# Newbie and my OAP cockatiel



## bluesupero (Oct 3, 2012)

Hi There
I am new to this forum and joined as I am about to get a new Puppy, But have found there is also this bird related section.
I have a cockatiel, Billy, He is 18 , and never been shut in his cage, he has the the freedom of the house.
Sadly he cant fly any more, due to a slight stroke and maybe age, But he is a lovely boy, who throws himself from his cage and follows you everywhere. He loves men more than women and alerts me to anyone approaching my house. His call is different if it is someone he knows.
My vet said he is old as they usually live to 12, but since then I've known cockatiels of 20 odd,
Bill is incredibly fit and happy and we will sooo miss him if anything happened to him,
Does anyone else on here have an oap bird,
Lolly


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## bluesupero (Oct 3, 2012)

Should add, he is fearless, off cats dogs, kids etc,,,,but terrified of flys, bees, spiders etc....


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## dorrit (Sep 13, 2011)

Welcome and wow.. I have heard of a cockatiel getting past 20 but it is rare..

My CAG is just a young boy at 7 ... he also alerts to strangers and knows my car and OH's motorbike when we come round the corner he makes a special call to let everyone know its us.

Its nice to hear that Billy has always had his freedom are you worried about getting a puppy if Billy is wandering about? Puppies are very clumsy and like to mouth things...


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## bluesupero (Oct 3, 2012)

Hi There Dorrit
yes Billy knows our cars and my sons van, even before we see them.
We have carefully thought out Puppy vs Dog and obviously Bill has never been shut in, so would be cruel to do so now, luckily, my hubby was against making our downstairs one open space 5 or so years ago, so we will be able to keep bill and puppy seperate to begin with and slowly introduce them to each other over time, trying not to make a big thing of it. I hope Bill lives into his 20's as he is such a part of the family


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## dorrit (Sep 13, 2011)

Great to hear you have thought it through.. We got Basil as a bit of a surprise because although we were planning a bird my neighbour turned up one sunday morning and after only having him 3 weeks begged us to take him from her....( he was 6 and a rescue in bad shape)

So it was in at the deep end for us... I have 3 older dogs two were 10 and the other 6 when Basil arrived but I have to say thanks to CAG habit of throwing food the dogs soon learned that he was a great source of treats and they now all give each other space and never bother each other..

Last week Basil flew and almost landed on my 7 yr old JRT mix but the dog never even lifted his head to look 

Basil calls to the dogs and Im sure he throws things just to get their attention..

It can work but you have to be careful and never let your guard down ,, just in case..


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

We don't have him any more sadly, but our cockatiel, Chorkie, lived to the ripe old age of 20, and he nearly reached his 21st birthday. We had him from when he was a baby with little or no crest. He was a real character. In his latter years, he did get a bit cantankerous, but he seemed absolutely fine, certainly not in obvious ill health, right up to the night before he died. We came down in the morning, and he had died. We always felt he was going to go on forever. It's hard when you have had them for so long. We never got another.


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## Pumlan (Sep 17, 2012)

Our cockatiel Lukas is 20 this year! Well we've had him for twenty years so he's probably older than that but we weren't sure of how old he was when we got him so we just say he's twenty. 

He's got problems with one of his wings where some of the longer feathers don't grow out as long any more so he crashes when he tries to fly. But apart from that he's still as lovely as ever, possibly less cheeky! Lol.

I've heard about a cockatiel called Brunte who lived for over 37 years!


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