can an environment ever be too quiet for birds? currently my family has kept a couple of birds together in the same room (different cages), but it's a very quiet room and my family doesn't really hang out near the birds, so the birds are always left on their own in the bird room even during open-cage playtime. I'm wondering if that's actually a bad thing. I read that radios/TV are good for single birds, but if there are a couple of birds, is that still necessary or useful? tyvm!!
It will vary from bird to bird but typically we don’t want silent environments, noises become more sudden and startling which can stress them out and the quiet can cause them to believe predators are about (small flocks would go silent to avoid being noticed). Super quiet situations tend to stress them out which can cause some birds to become super skittish, pluck, or get ill just because of that constant stress weakening the immune system.
If you’ve got multiple birds it may be less noticeable as they’ll be chattering and producing their own sounds while also reducing that fear that something’s lurking now that they’ve got another bird around giving that ‘it’s safe’ reassurance. It’s possible for the same effects to still occur, as I’ve said every bird will be different, so typically if we can leave some music playing or a radio it’ll help quite a bit.