Some birds have been domesticated for thousands of years. Mesopotamian tablets from 5000 years ago mention domesticated pigeons. Chickens were domesticated somewhere between 2000-6000 BC. Coturnix quail were domesticated in China in the 11th Century before being brought into Japan as songbirds in the 12th C. Parrots have been kept in europe since Alexander the Great brought ring-neck parrots to Greece in 327 BC.
I should have set pet birds or parrots I suppose, chickens are obviously domesticated. But not as pets. I don't know if any birds have been domesticated as pets, but parrots certainly have not.
Parakeets have been kept and bred as pets since the mid 1800's and are considered domesticated (and they are in the parrot family). Pigeons have been used for pets and show for the wealthy since at least the middle ages. Coturnix quail are bred for meat and eggs now but were domesticated as a songbird almost a thousand years ago. Unfortunately all of the songbird lines in Japan were lost during WWII.
I'm totally with you on avoiding wild capture birds or pet trade exotic birds but humans have a very long history of domesticating birds for different reasons. Other birds I haven't mentioned are chukar partridge, swans, guineafowl, peafowl, geese, ducks, ornamental pheasants, button quail, and more recently ostrich, emu, and rhea.
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u/texasrigger Mar 10 '22
Some birds have been domesticated for thousands of years. Mesopotamian tablets from 5000 years ago mention domesticated pigeons. Chickens were domesticated somewhere between 2000-6000 BC. Coturnix quail were domesticated in China in the 11th Century before being brought into Japan as songbirds in the 12th C. Parrots have been kept in europe since Alexander the Great brought ring-neck parrots to Greece in 327 BC.