10 Things the Pet Industry Hides About Selling Parakeets
If you’re asking yourself, “Should I buy a parakeet?” or “Should I get a budgie?” there’s a lot the pet industry doesn’t want you to know.
In 2026, a PETA investigator spent three months undercover inside a parakeet breeding factory farm in the supply chain of major pet stores like Petco and PetSmart. What the investigator documented was devastating: thousands of birds packed into cages, filthy conditions, untreated injuries, and death on a massive scale.
But the horror doesn’t begin or end at one barn. It runs through the entire bird-trafficking trade.
The Quick Answer
No. Don’t buy a parakeet. Buying a bird funds a system that treats living, feeling individuals like disposable merchandise.
Here’s what you’ll learn below:
- Where parakeets and other birds in pet stores come from
- What birds endure before anyone puts a “for sale” sign on them
- How to help birds instead of funding their suffering
Here are 10 reasons not to buy a parakeet.
1. No one belongs in a cage.
In their native Australia, parakeets fly long distances and explore vast skies with their families. No cage will ever come close to meeting their needs.
The breeding factory PETA’s investigation exposed kept parakeets in cages about 9 inches across. A parakeet’s wingspan is around 12 inches, meaning many of these birds couldn’t even fully open their wings.
Confining birds means misery for them: frustration, anxiety, self-mutilation like feather-plucking, and other signs of distress.
2. The industry treats birds like breeding machines.
PETA’s investigator documented about 10,000 parakeets crammed into a single metal barn. Many spent years trapped there, churning out chick after chick until their bodies gave out.
This industry doesn’t see birds as individuals with needs and personalities. It treats them like products on an assembly line.
3. Birds lived in filth they couldn’t escape.
PETA’s investigator photographed feces piled into what a co-owner called “poop towers.” Workers left dead birds and rotting eggs in cages alongside living birds and chicks.
The facility has been in operation for four years, and staff reported that no one had ever cleaned the cages.
4. Sick and injured birds didn’t get veterinary care.
One chick’s injured wing blackened and eventually fell off—all without medical care.
When PETA’s investigator raised concerns about sick birds, a worker laughed and said, “If we had [a vet] come check on every bird, I don’t think we’d be profiting in here.”
5. For every parakeet in a Petco or PetSmart cage, many other birds likely died.
In just 27 days, PETA’s investigator counted nearly 1,400 dead birds. Workers left dead chicks in cages so long that their bodies dried out.
6. Workers violently killed sick or injured birds.
PETA’s undercover investigator recorded a worker killing birds by crushing their necks, throwing them to the ground, and even ripping off their heads. Workers reportedly shot escaped birds with a BB gun and admittedly left them outside to be killed by predators or exposure.
7. Birds are social and emotionally complex individuals.
Budgies chatter, bond, play, and seek companionship. They need stimulation, freedom of movement, and the company of others they choose.
The pet trade strips all that away. It reduces these highly social individuals to decorations in a cage to be bought and sold.
8. Extreme stress drives birds to harm each other.
PETA’s investigator documented birds attacking and even killing their own chicks, a sign of severe psychological distress.
One injured parakeet named Nancy apparently lost an eye after another bird attacked her. A co-owner refused to call a veterinarian. Nancy suffered for weeks before dying.
When you trap active, inquisitive individuals in crowded, barren prisons, suffering like this is inevitable.
9. Pet stores fuel this abuse.
The investigation linked the breeder to the supply chains of big box pet stores, including:
Pet stores sell parakeets and budgies (short for budgerigars) as “starter pets,” as if these living, feeling individuals should be handed to someone with zero experience caring for them.
10. Buying a bird funds more suffering.
Every time someone buys a bird, it signals to the industry to keep breeding, shipping, confining, and killing more.
No animal—human or otherwise—exists to be bred, boxed, sold, and discarded. The only ethical choice is to never buy a bird or any other animal.
It’s Not One Breeder—It’s the Whole Industry
What PETA uncovered at this breeding facility isn’t an isolated horror story. It’s a glimpse into a much larger system built on misery.
PETA investigations into the pet trade have repeatedly exposed severe crowding, filth, and neglect. A former pet store employee described conditions so stressful that cagemates pecked a parakeet to death—exposing the bird’s skull.
So, when you ask, “Should I buy a parakeet?” you’re really asking:
Do I want to support a system built on confinement, neglect, and suffering?
The answer is no.
What to Do Instead
- Adopt an animal only if you have done extensive research and have the time, resources, and commitment to provide for them for life.
- Text PARAKEET to 73822 to urge pet stores to stop selling birds and other animals.
- Share this article so others don’t buy birds on impulse.
Birds Are Not Merchandise
Parakeets are sensitive, social individuals. They’re not décor. They’re not “starter pets.” No cage will ever replace the sky.
Learn more about PETA’s investigation into the bird trade and take action.
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