Birds as Pets

[Alan Stallion]

I've know a few people who have kept birds as pets.

I've never understood the concept of keeping birds as pets, where they are stuck in cages and aren't allowed the luxury of their created power to fly, free as a... well, you know. It's like keeping an orca in a swimming pool.

And I don't think I can listen to a chirping bird all day. Maybe that's why I like cats better, they are generally quieter creatures.

I've also seen recently some flyers of two different bird pets that have gone lost. Well, good luck in finding them again. It's tough looking for a lost land creature, much less a creature of fight.

Anyway, have any of you had any birds-as-pets experiences?

 

[Alan Stallion]

The First Guy To Ever Own A Bird

 

[progressive hunter]

I've know a few people who have kept birds as pets.

I've never understood the concept of keeping birds as pets, where they are stuck in cages and aren't allowed the luxury of their created power to fly, free as a... well, you know. It's like keeping an orca in a swimming pool.

And I don't think I can listen to a chirping bird all day. Maybe that's why I like cats better, they are generally quieter creatures.

I've also seen recently some flyers of two different bird pets that have gone lost. Well, good luck in finding them again. It's tough looking for a lost land creature, much less a creature of fight.

Anyway, have any of you had any birds-as-pets experiences?

I keep all my pet birds outside in the tree,,

 

[EvilCat Breath]

I had a parakeet as a child. It wasn't in a cage. It mostly spent time on the cat's back or head. They were quite close.

 

[Alan Stallion]

I had a parakeet as a child. It wasn't in a cage. It mostly spent time on the cat's back or head. They were quite close.

Nice when cats and birds can get along.

 

[toobfreak]

I've never understood the concept of keeping birds as pets, where they are stuck in cages and aren't allowed the luxury of their created power to fly

A buddy of mine raised exotic birds years ago, I guess they were parakeets or something, colorful. He let them fly around in his house, it is up to the owner, just dont let them fly out a door or window. He had dozens of them out back where he kept them, I never noticed any problem with them making too much noise. I'm not a bird guy myself, but I can see owning them so long as you give them a nice big cage and let them fly about once in a while.

 

[skye]

Some people keep the birds in large garden cages during the day.....and at night if they wish they can bring them inside.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Nice when cats and birds can get along.

 

[skye]

The outside cage doesn't have to bee too large.... there are different sizes like this smaller wooden cage,

 

[Rambunctious]

I bird sat for a friend at his home for a week... he had several parakeets... I get to his home after he had already left town... I open the door and walk in and there are 7 birds flying around the house...
They found a way out of their cage because my friend cleaned the cage before he left and didn't slide the floor all the way in... so here I am trying to get them back in the cage and they weren't having it...
I tried everything finally I just put food in a bowl and some water and locked them into the den....
I called my friend and he apologized and said maybe they will go back in the cage if I leave the room... yeah that didn't happen... they stayed in the room all week and they crapped all over the den... I tried to lay news papers down but they wanted to poop on the furniture and light fixtures instead....
It was crazy... I expected Alfred Hitchcock to walk into the house... lol

 

[Alan Stallion]

Some people keep the birds in large garden cages during the day.....and at night if they wish they can bring them inside.



View attachment 819137

Nicer looking and roomier than the classic Tweety-Bird cage, but still pretty small for a creature of the air, in my opinion.

 

[mudwhistle]

Some people keep the birds in large garden cages during the day.....and at night if they wish they can bring them inside.



View attachment 819137

My neighbor in San Diego had an Avery behind his house.
His birds could fly around all they wanted.
That wouldn't work here because it too cold in the Winter.

 

[skye]

Nicer looking and roomier than the classic Tweety-Bird cage, but still pretty small for a creature of the air, in my opinion.

View attachment 819147

Better than nothing!

They get to be outside, breathe some fresh air.....

 

[skye]

My neighbor in San Diego had an Avery behind his house.
His birds could fly around all they wanted.
That wouldn't work here because it too cold in the Winter.

What about the summer? a few months will do for the birds.....IMO

 

[toobfreak]

That's ripe: The cat yawns and the bird sticks his head into the cat's mouth.

If only he knew.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I keep all my pet birds outside in the tree,,

.

Yeah, I have about a million pet birds that mostly hang out on my deck and in my garden -- finches, sparrows, doves, hummingbirds, jays, grackles, orioles, robins, woodpeckers, starlings and an occasional hawk. A lot of them take vacations every year but I never get postcards. They appreciate all the food and clean water to splash around in.

I used to keep pet birds in the house but got tired of the noise and having to clean up the carpets and cages. Once in a while, they'd squawk in ways that sounded like they were talking to me, and whistle TV theme music and dance to music they liked.

.

 

[mudwhistle]

What about the summer? a few months will do for the birds.....IMO

The Summers in TN are hot and humid. The Winters are cold and humid.

Just a really bad combination for outdoor pets.
Never mind the fact that one of my cats hunts birds like crazy.
I could never own a bird, because my cat would be knocking the cage over trying to get at him.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

I've know a few people who have kept birds as pets.
I've never understood the concept of keeping birds as pets, where they are stuck in cages and aren't allowed the luxury of their created power to fly, free as a... well, you know. It's like keeping an orca in a swimming pool.
And I don't think I can listen to a chirping bird all day. Maybe that's why I like cats better, they are generally quieter creatures.
I've also seen recently some flyers of two different bird pets that have gone lost. Well, good luck in finding them again. It's tough looking for a lost land creature, much less a creature of fight.
Anyway, have any of you had any birds-as-pets experiences?

On a cold night in December 2002, in Lompoc, my wife found a bird on our doorstep. It was clearly badly injured. Neither of us had ever had a bird before, neither of us knew anything about caring for birds, but we took this one in, and did what we could for her. I contacted an acquaintance, who was an expert o9n birdwatching (and, in fact, wrote a regular column on the subject for the local newspaper), and sent her a picture of the birds. She identified it as a “Ringed Turtle-Dove”, and stated, “There really aren't very many of these guys out in the wild anymore, so this one could be an escapee from an aviary.”

Considering how bad her condition appeared to be when we found her, this bird recovered amazingly well, and was with my wife and I as a pet for almost seventeen years.

We initially assumed the bird to be male, and had named it “Avery”. A few years later, when “he” began laying eggs, we renamed her “Ava”.

She passed away in October of 2019, five weeks after I broke my leg.

By this time, of course, we were used to having a dove in the home, and it really seemed that there was something missing when we didn't.

The local Board Shop was less-well supplied with Doves, that they usually had been when I wasn't in the market for one, and it took almost a year for them to get one for me. I guess that's on of the businesses that was hit hard by the #CoronaHoax2020.

They did eventually come through, in September 2020, with a white dove, who we have named Misty.

 

[mudwhistle]

.

Yeah, I have about a million pet birds that mostly hang out on my deck and in my garden -- finches, sparrows, doves, hummingbirds, jays, grackles, orioles, robins, woodpeckers, starlings and an occasional hawk. A lot of them take vacations every year but I never get postcards. They appreciate all the food and clean water to splash around in.

I used to keep pet birds in the house but got tired of the noise and having to clean up the carpets and cages. Once in a while, they'd squawk in ways that sounded like they were talking to me, and whistle TV theme music and dance to music they liked.

.

I discovered that I have a Whitetail deer family that has adopted my yard.
Female, male, and twin fauns.
The fauns were born in my backyard and I see them coming back to eat my apples a few times a week.

 

[Unkotare]

Birds are not pets.