Birds kept in aviculture have complex social, cognitive, and flight needs that require appropriate housing and management to meet adequately.
Aviculture welfare encompasses enormous diversity from species kept in single pairs in small cages to large flight aviaries with carefully managed social groups. The minimum requirement for any bird in captivity is adequate space for flight, appropriate social companionship, and behavioral enrichment. Many common aviculture practices — keeping highly social species alone, housing birds in cages too small for flight, neglecting foraging enrichment — cause chronic welfare compromise through behavioral frustration. The availability of captive-bred birds for most species eliminates the justification for wild capture that drives population decline and individual welfare harm.