NOTE: As owners of this website, we have chosen to share our experiences and opinions on these webpages. We present this info "as is", and we shall have no liablility to anyone regarding any circumstance or occurrence related to the starling(s) or other birds in their care. It is each starling owner's responsibility to make the best choices for the diet, safety, health, care and wellbeing of his or her own starling. Contact avian vets/experts for info about questionable products or about your particular situation.

On this page we share several common precautions we take when our starlings are out of their cages each day. Having owned hookbills for many years, we have learned to be extremely cautious when birds are free in our home!

Precautions we take before we let our starlings out of their cages:
Everyone in the house is warned before we let a bird out of its cage. We announce this so that each person will use caution when opening and closing bedroom doors and will not use the front door at this time. We lock our front door and hang a small sign on it asking visitors to please use the back door while our birds are free inside. All windows are shut. Our cats are temporarily shut in a bedroom where they usually nap and play together, and everyone knows not to open the cat's bedroom door. All bathroom doors are shut, as we have several birds who tend to crash into bathroom mirrors. All unsafe or small objects that can be swallowed are removed from the room before the starlings come out. The ceiling fan is unplugged. Glasses of liquids are removed from the room.

Precautions we take while the birds are flying freely in our home:
No one may drink hot coffee or other drinks in the room with our free flying starlings, for we know of pet starlings who have drowned in drinking glasses. No cooking takes place when our birds are out (just in case one slips into the kitchen.) Our family members know to carefully watch where they walk, in case any our birds land on the floor without us noticing. In fact, we actually shuffle our feet when walking while our birds are out and about. It looks ridiculous but it is better than risking stepping right down on a fast moving bird! No one reclines in the recliners when our birds are out of cages. Stormy loves running under them and could possibly get shut underneath one when someone lowers a foot rest. Our decorative pillows are removed from furniture, since our starlings sometimes like to hide behind them and might become squished when someone sits down. No smoking is permitted around our birds.

A Final Word -- Use caution, and keep outside doors and windows shut!
Use common sense, and treat your pet birds like they are small toddlers who need to be watched very carefully. Do not leave them unsupervised. Make absolutely certain that NO outside doors and NO windows are opened in the room containing freely flying birds! This must become a household rule in every bird owner's home! Starlings are lightning fast and can fly through an open door or window in split seconds!

We hope that by sharing precautions used with our own birds, we offer new starling owners some ideas to develop their own methods of protecting their birds. May everyone enjoy their starlings while keeping them safe!

To read a list of common dangers to pet birds within a home, please read Common Household Dangers to Pet Birds.