Which bird are you thinking about today?
A budgie, finch or canary0%
A cockatiel, lovebird or conure0%
An African grey, Amazon or cockatoo0%
A macaw or other large parrot0%
A backyard hen, duck or pigeon0%
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Live results from bird keepers, and how to read them
Pooling UK and US surveys, our estimate of how bereaved owners split is ~2/3 cremation; ~30% burial[1]. Our live results show where bird keepers land on the questions those surveys never asked.
- Anonymous votes, counted live
- Set beside published research where it exists
- Honest about what a reader poll can and can't show
Method
How these bird poll results are counted
Every figure on the board below comes from a real vote by a visitor to our sites. Each browser can vote once per poll, votes are stored without names or emails, and totals update as soon as someone new takes part. The percentage next to each answer is its share of all votes on that poll so far.
Because results move, we never quote them as facts in our guides. A poll that shows one answer in front this week may look different next month. Check the vote count under each poll too: forty votes and four thousand votes deserve very different levels of confidence. You can still vote on anything you've missed on the polls page.
Live results
Did you keep (or would you keep) any of your bird's feathers?
Yes, I'd been saving molted ones for years0%
Yes, I took a few before cremation0%
No, and I wish I had0%
No, it's not for me0%
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How did your bird's death happen?
I found them on the cage floor, no warning0%
After a short illness of a few days0%
After a long illness we knew about0%
We chose euthanasia with the vet0%
My bird is still with me, I'm planning ahead0%
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Would you want a necropsy to find out why your bird died?
Yes, I need to know what happened0%
Only if my other birds could be at risk0%
No, I'd rather not0%
I didn't know that was possible for birds0%
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If your bird had a companion, did you let them see the body?
Yes, and it seemed to help them0%
Yes, but I couldn't tell if it helped0%
No, I kept them apart0%
My bird lived on their own0%
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If a small bird returns only a pinch of ash, would you still choose private cremation?
Yes, even a pinch is theirs0%
Communal, and I'd keep feathers instead0%
I'd bury them in the garden0%
I honestly don't know0%
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Could your parrot outlive you, and is there a plan for that?
Yes, and it's written into my will0%
Yes, a family member has agreed to take them0%
Yes, but I haven't sorted it yet0%
No, my bird's species is shorter-lived0%
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Which memorial feels most like your bird?
A framed feather shadowbox0%
A tiny urn on a shelf0%
A recording of their whistles or words0%
Their favorite perch or toy on display0%
A plant or feeder where wild birds visit0%
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Limits
Why a reader poll isn't a scientific survey
Scientific surveys pick respondents at random and weight the answers to match the population. Ours can't. People reach this site because they're facing or have just faced a loss, and that group isn't typical of all bird owners. Someone planning for an elderly Amazon parrot and someone whose finch died last night are both here, and both answer.
- Results lean toward people who are online, searching and grieving.
- Owners of parrots may be over-represented compared with finch keepers.
- The same person might answer differently before and after a loss.
- Nobody checks that voters actually keep birds, though there's little reason to pretend.
Context
What published research says about the same choices
There is almost no published research on bird aftercare specifically, so the useful comparisons are with pet owners in general. In the UK, the competition regulator's provisional report on vet services found that 67%[2] of owners whose pet died in the last two years chose cremation. In a US survey of more than two thousand owners, the split on preferred future care was 40.4% cremation; 34.9% home burial; 1.9% aquamation[3].
67%[2]
In the CMA's UK pet owners survey, 67% of owners whose pet died in the previous two years had the pet cremated.
68% cremation; 32% burial[4]
In a US survey of 2,043 dog and cat owners who had made end-of-life decisions, 68% had made a cremation decision and 32% a burial decision for at least one past pet.
If our bird polls lean further toward burial or communal cremation than those figures, the small size of birds is a likely reason: a garden grave is easy, and there's little ash to bring home. If they lean toward private cremation, it may reflect how long many parrots are part of a family. Either way, the services page explains what each choice involves for a bird.
Where research is silent
The bird questions no published survey has asked
Several of our polls cover ground that researchers haven't. We couldn't find published data on how many bird owners keep feathers, how often a necropsy is requested for a pet bird, or whether keepers let a surviving companion see the body. For those questions, our results are the only numbers we know of, which makes the limits above matter even more.
Read them as the start of a picture. If the necropsy poll shows many people didn't know it was possible, that's a signal about awareness, not about what informed owners would choose. Our notes on companion bird aftercare explain the necropsy option for anyone who is seeing it for the first time.
- Feathers: how many keepers save them, and how many wish they had.
- Necropsy: who wants answers, and who didn't know answers were possible.
- Flockmates: whether a surviving bird was shown its companion's body.
- Long lives: how many parrot owners have a written plan for a bird that may outlive them.
Grief
How bird keepers' grief compares with the research
Our general grief polls sit alongside the bird-specific ones. Research gives a useful anchor: 40%[5] of owners in one industry report said grief after a pet's death equaled or exceeded grief after a human loss, and a US study found ~1 in 3[6] pet owners grieved for at least six months.
Bird owners sometimes feel their loss is taken less seriously because the animal was small. If your answers on the grief polls surprise you with their intensity, that's worth noticing. Our page on grief after losing a bird is a gentle place to start. For a clinical anchor, a 2026 PLOS ONE study of UK adults found that 7.5%[7] of people whose bereavement was a pet met the criteria for prolonged grief disorder.
Compared with losing a person, losing your pet felt...
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Using the results
What to take from the results, and what not to
The most useful thing a poll can tell you is that your instinct isn't unusual. If you're drawn to a feather shadowbox rather than an urn, or to communal cremation for a canary, and others chose the same, that's reassurance. It doesn't make it the right answer for you, and a minority answer isn't wrong.
Most people follow whoever is nearest to them at the time. In the UK, 89%[8] of cremation buyers never compared providers. If the polls prompt one extra question before you book, they've done their job. The ashes sharing planner and our list of questions to ask a bird cremation provider are good next steps.
If a small bird returns only a pinch of ash, would you still choose private cremation?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
When you know what you want, send us your bird's details and we'll email options that match. Our services page explains each option, and the local pages show how prices and rules differ by area.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
If a small bird returns only a pinch of ash, would you still choose private cremation?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Would you want a necropsy to find out why your bird died?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Compared with losing a person, losing your pet felt...
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Questions people ask
Why do the percentages keep changing?
Because the results are live. Every new vote is added straight away, so the shares move, especially on polls with fewer votes. That's also why we don't quote poll results as findings in our guides. Look at the total votes to judge how settled a result is.
Can I see results for a poll without voting?
Yes, the results board on this page shows every poll's current totals without asking you to vote. If you'd like to add your own answer, you can vote on the polls page or wherever a poll appears in our guides.
Do results include owners of other pets?
The bird polls are shown on this site, so voters are mostly bird keepers. The general polls on cost, grief and memorials appear across our network, so their results combine owners of dogs, cats, horses, birds and other animals.
Could someone vote many times to skew a result?
We limit each browser to one vote per poll and slow down repeated voting from the same connection. A determined person could still get around that, which is one more reason to read the results as a rough picture rather than precise figures.
Will you publish a summary of the bird results?
If a poll gathers enough votes to say something meaningful, we may describe the pattern in a guide, always labeled as reader votes with the date and the number of responses. We won't present poll results as research, and we'll link back to this page so anyone can check the current figures.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] UK and US survey evidence converges on roughly two-thirds of bereaved owners choosing cremation (UK 67%; US 68% ever) and about 29-32% choosing burial. Our estimate: mean(67, 68) = 67.5; burial range 29% (UK) to 32% (US). How we calculate.
- [2] In the CMA's UK pet owners survey, 67% of owners whose pet died in the previous two years had the pet cremated. UK Competition and Markets Authority - Veterinary services for household pets, Provisional decision report Part A (Oct 2025), 2025.
- [3] Asked their preferred future after-death care, 40.4% of US owners chose traditional flame cremation and 34.9% home burial; 10.7% chose cemetery burial and 1.9% alkaline hydrolysis (aquamation). Cooney, Kogan, Brooks, Ellis - Pet Owners' Expectations for Pet End-of-Life Support and After-Death Body Care, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine (2020), 2020.
- [4] In a US survey of 2,043 dog and cat owners who had made end-of-life decisions, 68% had made a cremation decision and 32% a burial decision for at least one past pet. Cooney, Kogan, Brooks, Ellis - Pet Owners' Expectations for Pet End-of-Life Support and After-Death Body Care, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine (2020), 2020.
- [5] Mordor Intelligence reports that 40% of owners say their grief after a pet's death equals or exceeds grief after a human loss. Mordor Intelligence — Pet Funeral Services Market report page, 2025.
- [6] A 2009 Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic study of 106 pet owners found nearly 1 in 3 grieved for at least six months. SHRM — Grieving a Pet's Death: Should Workers Get Time Off? (2016), 2009.
- [7] 7.5% of UK adults whose bereavement was the death of a pet met criteria for prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Hyland et al., 'No pets allowed: Evidence that prolonged grief disorder can occur following the death of a pet', PLOS ONE (2026), 2026.
- [8] 89% of UK owners who bought a pet cremation did not compare different providers; 9% did. UK Competition and Markets Authority - Veterinary services for household pets, Provisional decision report Part A (Oct 2025), 2025.
Get options for your own bird
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