In browsing around other forums and talking to other bird owners, I've come across a few people whose birds do not live in cages at all, and simply have free run of the house (or a part of the house). The usual reasoning for this seems to be "I don't believe in keeping birds in cages" (which of course is dumb; if the bird is confined to your house it's still in a "cage," just a really big one). Often these people have some kind of big play gym or tree that is the parrot's main roost, and other stands and stuff around the house.
Obviously I'm not planning on doing this or anything, but I do think it is an interesting idea. Are there any distinct advantages to allowing a bird free run of the house pretty much 24/7? The disadvantages seem obvious -- the entire house (or apartment, etc.) would need to be birdproofed; guests would need to be more careful; you'd always need to be cautious opening doors and windows; poop and other mess could get everywhere, and so on. And of course you'd still need a travel cage to put the bird in when transporting it or in an emergency. I guess what I'm wondering is whether this is something that would be better for a parrot's overall well-being than having it in a cage of reasonable size. It seems to me that it wouldn't, but that could just be my personal bias against having bird poop all over the house and my fear of escaping birds coming into play. Anyone here do this? Experiences?