Skip to content
Free Range Parrots
  • Home
  • About This Site
  • Contact cricket
  • Search Icon

Free Range Parrots

How captive birds can have freedom

About This Site

About This Site

I’ve been a bird owner since 1980, including several years as a bird breeder and doing bird rescue. Many bird owners turn to the internet to learn how to care for their birds and when I do the same, I find serious problems:

  • Nearly all advice given on the internet is anecdotal and written by pet owners or pet food manufacturers rather than veterinarians, researchers, biologists, or avian experts.
  • Very little consideration is given to how a species of bird might live in the wild and whether we may learn something from that fact.
  • Rarely is any evidence given to support claims that people make. No research is cited or no information from trusted experts in the community. Advice is also often contradictory.
  • Advice is often reactionary and risks are exaggerated. Everything becomes something that could kill your bird, depriving them of freedom and making bird ownership seem fraught with peril.

There are some great sites that advocate “free range” bird care, but none that I’ve found provide any evidence to support what they advocate. So, I intend to apply more hard science and expertise.

In the end, I think birds can live more freely and have happy and healthy lives.

Contact Me

Follow cricket

Get Monthly Updates

About cricket


cricket with Guiness the owl

I’ve been a bird owner since 1980, including a few years as a bird breeder and many years doing bird rescue. Many bird owners turn to the internet to learn how to care for their birds and they find information not backed by research or bird experts.

I’ve spent a lot of time battling against this and decided to write down all my thoughts so I could point people to them in one place.

Contact cricket

cricket’s Other Blogs

  • Tech Reflect
  • Plucky Tree (personal)
  • Little Dinosaur
  • Contact cricket

Recent Posts

  • Is my parrot sick?
  • So you’ve decided to get a parrot…
  • So you’re thinking of getting a parrot…
  • The uncomfortable debate: seeds or pellets?
  • Tracking technology for birds

Categories

  • aviary (3)
  • books (1)
  • carbohydrates (21)
  • diet (33)
  • enrichment (12)
  • fat (22)
  • food for thought (14)
  • general (6)
  • health (28)
  • lighting (4)
  • myths (5)
  • opinion (4)
  • personal (2)
  • photography (3)
  • products (8)
  • training (2)

Archives

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019

Get Monthly Updates

About cricket


cricket with Guiness the owl

25 years in tech. I like to write manifestos. I like to offer interesting tips. I like making fun of things. Everyone copes differently.

Contact cricket

Little Blue Bird Toys

cricket’s Other Blogs

  • Tech Reflect
  • Plucky Tree (personal)
  • Little Dinosaur
  • Contact cricket
© 2022   All Rights Reserved.