Poor caged bird

Watching the budgiecam has rekindled old feelings of bird ownership.
But - I now recall why I didn't replace the canary I inherited from my Mum that ended up as cat's dinner.
I didn't like the bird being caged up, so let it out to fly round my huge room as often as possible, which was most of the time.
But - I grew a longing for birds that fly free having seen the flocks of budgies in Australia and I heard that we had ferel flocks here in UK.
Now that I would like.

Should I keep Pigeons?

I figure with all birds (and animals really, I don't see why birds are different simply because they can fly - hamsters roam for miles at night in the wild!), as long as they get a big enough place to live, it's better than them living in crammed cages in pet shops, being confined in cages I wouldn't keep a fly in, or dying in the wild (where they won't receive the correct diet, or climate (if 'wild' in the UK) or vet care when needed).

It's my view with chickens too; the coop must be big enough! We have four birds in the chicken coop now, which is pushing it a bit as they don't get free-range time and I would prefer a bigger coop for them, but at the same time that coop is big enough for about six chickens.

Our budgie cage is big enough for eight budgies, but we feel comfortable with two as they have the room to fly. Same as my mouse cage is big enough for three, my FBT tank big enough for ten, my rat cage big enough for four...I like to give my animals as much room as I can

I'm very glad that we have two budgies, as when I had Blayne and he lived on his own, it was always very upsetting to see him try and interact with his reflection in the mirror. Ramba and Kanji are constantly squabbling, playing together, exchanging food and water, and grooming each other. It warms my heart to see how in love they are! I really don't see them as poor birds (maybe that's because I am very pro-pets, and I don't see any of my pets as being poor), I see them as having busy, interesting and fulfilling lives



With time the budgies may tame up enough to fly free, although it's harder with two. I don't want to let them fly free if there's any chance they could come to harm, so we will have to see how it goes! It's hard because our living room goes up to our hallway and second floor, meaning it's about 18 foot high, so if they stayed up there there would be no way I could get them back...

What really makes me sad is when I see animals living permanently in too small cages. Seeing as we're talking birds I'll bring up Elvis again, the parrot who used to fly free around the village I used to live in with my parents. He spends his whole life in a cage which never has new toys, with very little interaction from humans, and being surrounded by kids screaming at him...now that makes me very sad

It's interesting that you feel sad when thinking of budgies in a cage, but not chickens in a coop. If permitted chickens will roam for miles scratching for food and laying eggs in secret, and in the wild roost high in trees.

Whooah, okay, I think I wrote you an essay

Also, I adore pigeons. I actually would love to start a pigeon sanctuary one day for all the pigeons you see in cities that have poor mutilated feet thanks to anti-pigeon spikes and wires...but somehow I don't think many people would donate to our cause, or help rehabilitate them