are the budgies in this video happy?

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGqtH5YWBMM"]Norman Barrett MBE and his amazing budgies: Zippos Circus - YouTube[/ame]

i wonder what the budgies in this video have been going through.

on one hand, they're all frozen in their place, not moving at all if not instructed, even though their nature is to move wherever they want to. and when they do the stuff the trainer would like them to do they run in a way that seem like he had frightened them in a way that made them move in the direction he wanted them to. also look at the small cage they put all of them in at the end of the video. looks terrible.

on the other hand, they seem pretty comfortable, not scared of his fast-moving hand. and i assume that budgies do love those kind of athletic challenges.

what do you think? are they happy? is it just the way they were raised and they are okay with it? or do they feel unfree, distressed and have no choice?

Those look like happy budgies to me. I don’t think there’s anyway anyone could train anybudgies to do all that by being mean to them. I suggest you look up ‘Target Training.” Even if the specifics may differ, Target Training is the starting basis that would allow someone to train birdies these sort of tricks.

There’s nothing wrong with the cage since it's clearly a custom-built Travel cage. (Or maybe not even Travel. It Might even be only for Presentation of their tricks, maybe just to move them on- & off-stage.

They look happy and healthy and well cared for so they likely have a larger cage at home.

The hand movements are clearly part of the commands, they don’t look like he’s “frightening” them, rather he’s cajoling them into the direction which will lead them into the tricks they are clearly happy to do.

Thank you for linking this video by the way, I really enjoyed it.

Don't know what happens backstage but they look like they are much much happier than the average pet or show budgie, which often life a sad life in a small cage without proper nutrition, exercise or proper enrichment.

At least that is how it is in India and I am sure most parts of the world , it is not much better.

Cardinal said:

Don't know what happens backstage but they look like they are much much happier than the average pet or show budgie, which often life a sad life in a small cage without proper nutrition, exercise or proper enrichment.

At least that is how it is in India and I am sure most parts of the world , it is not much better.

Click to expand...

Here in Turkey and part of the middle east its the same

Most parrots love to learn new stuff if its presented right. Salty absolutely runs from trick to trick and he gets new tricks in 1 or 2 times. Budgies must be the same. These guys look happy and proud to show off, which most parrots like to do also.

I'm sure that cage the birds were put in at the end was just for travel. They look happy and seem to enjoy what they are doing. The main concern is that they received training with kindness and respect, and not forced to perform through being mistreated so that their actions become "robotic".

Only thing I noticed was that about halfway through the show he put the yellow Budgie in the cage and didn't let it perform as he did the others. I didn't think it was behaving badly so don't see why he did that.