Is it cruel to let the parakeet listen to the other parakeets sing from Youtube?

Hi,

We only have one parakeet. We got it from a friend. They don't want him anymore. They bought him last fall, so we think he is still young. They bought two parakeets but one died shortly after.

Our bird is tame. Sometimes he plays with one of the toys (stringy rope kinda of thing). He sits most of the time. My daughter made some toys for him but he doesn't play with them at all. We tried a couple times offering him fruit and veggie, but he doesn't eat them. We take him out of his cage to play with him a lot, especially when my daughter comes home.

One day, we played a video of parakeets singing from Youtube for him on the computer and he really likes it. He was chirping and walking to the back of the computer trying to find where the sound is from.(he has a mirror in the cage and sometimes play with it). So we do this quite often now-play video from Youtube. He would chirp for a while and just calm down.

We are wondering if this is good for him. Or is it cruel? I read an article here says parakeet is fine living alone. My daughter keeps saying we should get another one..

Budgies in the wild live in large flocks. They are accustomed to lots of social interaction. In a pet environment, a lone budgie will seek to fulfill that need via its human "flock-mates." Playing videos of budgie vocalizations can also satisfy that need, and I don't think it's necessarily "cruel" to do so. It's a form of behavioral enrichment. If you decide to keep your budgie as a single pet, make sure to provide lots of interaction with yourself and others. Single pet budgies can make great pets if given the chance. If you are unable to provide that much attention, then a companion would work as well. It doesn't have to be of the opposite sex. And it doesn't have to be kept in the same cage -- though allowing them out-time to play together would be a great idea. If you keep them caged together, they may become less interested in playing with you. If you keep them caged separately, and allow a new bird to get used to you, then they'll maintain more interest in people.

I have a cockatiel and I like to play music for her when I am not around. The music (or bird chirping, in your case) provides a stimulus and enrichment. I have read in a lot of places to play music for your birds when you're not there to keep them company. Another thing I do for my bird is play her books on tape (not sure if she likes that though ). You have actually given me the idea to play some bird sounds for my cockatiel! I hope this helps .

Thank you guys!

I think for now, we will just keep one bird and play with him more.

Audio books is a great idea! I could even just tell my daughter to read to him--daily reading log and entertain the bird-multitasking!

Oh, he seems to like to listen to music a lot. He always chirps when my kids practice piano. So cute.

I like to take vidoes of my own birds and play it back to them. They sing and carry on like they've just met long lost relatives. Any thing that enriches the environment of a lone bird is not 'cruel'. Some zoos play sounds of the jungle to improve the lives of the animals in their care.

It's good to know the zoos do the same thing~

Now our Kiki is standing on the computer listening to Youtube.

I don't think it's cruel. I have a cockatiel . . and I play a clip of another
'tiel whistling the imperial march because I want mine to learn it SO BAD. lol.
he cocks his head and listens, but thus far will not try it.

he whistles a lot and wolf whistes and says 'pretty bird' and 'Ima pretty bird'
and 'bad bird'. . .

I had a parakeet who also said a few words, but their voices are pretty garbled,
but once you realize they are 'talking' it's pretty cool. I still miss my little Petey.