Is it common for bird owners to let their birds have the run of the house?

[Jesus Saves]

Basically, let them live outside their cages?

[phusion]

1. I don't think so...

Then they crap all over your furniture.

[Magrittes Pipe]

2. Some of them.

Of course, most houses are not adequately "bird-proofed," so free reign can be dangerous. The little guys need supervision.

[Maddy McCall]

3. Turn the ceiling fans off.

Big birds will stay on their perch, I think.

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. I Know 2 Bird Owners that Let Their BIrds Out Occasionally

but only for very short periods of time.

One of the birds has learned to wake the husband in the morning. Wife lets him out early in the morning before there is activity in the house and bird flys into the bedroom and lands on the husbands nose.

[madrchsod]

5. we let our bird out

for a couple of hours a day.she usually perches on our shoulders and begs for food or she chews the crap out of the scroll wheel on my mirco mouse. people who let their birds out all day i would avoid at all costs. bird shit isn`t the healthist thing in the world....

[Jesus Saves]

7. 'avoid at all costs'

seriously?

Well a new friend of mine allows this. I think they're cockatoo/teals. I haven't even met the birds yet or been to the house. But I did find it odd.

[flvegan]

6. Oh, lordy, no!!!

To let birds out into the home environment is out of the question. They are a non-native species in the human house and will predate any insects that naturally occur there, including the West Virginian Sand Flea and the endangered mosquito. They must be kept inside (their cages) at all times. The International Society of Insect Watchers is lobbying strongly for regulation of birds to stay in their cages. I think Wisconsin wants to pass a bill that will allow a hunter to come into your house and blast lovebirds and cockatiels alike with both shotgun barrels.

What do people think these animals are, cats?

[shesemsmom]

21. For crying out loud!!!

Birds like any other pets have boundrys. If anyone one comes to shot mine they may be pulling a gun outta their ass.

[Beetwasher]

8. I Do

My 'keet's cage is always open, but she mostly stays in the area around the cage and only poops in that area.

My other 'keet has a feather condition that prevents him from flying, so his cage is kept close so he doesn't hurt himself.

[ewagner]

9. We used to

let our Peach-faced Love Bird out of her cage once in a while. It was a riot!

She HATED pencils and would fly to the desk in the den and immediately toss any pencil she found on the desk onto the floor.

She also had a "thing" for the shelf of plactic tumblers in the kitchen (we used them for our son's night-time watter glasses). She would get onto the shelf and immediately push the tumblers off the shelf and let them drop to the floor. The first time she did this, we didn't know she was up there and couldn't understand why the tumblers were falling....we thought it was a poltergiest but it turned out to be a poultry-giest!

She made a bit of a mess and finally it got to be too much to clean up so we stopped the practice except for letting her ride around on my shoulder once in a while....she died about 6 years ago.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

10. My eclectus is out when we are home: she has a designated perch

but has dinner and breakfast on my shoulder. Birds are very social and need a lot of interaction. She comes out for breakfast and comes out when we get home in the afternoon. She goes to bed at 10:00. They like to keep to a routine.
The rabbit, however, has the run of the house and goes in her cage at 9:30 every night to get her parsley and then goes to sleep. If we stay up too late, she turns her back on us and ignores us. Yes, the house is bunny-proof.

[madmom]

11. when I was young had a parakeet...

we would let it out occasionally, one day he flew full tilt into the picture window and broke his neck. Poor thing, last bird I've had.

[benburch]

12. I had a friend with a vaulted, rustic living room...

She had like 50 birds. One day, during cage cleaning, the two Rosellas got out and built a nest on a high beam where she could not get to them. You'd think that they would go right back to their cages for food and water right? Nope. Not only did these bird figure out how to get at food and water in the feeders from the human side of the cage, but were eating the wheat wreaths that she used to make and had hung everywhere. They hatched an egg up there before she was able to get them back into the cage by moving the chick which she could catch into a nesting box in the cage.

So, some people don't exactly "let" their birds fly free, but that doesn't mean that the birds have no say in the matter.

[silverlib]

13. Yes, a parakeet - Mr. G

stayed out all the time. Chirped loudly on the sway lamp wires until we swung him, whistled the Beverly Hillbilly song, sat on heads of family members and visitors, if they would let him. He only went in his cage to eat. Have never had another parakeet that had the personality to stay out of his cage and not get into trouble. He died in 1981 - long time ago.

[AlienGirl]

14. I do...

Gideon has the run of the house when we're home. The only time he's in his cage is for sleeping, or on the rare occasions when no one is home and I can't take him with me. It is very much like having a loose toddler in the house.

Tucker

[purr]

15. My yellow naped amazon

comes out a few times a day.. usually when hubby is home to help with keeping the kids away from her. Shes in her cage sulking right now because I didnt let her out today oops.. :)

[Jesus Saves]

16. what about your cat?

it gets along with the bird?

[purr]

17. They actually both get along with the bird...

Its my dog that I have to worry about and I put her downstairs when Bingo is out.

Osiris (sphynx) and Bingo (bird) will sit there and fight.. then they sit there then it starts all over again.

Osiris has claw caps on.. even without them I fully trust them together.. been brought up together practically.

[Squeech]

18. We did

When I was first hanging out with Mrs. Squeech, before she was Mrs. Squeech, she was taking care of this cockatiel named Joey. Joey's actual owner was a Brazilian who was something of a jerk, and he basically just considered Joey to be an ornament, left him in the cage 24/7, never interacted with him, didn't even feed him unless his seed bin was totally empty.

When Priscilla got custody of him, she let him out of the cage for good chunks of time, ultimately all day, and Joey just blossomed. His wings were clipped but growing back, and he had enough lift to get up to the pipes (it was a basement apartment and there were these pipes running around under the ceiling, which made a great perch) and the furniture. He was a real character; he'd climb up to our shoulders and chatter bird secrets into our ears. He'd join us for breakfast, walk across the table (sometimes across my pancakes) and dip his beak into my coffee mug. The only real downside was, he chewed up Priscilla's house plants-- but he did look guilty when we confronted him about it. So we gave Joey all sorts of fly time, and only locked him up when we were both going to work, or to bed ourselves.

The Brazilian guy took him back and immediately shoved him back in the cage for good. We never saw Joey again.

[BikeWriter]

19. That depends on the bird's behavior.

I've had birds whose cages stayed open all day. Sometimes they'd come looking for us.

[shesemsmom]

20. We used to let our keet have the run of 2 rooms,he never flew and we

kept him clipped and he was trained to go back to the cage to potty. The Quaker parrots on the other hand, they are out of their cages all day and not allowed on the floor . They must stay on their gym or in or outside their cages and usually they stay put. Once i a while I will have one come into the kitchen after me walking across the floor saying* COME HERE*