As bird owners, we don’t like leaving our birds unsupervised, even if they’re in the safety of their cage.

There is always that sense of “something might happen while I’m gone”.

This feeling comes from the fact that birds can be unpredictable and can get themselves into trouble, even while in a safe space.

As the proud owner of a very silly and clumsy cockatiel, I understand the feeling.

In this article, you’ll learn how to monitor your bird while you’re away for free.

No need to purchase security cameras or pay for special apps.

The only things you will need are:

• At least two devices (phones or laptops)
• A free app on both devices (The Alfred app)

Setting Up The Alfred App

Alfred is an app that allows you to look through the camera of one device on another device.

(You can look through your phone’s camera on your laptop, as an example)

For this to work, both devices will need Alfred installed and be connected to the internet.

Alfred is free to download and is available on most devices including Samsung and apple. Just look up “Alfred” and it should come up.

It may come up as “DIY CCTV Camera & Baby Monitor” on apple devices.

This is the logo for the app:

Once you have the app installed on both devices, you need to link both devices so you can view one device’s camera from the other.

It’s a bit of a process, so I’ll link you to this tutorial on linking devices with Alfred.

(“Step one” of this article explains how you can link two devices with Alfred)

Once you have two devices linked, you’ll need to choose which device will be the “viewer” and which will be the “camera”.

The camera will obviously be the device you plan on leaving near your bird’s cage.

And the viewer will be the device you take with you, wherever you go.

Whenever I leave my cockatiel unsupervised, I’ll have my MacBook as the camera and my phone (which I take with me anyway) as the viewer.

I then have the ability to check-in whenever I want.

Setting Up The Camera

Once both devices are linked, all you need to do now is find a spot to set up the camera device.

If you’re using a laptop as the camera, it’ll be easy.

Just place the laptop on a table near your birds’ cage and point the camera in their direction.

However, it’ll be more difficult to set up a phone camera.

Unless you have a flexible phone holding stand, you’ll need to be creative with how you set up the phone.

What I did when I had to use an old phone as the camera was tape it to the wall. I used really strong duct tape to stick the phone in the corner of the room.

Worked like a charm.

Advantages Of Monitoring Your Bird

There are two main advantages to monitoring your birds:

• 1) You’ll know if a bird has injured itself and you’ll be able to return home to respond to it
• 2) It’s fun to watch your birds

There really isn’t too much you can do monitoring your bird, you’ll just know what happens while you’re away.

Some bird owners are simply more comfortable knowing they can check in with their birds whenever they need to (me included).

It’s all about peace of mind.

If you’re someone with many birds living in an outdoor aviary or bird-safe room, it’ll simply be entertaining watching them play with each other while you’re away.

On another note…

If you’re considering creating a bird proof room or just want to make the home a safer place, I strongly recommend you view this list of household dangers.

It’s always good to be aware of what can harm your bird.

It’s a complete list of all common household threats and dangers to your bird.