At What Age Is a Conure Fully Grown? (Detailed Check)


Conures go through several developmental stages before reaching maturity. If you purchase a baby conure, you should expect it to evolve and mature over time until it is fully grown. However, you need to know what it takes to nurture a baby conure.

So, at what age is a conure fully grown? The average growth age for conures is between one and three years. Some species will mature earlier, while others will take longer to mature. This age also marks sexual maturity, and your conures will start displaying signs of attraction between the opposite sexes hence suitable to breed them at this age. After the ninth year of sexual maturity, most conures will become unproductive. However, they will continue to live up to an average of 25 years with good care. This lifespan, however, is not attainable in the wild due to predation and environmental conditions. In captivity, if the owner neglects their pet, they will also have a reduced lifespan.

If you want to know at what age a conure is fully grown, this is the ultimate guide for you. We will help you know the age at which green cheek conures are fully grown and how long it takes for a sun conure to be fully grown. Read through the rest of the sections to find out all the answers you need.

At What Age Are Green Cheek Conures Fully Grown?

Green cheek conures are generally small compared to other conure species. They usually weigh between 60 to 90 grams with about 10-inch length. These pets can live for up to 30 years in captivity, but most live for about ten years due to owners’ neglect.

Green cheek conures are fully grown between one and two years. At this age, they will have an equal size with their parents and attain sexual maturity. Breeding these green cheek conures requires prior preparation to ensure successful incubation and hatching. At around one or two years, your conure will express unusual behavior, including touching each other, females hiding in the box, and getting nippy, among other signs to indicate their readiness to mate.

Since conures are solitary pets, it is advisable to house your male and female conures on separate flights. However, once they are fully grown and start showing mating signs, you can set up the breeding cage and begin by placing the female first, then introducing the male conure two to three days later.

The breeding cage should be big enough to suit the bird’s energy level. A big cage will also allow the conures to exercise, play, and bath comfortably. You can also fit the nesting box inside this cage. The nest box should be deep enough and set in a dark corner to ensure privacy. It should be away from the heat during the warm season, as this may affect the breeding performance.

To keep the nest warm, place some wooden shavings, sawdust, or dry grass. These materials will also provide comfort to the bird as it sits on the eggs. When choosing a nesting material, avoid wood shavings of cedar, pine, and redwood, given their hydrocarbons and acids toxic to birds. These toxins can cause allergic symptoms, dermatitis, and digestive tract irritation to your birds.

During the breeding season, you will need to make dietary adjustments to your conures to ensure healthy breeding. You should supply various healthy food options comprising fruits, vegetables, seeds, and homemade food.

During this season, you should also increase the calcium supply by providing supplements and foods rich in calcium. Calcium prevents egg binding, which is the inability to pass an egg that commonly affects green cheek conures. You should also provide water and toys for your pets to nibble while in the cage.

After mating, green cheek conures will produce between 4 to 6 eggs at a time. Their incubation period is between 22 and 26days, and both the male and female share in the incubation. As a pet owner, you should avoid interfering with the hatching process, which will irritate the parents.

After that, the eggs will hatch baby green cheek conures, which are usually pink in color. They are also blind and naked hence delicate. For the first 24 hours of life, you should allow the baby green conures to feed on their mother’s milk purely.

If properly fed, they will grow faster and double their size in the next three days. You can interfere with the baby conure’s feeding in captivity if you hear them cry for long and feed them with a bird formula to ensure they remain healthy.

In the wild, conures will raise their babies on their own, but in captivity, you can choose to hand-raise the birds by pulling them out one at a time from the nest, starting with the eldest, and leave the younger siblings with the parents until they are old enough. This should start from around two weeks. However, if you notice something is not right, it will be okay to pull all the birds out. If you are hand-raising your birds, start by giving them pure water for their first feeding.

Once they finish the water, you can dilute their formula and give the birds. The formula should be very dilute when the bird is young, and you can start thickening it over time as they mature. Your pet will also learn socialization skills during weaning, including its social group and owner’s dialects.

At four weeks, green cheek conures, being a small conure species, will grow their feathers, and the colors will start to show off. After that, your bird will grow towards puberty, characterized by high hormonal activity. At this stage, your pet will detach from its parents and interact with other members outside their family.

They will also establish their position in their respective social circle. While green cheek conures will start to show signs of sexual maturity at puberty, it is not advisable to mate them at this age but to wait until they are fully mature.

After puberty, your pet will reach maturity, usually between one and three years. Most owners mostly fear this stage as the pet may lose its pet qualities. However, you should be at ease and understand that this is the stage in which your pet’s personality will stabilize. Your pet will develop a sexual drive towards the opposite sex and display affection to their favorite human. This is also the appropriate age to breed your green cheek conures.

How Long Does it Take for a Sun Conure To Be Fully Grown?

Sun conures can live for up to 30 years with good care. However, in the wild, they do not live their full lifespan due to predation, unfavorable environmental conditions, and accidents.

Between one and two years old, sun conures are fully grown and sexually mature. They can reproduce, but some can start earlier while others later. Their reproductive maturity is usually at 18months of age, and after the ninth year, most sun conures will become unproductive.

After hatching, sun conures are naked and blind. The male and female usually share in caring for their younger one, especially in the wild and in captivity if you allow them. After about 4 to 6 weeks, their plumage will start to grow.

An immature sun conure has green plumage, and as they mature, most of the green plumage, especially on the abdomen, neck, and head, are replaced by the adult orange, yellow and red feathers. By 18months, the sun conure will have its full adult plumage and will have attained its adult size. At this age also, a sun conure is ready to breed.

Upon reproductive maturity, a sun conure will make a good breeder, and putting it in a spacious flight together with its male counterpart is ideal. Upon mating, the female sun conure will lay fertile eggs with their clutch comprising 2 to 4 eggs.

Incubation takes 23 to 27 days, and both the male and female will share in the incubation. At about eight weeks, the young sun conure usually leaves the nest, especially in the wild. In captivity, you can pull them out of the nest and hand raise them at this age until maturity.

Finally

With proper care, conures can live up to 25 years. Thus, if you raise a conure in captivity, you should be present to give them company and feed them well to ensure they live long. You should also pay close attention to your conure during the first few days and weeks after hatching, as they are most delicate at this stage. While doing this, you should note that conures do not like interruptions when raising their young ones.

Finally, you should pay attention to your conure’s maturity age, usually 18months on average for most species. Your pet will display signs of sexual maturity due to their hormonal changes and mating them at this age is ideal. Conures may also show temperamental and personality changes as they age, but this should not worry you. If you continue caring for your pet, it will still uphold you as their favorite human even after they are fully grown.

Bal Kang

Bal Kang is an owner of several pets including reptiles, cats and dogs. An avid writer, who loves to share her insights into caring for pets.

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