wing flapping without flight

But if you really want to get a cockatiel’s blood flowing and heart pumping, flight is the best option.

This is why I flight train my cockatiel almost every single day!

Just think…

Wild cockatiels spend a lot of time flying and are rarely stationary in one spot for too long.

If you keep your cockatiel physically active, they’ll live a long and healthy life!

4. Provide Enough Sunlight ☀️

Sunlight is one of the most underestimated ways you can boost your bird’s health.

By taking your cockatiel outside into the sunlight, you’ll be providing them with so many health benefits that it’ll help increase their lifespan. While direct sunlight is good, cockatiels also benefit from being outside and absorbing reflected sunlight.

Personally, I’ll take my cockatiel outside every day if the weather is nice.

Here he is enjoying the fresh air:

But taking your bird outside every day isn’t necessary…

They’ll still receive the same benefits if you take them out 4 – 5 times a week, even for just a few minutes.

Here’s a list of just a few benefits sunlight has been proven to provide our birds:

Helps build a stronger beak and bones

Maintains healthy feather condition

Improves eyesight

Produces vitamin D3 and D in the body

(Source)

Just make sure you don’t leave your bird outside for too long in extreme temperatures.

Heat stroke is a dangerous threat for cockatiels, so ensure they have the option to sit under shade, especially when it’s hot.

Common Causes Of Death In Cockatiels & How To Avoid Them

Probably the most common cause of death for a pet cockatiel is an uninformed owner.

While this does sound horrible to say, it’s true that many cockatiel deaths would’ve been avoided if their owners were informed of the dangers that lurk in their homes. Simply knowing this vital info can ensure your cockatiel lives well into their healthy lifespan range.

With that said, here are some household dangers you must be aware of:

Non-stick cookware fumes (DEADLY)

Carbon monoxide fumes (produced from car exhaust fumes, gas stoves, gas ovens, clothes dryers)

Toxic metals (See the list of toxic & safe metals)

Ceiling fans when switched on

Pesticides on fruits & vegetables

Smoke from cigarettes, marijuana, and even burnt toast!

Nail polish fumes

Read The Full List Of Household Dangers To Pet Birds

“What’s the best way to avoid these dangers?”

It’s to simply not produce harmful scents inside your house where your cockatiel lives.

And also use common sense and turn off ceiling/pedestal fans, remove access to boiling water, and remove access to toxic foods, like chocolate.

That’s the best way to keep your cockatiel safe at home.

How To Tell The Age Of Your Cockatiel

At this point, we’ve covered all the main info related to a cockatiel’s lifespan.

But before wrapping up this article, I know many of you reading this don’t know the age of your cockatiel. In order to get a good idea of how many years your cockatiel has left, it’s important to know their current age.

Unfortunately, cockatiels look pretty much the same throughout most of their adult lives.

But they go through physical changes during their developing years.

So, in this section, I’ll help you understand if your cockatiel is under or over 6 – 12 months of age.

To do this, we’ll look at 3 main things:

Head & facial colours

Cheek feathers

And finally, the size of the crest

Head & Face Colours (Males Only)

Juvenile male cockatiels go through a colour change after their first moult.

In case you don’t know, moulting is a period in which most of the bird’s feathers shed and are replaced by new feathers.

Male cockatiels below 6 – 12 months of age have dull grey heads, just like adult females.

But after their very first moult, the male’s head colours will turn from grey to yellow.

The transformation will look something like this:

cockatiel lifespan — Image source: **u/assh_cheeks on Reddit** (This head colour of this male cockatiel went from dull grey to bright yellow after his first moult)

So, one way to tell if your male cockatiel is over 6 – 12 months of age (and had their first moult) is by looking for a bright yellow head.

A juvenile male will still have a dull grey head, which tells you that they’re under 1 year old.

This method is less reliable if your cockatiel is not a normal grey cockatiel.

Some colour mutations will not have this transformation.

Cheek Feathers

Baby and juvenile cockatiels often don’t have the feathers near their beak fully grown yet.

As a result, their faces will look bare and their beaks will seem to extend further from the face compared to an adult cockatiel.

Juvenile cockatiel beaks simply aren’t covered in feathers.

If you look at any adult cockatiel, most of their beak is covered by their fanned cheeks.

This method only works in identifying baby or juvenile cockatiels.

Crest Size

Before their first moult, cockatiels will have a noticeably smaller crest compared to adults.

So, if you believe your cockatiel is below the age of 6 – 12 months, you can confirm this by looking for a small crest. Additionally, you can look for a longer crest if you think your cockatiel is over this age and had their first moult.

During their first moult, the small crest feathers will be replaced by longer crest feathers.

But keep this in mind:

All cockatiels are unique and some are born with smaller or longer crests than what’s normal.

how long do cockatiels live? lifespan — Image source: Pixabay (Notice the small crest on this young cockatiel)

Conclusion | Short Summary

Time for a quick recap of what we covered in this article!

Firstly, we discussed the average lifespan of both cockatiels in captivity and in the wild:

Average life expectancy as pets = 16 – 25 years

Average lifespan in the wild = 10 – 15

We then covered how the average lifespan of a cockatiel compares to the lifespan of other popular pet birds, such as budgies, conures, and parrotlets. Through this, I explained how cockatiels have a long lifespan as pets compared to many of these other birds.

After that, I provided 4 tips for ensuring your cockatiel reaches their maximum age, which was:

Feed a healthy diet

Keep everything in their home hygienic

Encourage plenty of exercise (especially flight)

Provide enough sunlight

And finally, I discuss how you can tell the age of your cockatiel.

Hope you got some value from this article.

Thanks for reading!