Caged birds

Caged birds is there any sadder sight?
Today I saw a beautiful bird ( a cockatiel) in a small ornamental cage where it cannot fly in an empty room where there is nothing it can do and little it can see.
Why would anyone want to keep a bird with its wonderful gift of flight in a tiny prison .
Unless you have a large aviary no bird should be kept in a cage much less alone for ever.
These things hurt my heart do people have no empathy for these living creatures ?

Re: Caged birds

Well we've had birds in the past, let them out when we could, I'm not sure how sad I find it ours seemed happy enough, so happy we had babies, most animals won't breed if they are unhappy.

Re: Caged birds

"A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
A dove house fill'd with doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thro' all its regions."

William Blake

Imagine if you could fly anywhere you liked, swooping and soaring, but, you were trapped in one room.
I don't like to see caged birds or fish in bowls and tanks, going round and round all day.

Re: Caged birds

Do you mean the eggs actually hatched Julie, or did she just drop eggs? What birds did you have?

Re: Caged birds

She hatched them we had baby zebra finches ! As I said surely that's a real test of happiness ?

Re: Caged birds

I think that's more to do with biology than happiness.
Slaves had children and they certainly weren't happy .

Re: Caged birds

Yes, she must have felt safe enough in her surroundings to hatch a family I'd have thought.

I have said before on here, that I used to keep a lot of poultry, waterfowl, guinea fowl and peacocks. But I also loved my budgies and cockatiels, too. I have never kept Zebra finches though.
Mine were in outside aviaries though, so they could fly and be with lots of others of their own kind. They didn't half make a racket when they all chattered together.
I still miss them.

Re: Caged birds

We got our finches from my sister she apparently was given them in a pub ! So they hadn't had a good start but came to us in a big cage with a nesting box, we tried to give them best we could under the circumstances, not easy in a flat really. They rewarded us with a little family. They all died of old age eventually and we were tempted to get some others we missed their chirruping early in the morning.

We didn't because we started having holidays and couldn't leave them alone for weeks at a time.

My nan had budgies she loved them to death they were always out and she would follow them around cleaning up the poop. I think they had a happy life with her, she was a gentle woman and wouldn't see an animal hurt so I know she wouldn't have kept them if she had any fears for them.

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We got Basil (African grey) from a neighbour. He was in a cage so small he had to shuffle to one end spread one wing then shuffle to the other end to spread the other wing.

Now he has a cage to sleep in its the very largest we could find, but if we are home he is out and free to roam the large framework of branches and swings we have created for him.

I was so happy to hear tha Africans greys had been added to the CITES list this year meaning that they cannot be taken from the wild and their breeding and selling will be restricted.

If we could we would set Basil free but he was born in captivity and now has the baggage that comes with bad ownership.

Re: Caged birds

Sorry for going off topic here a little
but the book "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou is one of the best I've ever read.