Cage birds

maxi77 said:
Whilst I understand your point you must remember these birds in general, if they are legal, were bred in captivity so are slightly removed from any jungle, and in reality may well have problems surviving in the wild, though there are substantial colonies of parakeets around south London.
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I fully accept they would not survive in the wild but being bred in captivity for a flightless life is a tragedy in itself.
 
phantomlady said:
Thank you so much for all the information! Most helpful. It has really encouraged us to believe that we can take our bird sailing with us :)
'Oi I'm talking to you!' ......hahaha....you've got to love 'em
Can Charlie fly? Do you let him out of his cage much? Our grey hates being in his cage and is an excellent flyer so I just worry that a boat is too small a space for him (ours is 42ft)
Charlie is lovely by the way :)
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Yes, Charlie comes out of his cage every morning and evening. We close down the hatches or put nets up. He has learnt his way around and can easily get from one end to the other. You have to keep an eye on him because as you know he will chew and destroy anything. He enjoys pulling the keys off my keyboard.

Did you know dogs and cats were once free and wild now they are accepted as domesticated pets.
 
There are some comments from 'ignorant' people on here, I don't mean that in the rude sense. Our cockatiel is out for about 6 hours a day, generally destroying things (keyboards are no match for a sharp beak are they?) and screeching at cars, birds or people who dare to walk past the house. There are some very long bungee cords available, certainly longer than you would need on most boats, so short flights for a domesticated bird don't come onto it. When we have Oscar in the garden he generally tries to fly into the hedge to eat it or mostly sits on the back of one of the chairs preening himself. He would surely try to get away if he wasn't happy?
 
"Our cockatiel is out for about 6 hours a day, generally destroying things (keyboards are no match for a sharp beak are they?) and screeching at cars, birds or people who dare to walk past the house."

If that is a happy bird I wouldn't want a angry one around.
 
I understand and accept your use of the word 'ignorant' in the sense of 'not knowing all the facts'.

However, you have a bird, which is domesticated by the fact of having been bred in captivity and brought up in captivity, and now kept in solitary confinement with no chance of interaction with other birds. It is possible that the animal would starve if released back into the jungle, or die because it did not understand the 'rules' of social behaviour in a flock of other parrots. That possibility only arises because the bird is captive bred and raised.

I think it quite improper that a bird should be imprisoned (albeit with kind, considerate and throughtful owners) when it should really be flying free ten thousand miles away. The only case for keeping such birds in captivity is that of conservation to prevent the species dying out in the wild.

At the very least, have you thought of finding another bird for him to live with as a companion ?
 
To those of you who will not have met CHARLIE of myagimoon-Spelling. He is a very handsome chappie. He loves his life. He is one of the healthiest feathered birds that I have seen in all my travels.

Charlie also like his cage, so no worries there.
 
the only part of your post I can accept is that (physically) he is "one of the healthiest feathered birds that I have seen in all my travels".

How have you assessed his handsomeoness, his love of life, and his liking his cage ?

Has he told you ? Or have you assumed the answers from anthropomorphic analysis ?
 
Whilst it might be justifiable to keep an existing bird in captivity because if released it would soon die, what justification is there for breeding or capturing more to suffer the same wretched and unnatural existence?

"A robin redbreast in a cage,
sets all heaven in a rage"

Added later: After writing the above, I realise I can be justifiably accused of hypocrisy because I am quite willing to eat chickens and other animals that heve been reared in captivity. :o
 
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>what justification is there for breeding or capturing more to suffer the same wretched and unnatural existence?


The bred birds are used to the conditions they live in so it's not unnatural to them. One indication of this is that parrots squawk a lot and you can tell which are Parakeets because they squawk in flight. Captive birds don't squawk at all and some learn to talk.
 
Oscar flies to me when I come in at night, sits on my shoulder and says hello. He falls asleep on my chest or headbutts me to tickle him. These are the things I would like to see him doing on the deck of any future boat I acquire, which was the reason for my original question.
 
blueglass said:
I fully accept they would not survive in the wild but being bred in captivity for a flightless life is a tragedy in itself.
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Who says they don't get to fly, when we had parrots they spent time out their large cage every day, every one I have know with birds either has a aviary where there is space to fly or allows them out of the cage for flying every day, ours would follow from room to room
 
My AG - well now my parents - is significantly clever and accepting of his (we assume as never had the DNA testing done) surroundings than many humans.

He bosses their cats around, is more than happy to come and go from his cage as he pleases, rarely chooses to fly preferring to walk everywhere.

My only thought against keeping him aboard a boat would be the dust he generates.

He knows no different to his life, seems to be happy enough - a sick or distressed bird tends to pluck it's own feathers for example, is well fed, cared for, and extremely affectionate and social. AG are noted for preferring only one human contact.

As someone else said is it any different to domesticated cats/dog/sheep/pigs/cows/foul kept for pets/food/breeding?

PW
 
phantomlady said:
Oh Cheery...I really hope you do :)
I wish this thread hadn't turned into a discussion about the rights and wrongs of keeping birds.
I am very grateful for Miyagimoons advice and hope to meet Charlie and Oscar one day on our travels!
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Starting a thread on caged birds was only going to turn into a on the rights and wrongs of keeping birds in a cage . But on another note , here is our bird , Alfie , he flu in on a trip across from Sardinia ti Sicily stayed an hour or so to rest then took off again , tho we had to lock Eddie our cat up has he had his eye on him .
OH NO I Manson our cat , just opened another flood gate .

www.bluewatersailor5.webs.com
 
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