I keep the cage door open so they can come and go. They usually go from one cage to another and to the windows. As far as being hand friendly Cher will let you pick her right up without flying away from you, but I dont see stepping on my finger anytime in the future.

Actually, it's better for a canary to be in a cage. I know it sounds ridiculous (especially coming from somebody who only keeps handicapped or sick birds in cages) because one would think that all birds do better cage-free but pet canaries were created by man by crossbreeding wild finches from the Mediterranean Islands with other birds from Europe, Africa and South America and have been domesticated for over 600 years so they are not as hardy as an undomesticated species would be. They were created to live in a cage, same as dogs were created to live in a human home and, although dogs kept outside manage to survive, it's not the ideal situation. Mind you, not the small and fancy cages that people usually put them in but a nice, medium to large size flight cage where one can put some tree branches strategically placed so the bird needs to take, at least, five wing flaps to get from one end to the other. They are just too delicate and too clumsy as fliers to do well loose (they have the most delicate little toes and feet and all they need is to catch one somewhere for it to break and, once it breaks, it's goodbye toe or foot). They are also quite highstrung (well, the song breeds are, type and color -and, of course, kitchen canaries- are more placid) and the safety of a cage placed against a wall at eye level makes for less stress, and less stress makes for a longer life when it comes to canaries (most people think that canaries live 6 or 7 years only but they actually live much longer than that under the right conditions -I had a female that died at 18 and have a couple of 10 year old ones right now that are still going strong). I would imagine that if you have a birdroom especially made for them with perches placed right in front of the walls and all you house in it is canaries, it could be OK in terms of safety and stress but people that have them in that kind of situation have found that they don't breed well, if at all. Males don't seem to have any interest in females when loose and, as song is a secondary sexual characteristic, they don't sing as much or as well. You also cannot control how much or what they eat and, again, these are very small and delicate birds with a very fast metabolism so when they get sick, it happens very fast and very suddenly.

Wow Bea, thanks for all of the info.
I think Ill keep them in the cage from now on, they are very delicate!!