The practise of keeping birds goes back throughout human history. People have long wanted to keep the beautiful creatures as pets, but since they can fly, cages were needed to keep the birds contained.

Bird cages are common in many households. They are traditionally a tall brass cage, made from several pieces of wire bound together with a solid base and a door. The way that the horizontal and vertical bars create a mesh gives the bird a surface to climb with it's agile hook-like feet. The traditional cage has one perch in the centre, a simple crossbar that the bird can sit on, and the floor of the cage is lined with something like sandpaper that can be easily changed due to the fact that birds shed a lot of feathers and create mess.

There are a variety of modern bird cages, some very large in size. They usually have one or more perches and are easily portable. The larger cages can be several feet tall and wide, with platforms, ladders and ornate designs. They will sometimes come with a built in seed and water holder that can be easily refilled, but these can be bought separately.

You will probably want to furnish a cage with a variety of toys to keep your avian friend happy. There is a huge range available; ropes that come in various lengths and knots, acrylic shapes, mobiles, balls and bells. This is important for the more intelligent species of birds like parrots as they get bored easily.

Some feel that bird cages are inhumane, trapping a creature in a small confine, effectively jailing it. This is the root of metaphors that compare bird cages to prisons. An option that gives the birds far more freedom is a aviary, essentially a very large cage the size of a shed or even as large as a house. Aviaries are usually used by zoos and can contain several species of bird, plants, trees and insects, creating a kind of natural environment and plenty of room for the birds to fly.