Screaming is getting worse!

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jmlw7
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Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

I hate to exhaust the screaming topic, but really, does anyone have any tips on how to get female IRNs to stop screaming? I've done search after search and people give tips that we already do, but no real solution. Any advice would be SO ENORMOUSLY greatly appreciated!

Quick description - Remy is a year old now, she has TONS and tons of toys all over the place, she loves to shred yucca and balsa toys in less than five minutes, loves all toys but spends most of her time foraging - she loves to forage - has about 10-20 foraging toys all over the cage and living room and mirror perch, she eats a very wide variety of food - fresh veg, fruit, seeds, beans, brown rice, nuts, etc, etc, and she is tame.

However, she has SUCH a short attention span, it is literally driving us crazy. I went home early from work yesterday with a headache, took her out of her cage, and gave her new foraging toy with an almond in its shell to keep her occupied. She worked on it for 5 minutes, solved it, took it out, flew to the mirror with a perch on it, ate it, flew back to her play gym and screamed at the top of her lungs. I ignored it, then I left the room, then came back when she was quiet, gave her another foraging project in a different part of the room, she was quiet for 5-10 minutes, then screamed again. She cant sit still and nothing keeps her occupied long enough. Basically, she screams when she is bored, I get it. But how entertained can we possibly keep a bird who is a master forager and doesnt like to sit still? All I could think was - I dont know if we can keep her if this doesnt get any better... if we decide to have babies or something and keep living in an apartment, we cant live like this with the screaming, its ridiculous.

Then to show her screaming gets her no where, I put her in her cage and sat next to her on the couch. She did her typical bird pouting, head bobbing, pacing thing because she wanted out. I gave her attention while she was in her cage. The minute I stepped away, she screamed once, so I turned my back and moved further away. She screamed twice, I walked away, she screamed again, I left the room. She screamed and screamed and I stayed away. When she was quiet for an acceptable amount of time or if she did a quiet chirp or whistle, I came back and gave her attention and praised her. She screamed because she wanted out, so I left the room. We did this for an hour. She just didnt get it.. I understand we need to do this more, but with our long work days, the only time we have to train her like this is in the evening or on the weekends and we just simply cant relax anymore because we are dealing with her screaming. Its really stressful. She is only quiet when she is with us, on us, foraging, eating or in the car. If we wanted to watch tv or something with her in the room, if she is not occupied, she will scream. It's ridiculous. To make matters worse, I feel like she has such a short attention span that when I left the room and she kept screaming, she only quieted down when she decided to turn her attention to something else in her cage. When I re-entered the room, she was reminded that she wanted out, and screamed again. Does that make sense??? I almost wanted to just keep her in her cage at that point and for me to stay in another room because it would quiet her down. But it went against wanting her to spend time outside of her cage - I was pretty happy to come home early because she could spend some weekday time outside of her cage, but not like this. Not with her screaming like this.

We've tried putting her to bed earlier with no difference, we move her cage in a different position daily, tried rearranging things inside her cage, rotate toys inside her cage, gave her less food, gave her more food, tried giving her more toys, which she does play with, but sometimes she is restless and simply doesnt want to spend her attention on it for long, she honestly seems like she doesnt know what she wants most of the time. This has been going on since June/July and getting worse.

Does anyone have any advice? We are trying to wait it out until the fall/winter season comes but its just not getting any better... and Skye mentioned breeding season is starting - which confuses us because we thought mating season is in the spring/summer which explains her extra hormonal behavior, but if this behavior is year round, we are really losing motivation. It sounds horrible, and maybe I'm just super sensitive about this because of yesterday, but it's very upsetting.
MissK
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by MissK »

Please forgive me for asking you to do something I could not do, myself, but can you put up a you tube video of her? I'd like to see the cage, the room, and the quiet behaviour as well as how it turns to screaming.

Mind, I am not a screaming expert, and the girl-parrot hormone thing is right out of my league. Screaming is a deal-breaker for me. However, I am a compassionate animal lover and have kept pleasant pets that others admire for decades. I'd like to think I could take a shot at helping. Most importantly, I am farther from the situation than you are. I hope I will be able to spot an opportunity for you.

Remy certainly needs to learn more independent behaviours, Can you review her in cage possessions and compare them to that list of 7 types of enrichment that Ellie talks about? Can you give her more stuff to destroy? Rocky is extra fond of chewing beads off cord. I restring the beads, sometimes, every other day, but it's *easy* and he *loves* it. A little bath in the cage might help. How about the sort of foraging that involves more physical than mental challenge? Can you play her you tube videos of other parrots from time to time?

Hoping any of this helps.
-MissK
jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

I think a youtube video sounds easy enough, but may present a challenge in itself since she loves to be recorded. Although if we try and its too dark after work hours to get good quality, it will have to be during a weekend. The key is we will need to capture it just right when she is playing and minding her own business, to losing interest and screaming. It will be another challenge too, as if she sees us recording her (with our phones, our only way), she will get distracted and want our phones instead. She loves our phones! So this will be interesting to try, but we will still try. Usually, if we are recording her, that means we are paying attention to her, and she wont be screaming at all. If we had a hidden camera, which we definitely dont - we just have our phones - that would be ideal. So we'll see.

As for toys, you have no idea how quickly she destroys a toy, its impressive! We got her a massively large yucca wood toy for a macaw and it was like childs play for her. As for foraging toys that make her think, if she cant think hard enough, she will lose interest. If she can think enough to solve it, it will be done in 5-10 minutes flat - no joke. Brawn toys like vine balls, shredders, balsa, yucca wood, etc, she definitely loves and keeps her quiet as long as they last. Which they dont. She's talented and really by observing her, she really needs to always be involved in something or else she will be bored and she will scream.

If you ask me, its ALL boredom with her. Maybe I'll youtube her cage and her gym and her mirror perch tonight - regardless if we are able to capture her and her behavior - so everyone can see her surroundings.
MissK
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by MissK »

If your phone/camera is in a box looking through a peephole it becomes hidden.

Maybe you need just tp hand out more wood.
-MissK
Skyes_crew
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by Skyes_crew »

Skye is becoming bored more often too Josie. It's restlessness. It's about 2-3 months until the start of breeding season in your neck of the woods. From what I'm reading, this is the time of year that they are foraging more and consuming more calories in preparation for the winter months and breeding season. And they do this with their flock. You are her flock. In a nutshell, she's lonely. I have the benefit of other birds to distract Skye to some degree. I'm also home most of the time. She'll still let loose with some screaming at certain times of the day. After breakfast, mid afternoon, and at dusk. I've gotten so used to it, I don't hear it anymore. I was sitting on the lanai the other evening talking to a friend and my daughter opened the door and it literally sounded like a rainforest jungle in my house lol. But I never notice it because I'm around it all the time. It's kind of soothing to me. As for foraging...forget the expensive mind toys for now. Amazon sells the cardboard box foragers. Buy the large size. They also sell the ones with the section inserts...ill pm you a link for that one. Anyway, stuff that sucker full of stuff and let her go to town. I use shredded paper, bits of wood, bark, you can add nuts. Anything shreddable and chewable. Hang it from a spot where she'll have to work to get to it and destroy it. Petco sells premade ones, but they're expensive unless you find them on sale. It's cheaper to make your own. I also have huge pieces of wood, anything safe for birds will do. Soak it in water for about a week. It bloats the wood. Then dry it in the oven or the sun. And let her destroy it. Grass mats rolled up and tied with jute or sisal are a great chew toy. You can find them in the small rodent section in most pet stores.

Unfortunately though, no matter how many things you give her to do, she's going to still remain lonely. Any chance you could get her a pair of singing canaries to keep her company? :D
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

My gosh, she was already restless before... to think she will be even more restless is crazy. I need ideas for LONG lasting foraging toys. That isnt something to solve or tear apart in minutes, but something that will prove to remain interesting to her for several hours, and then I take it away and give it to her sparingly. The problem is also, if she sees something the same for several days, she loses interest. We bought her a tiny rubber duck to play with in the bathroom while we shower, for instance, and she was happy and quiet for a week everytime she was in the bathroom.. now she flings it aside and screams when she is bored. grrrrrrrr......... It truly is boredom MissK - now that I think of it, I dont think it has much to do with her surroundings except she wants to be somewhere different because she is bored of our house! Especially our living room! Its like she wants to be out of her cage, but when she is out, she is bored. Even with toys all over the house, because its almost like she doesnt WANT to play, she wants something else... birdie sex? companionship? I dont know but it makes me want to cry

MissK - also, we cant hide a phone in a box because she will fly from her cage, to the mirror, to the play gym, to the plant, to the couch, she doesnt sit still when she is bored and when she screams, there isnt a set spot where she does it... and she doesnt stay in one spot for very long, so a stationary phone wont work. I know it sounds silly, but a simply request really is a tough one around her!

I think the solution is to make her stop being bored. Maybe more car rides! Whenever she is in a different or new area she seems happy and curious. Even the hallway to our apartment door. But when she is home, she is bored. I feel so bad.... I wish we had a huge forest or jungle for her to fly around in :(

I just dont see the screaming stopping with anything other than training over a very very long course of time, and if she is lonely, who knows if it will ever get better... we cant get more birds Skye :( and now I feel like a horrible parront because our girl is lonely. Now I feel like we should have never gotten her and someone who is home more or has a bigger flock would be able to make her happier :( I just hate feeling like she is unhappy
MissK
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by MissK »

Hey, I hear you; she's bored. She needs help to get her mind off herself. If she destroys her destroyable toys in a short time, provide more or bigger. Let's put our heads together and see if we can think of 14 groups of things she might like so you can rotate toys *every day* if need be. Would you consider setting up a second cage so she can do some more commuting?

If she cannot have a real flock (And please no Canaries. I had three Canaries tell me they were scared of being in the same room with the Ringneck.) then grab her some noisy bird videos to watch. A video flock. Some vids the same every day and others different.

Just scrambling to come up with thoughts here.
-MissK
jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

Thanks MissK - and so interesting that when we got home last night, she was a little angel. I think it had to do with us keeping the tv/music off all day long. Maybe she had more quiet time and was less grouchy because she napped in peace or something. Anyway, she hung out on our dining room mirror on her perch and was happy as can be. She also sat next to me on the couch and ate some parmesan cheese (dont tell the vet, it was really a one time treat thing), and then drank a bunch of water and fluffed up happily next to the mirror.

The things she absolutely loves to destroy, which we have in her cage every day in some way:

yucca wood
balsa wood
vine balls
vine anything
little alphabet wooden blocks
popsicle sticks, all sticks, all wooden stick things

We have a variety of toys in different variations of the items above that we make for her to put in her cage every day. Either on a rope, kabob and/or foot toy. We actually are giving her a break from yucca wood for a few days as I think she is getting the dust up her nose and she has coughing sneezing fits - she really gets her head up there! But anyway, I think if she has these items, she is happy in her cage when we arent there.

The thing we need to think about is keeping her occupied when we ARE there, and she is out of her cage. Sometimes the mirror is fine, since the perch has a variety of foraging stuff (pods, vine balls, rubber rollee things) for her to occupy herself, but at others, she just doesnt want to be there it seems. It's almost like we need a massive living room WALL size of activity to set up. Like a full bird room (no room for another cage right now), with trees and stuff hanging from the ceiling and etc etc.
ozzydeg
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by ozzydeg »

Your bird can be heading towards plucking!! there is something in the birds environment that needs changing fast, larger gage, change of diet, daily showers and more company!

my ringneck started to scream like this then it led to plucking and now she has started to mutilate! i don't think she will survive for much longer :(, i hope i helped a bit but from my experience now i might help out
jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

ozzydeg wrote:Your bird can be heading towards plucking!! there is something in the birds environment that needs changing fast, larger gage, change of diet, daily showers and more company!

my ringneck started to scream like this then it led to plucking and now she has started to mutilate! i don't think she will survive for much longer :(, i hope i helped a bit but from my experience now i might help out
omg I am going to cry
jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

All - as promised, here is a video of Remy's surroundings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_GB0b4Xbgs

She has a large cage with tons of toys, on the weekends and after work, she hangs out on our dining room mirror with mirror perches on it - with toys on them. Sometimes we rotate them to the sliding deck door or another mirror in the house (like a bathroom, bedroom, etc)

Is there anything about it that is lacking something? Someone once said she has absolutely everything she could possibly need and she is spoiled rotten! :cry: That doesnt make it easier. She used to LOVE her cage and plant and mirror and now she is just bored with EVERYTHING! She is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO bored.

Again, she is a year old and her diet consists of mainly all veg (green leafy stuff - kale, collard greens, romaine, spinach, dandelions, bok choy, anything green in the supermarket), peppers, snap peas, sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, etc, etc) and beans, with some fruit like apples, pear, berries, kiwi. Because of hormones we have been trying to avoid high sugar fruit. Some brown rice and grains and nuts we absolutely need to feed her as treats or foraging otherwise she wont forage for anything at all.

She is fully flighted and flies around happily and/or like a maniac which is fine with us because its good exercise that works off those nuts. She is very tame and VERY clingy - she needs both myself and my fiance in the room at all times or else she goes nuts with her contact calls and screams.

This past weekend, she was much better and kept the screaming to only if she wanted something - or wanted us. We flat out ignored her and I think she is learning that soft whistling gets her tons of attention, but for now, we dont know what her problem is.

Please view the video and let us know if we should add more stuff, or take away. We just redid the interior of her cage as well since she just changed her sleeping perch, so we took advantage of changing things around. The interior of the cage is of yesterday.
Skyes_crew
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by Skyes_crew »

Her cage looks fine Josie...I'd move in there lol. I honestly don't believe she's bored at all. I love that mirror perch by the way. Where did you get it? Skye is normally a fairly quiet bird. She talks a lot, but it's become background for me. MissK and I have been tracking her hormonal changes related to day length changes. This past week alone she has become cage aggressive. She screams her contact call sometimes for 30 minutes straight...morning, afternoon, and evening. She has started chasing my males. I can no longer let the whole flock out together for fear of their safety. This is her first season and I have no clue how she's going to behave. She chased my cockatoo around two days ago until he flew into my chest and buried his head. Yes she's that evil right now lol. So count yourself lucky that you don't have an aggressive hen. I think I would gladly take just a screaming hen. I'm not sure when the screaming will subside. But then will come the nesting drive. To satisfy that, i would get the largest rubbermaid tote you could find, line just the bottom with wood shavings, and let her scratch and nest as much as she wants. It will keep her from wanting to find hidey holes. Just hang in there.
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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InTheAir
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by InTheAir »

Budgies for company!
But, seriously did you try showing her flock videos?
MissK
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by MissK »

Proposal - let's trade for a week. My dog Boo Boo is being SO PUSHY! SO LOUD! She's taking Prednisone so she wants my food all the time, and she wants to go out so she can browse the yard, and downstairs to eat my socks! < :o > Hands Over Ears! The only way to (somewhat) kindly shut her up is to hold her, which is not even what she wants.

Oy.

But seriously, the stuff looks good. Rocky enjoys a bit more in the way of small foot toys, but maybe because he's a boy. ? And he's into destroying dried grasses from the rodent section. Are you rotating stuff we don't see? I feel rude to even mention it, since you have done *SO* much to learn that surely you already know that. But just in case.........

On a more human note, I see those plastic coop cups that twist off the base. I know they cost some money - I had one. "Had." I may be a talentless, ham-fisted fool, but they were too much a bother for me. I donated mine to the bird club raffle table and now exclusively use the stainless cups that sit in a bolt-on ring. Just lift them out and drop them in. So easy. I'll never go back.
-MissK
jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

Melissa, that is so cute about your cockatoo burying its head in your chest to get away from Skye. A little sad, but so cute as he is so much bigger than her!

Claire, we show her flock videos from the forum articles actually on our iPhones. The ones with Anakin and Archimedes lol. She pins and shouts and attacks the nearest toy whenever she watches them - we cant tell if she loves it or hates it, but we show it a couple times a week :)

MissK - we have soooooooooooo many toys we rotate every couple of days. She has birdie A.D.D. Even in the bathroom, she plays with her rubber duck happily, then all of sudden, flings it onto the floor, screams at the top of her lungs - 10 screams in a row actually - then quiets down and attacks her squeaky tennis ball. Typical Remy bathroom behavior. Imagine the living room with more toys and wider space... maybe she's overstimulated and she doesnt like going back to her cage because she thinks she's human and doesnt want to because we dont lock ourselves in her cage.

Hence the screaming. How do you teach a bird its a bird and we are human?????? :shock: :shock:
Skyes_crew
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by Skyes_crew »

jmlw7 wrote:
How do you teach a bird its a bird and we are human?????? :shock: :shock:
You, Brian and Remy all perch on a giant dowel until someone falls off :mrgreen:
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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ellieelectrons
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by ellieelectrons »

jmlw7 wrote:How do you teach a bird its a bird and we are human?????? :shock: :shock:
Let her meet other birds? Although if your bird has gone too far down the human track, it still may not make the connection?

Ellie.
lola13
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by lola13 »

This sounds very familar to my female irn. She's 13months old and I'm sure she's trying/starting to talk. But she screams a lot from as soon as her cover comes of till about 7pm. She's got a lot of toys aswell which get switched and a lot of brought and diy foraging toys. She's got herself a new full flight cage as she doesn't come out she's not tame at all and won't come out just ignores the doors are open.
The thing I'm having a problem with is all of a sudden she hates me and my bf being near her shell scream in our faces. When before shed just sit there back of a bit but not seem scared.
She's been vet checked and is fine.
My bf just thinks she's a very happy bird and wants everyone to know about it.
ellieelectrons
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by ellieelectrons »

Hi Lola

I don't know if this will be helpful but my birds seem to scream when they are scared or excited. My female gets excited when she hears the door close to the toilet and will screech until the person comes out. Very strange habit and not at all comforting to guests! lol
Janey will screech when my husband is close by but usually not when I'm closeby. I think she doesn't scream for me because if she does, I generally don't reinforce it by looking at her or talking to her. My husband, however, is very sensitive to noise and will almost always tell them to be quiet - which seems to reinforce the behaviour. It's either that or the fact that she's infatuated with Mr Ellie and she doesn't get to spend too much time with him.

Ellie.
jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

Hi all, just a quick update on Remy's screaming... we've taken a few days to observe her and she's quieted down somewhat. At least during the weekday mornings and evenings.

She has limited her screaming to telling us she is "done" foraging (aka, the almond or pistachio is gone), and/or when she notices one of us is out of the room and in the bathroom or something. When she knows we are both home, she expects us to both be in the room with her ALL the time. If one of us leaves the room, we better bring her with us or if she notices, she will scream her head off.

I guess we can live with this stuff... especially since when she is foraging for something and is done, and flies and lands close to us and screams her head off, we know what she is saying. But since we ignore the screaming, she whistles instead. This we will respond to and replenish her foraging toy, or give her a new one, or whatever after making a big deal about her cute little whistle. We wish she could talk, but nothing yet

In the mornings, she is starting to scream less when we bring her back to her cage before we leave for work. She still puts up a fuss - aka, has us chase her until she stays on our finger and we can put her away, but she screams less when we put her in her cage right in front of a new and interesting toy. Yes, you read it right... we need to have a NEW TOY in her cage EVERY MORNING to keep her quiet when we leave for work. Forget monthly or weekly rotations. For us, its every morning. And we cant put it in there at night when she can already look at it, it needs to be BRAND NEW or else she will scream.

sigh. hopefully this is the way we have to work things, but Im sure things will change again soon. I should also add that we have figured out when she seems the happiest. Its weekend mornings when we are both at the kitchen/dining room table eating our breakfast and she is on her mirror perch on our kitchen/dining room mirror right next to us. If we sit there all day, she will probably be the happiest bird in the world. This flock creature habit thing is really for real.

Oh and we realized she doesnt care about spending time with us. All she cares about is having something to do at all times. We thought it was us she wanted to spend time with... but in reality, she was on us all the time because she was bored with everything else.

Does anyone else have SUCH a bored bird? She is bored, no doubt - we have been watching her every move and our bird has the most ridiculous attention span. thank god for nuts! :roll:

By the way, she has met other birds - we visited the place we are boarding her next month.. and they had a cockatoo, a few caiques, lovebirds, doves and conures. One of the caiques was free and super duper gentle and slow so we werent worried. Remy couldnt care less. She couldnt be less interested in all of them. She looked annoyed when one of them was screaming with an ear shattering pitch that made Remy sound quiet, and I think she yelled at him :lol: but other than that, she was more curious about the people than the birds. I think she thinks shes a little person.
MissK
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by MissK »

Wow.
-MissK
lola13
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by lola13 »

My lola seems to scream more when we are out of the room. Ill only call back if she wolf whistles,kisses,clicks or meows. And it can go on for a long time calling to eachother.
Its all really started including the flying of now since my other irn got put to sleep. She's desperatly trying to get my macaws attention and he doesn't care at all for her. I have made a lot of foraging toys which she's very clever aswell.

I think I have a bored bird to! Or very lonely! She's got a lot of toys to many infact so how she's bored I don't know.
jmlw7
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jmlw7 »

lola13 wrote:
I think I have a bored bird to! Or very lonely! She's got a lot of toys to many infact so how she's bored I don't know.
In my opinion with Remy, she has such a ridiculous attention span, that sometimes it seems like she forgets that things are there, even when they are right next to her. She has SOOOOOOOO many toys, she loves ALL of them, but after a while its like she gets tired of looking at it and if she doesnt destroy it to pieces right away, she will lose interest.

Something I noticed is that if she is looking at us with a pathetically bored expression, we will tinker with the toy right next to her. God forbid we touch her toys, she runs/flies to it and is like "oh yea, i have something to do there and its mine not yours!" and then she plays with it for awhile. Our only successful toys that keeps her occupied is her rubber egg/ball thing with holes. We stick pistachios or almonds still in its shell so she can "see" her work is getting somewhere. Although sometimes she gets tired and loses interest with how difficult it may be, so we walk over and poke it with our finger so it swings and she is all over it again. So ridiculous. :| :| :| :|

You could always try poking her toys so they get Lolas attention Maybe she is similar
lola13
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by lola13 »

Lola has that rubber toy she's got two ha! She looooves them esp when there's jumbo lollipop sticks she's got a thing with nibbling at them into balls and chucking them around the place.
I was thinking of getting the foraging buffet ball the one that hangs from the top. Sometimes the acrylic toys are better then diy ones.

I played with one of her toys but she just looked at me like I was going to kill me then screamed in my face. Something has happened and I can't think of what. I'm wondering someone or something outside has really spooked her.
komodo
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by komodo »

modified the behaviour. train the bird to ring a bell or say a phrase when it wants attention.
Skyes_crew
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by Skyes_crew »

We did that with my bare eyed cockatoo....now all we hear are bells ringing all day :lol:
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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lola13
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by lola13 »

I've stopped my macaw screaming for attention but my IRN is proving more difficult!
ranechild
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by ranechild »

Do you play music for her while you are away? Perhaps getting her into some classical music radio will mellow here out? Chamomile tea too? Just trying to think of ways to slow her down.
lola13
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Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:43 pm

Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by lola13 »

We put the radio on smooth which is old songs nothing to dancy of heavy and she sings along. But she's only loud when were home I've never heard her once being loud when I've been walking home and she can't see me. Oh can they have that tea? I wouldn't know how to give it to her.
Donovan
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Location: North Carolina

Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by Donovan »

Okay,.. admittedly I didn't read everything on this thread.

but to help reduce sceaming you might also try creating a YouTube playlist of Indian Ringnecks (and other birds) making interesting noises.

If nothing else it could teach your bird to make more pleasant sounds than just screaming
jimmyjack
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Location: australia

Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by jimmyjack »

I just posted this into another thread you had started on foraging toys, but sounds like you're getting to your limits with this! Poor thing, I thought Salvador was bad but hes nothing in comparison. In fact, I wish he paid more attention to his other toys, chewing ones etc, I dont know why I even bother putting them in his cage!

I had the same problem with Salvador getting to clever for his foraging toys. They suggested I DIY the toys slightly. Now, for each toy I use this strategy:
- wrap the treat in paper (cupcake trays are cheap and simple!) then place it in the toy
- close up the toy
- sticky tape the closing mechanism (most tapes use a vegetable gum, so safe for birds!)
- then wrap the whole toy in paper (paper towel, butcher paper, etc) and tape it up

this makes each one more timely than the 10 seconds tops it used to take him. Just to get through it all, now takes a fair bit longer, and also he often gets distracted and comes back. Also I:
- often use blanks - fake treat, bead, gum nut or casuarina pod wrapped up as above and put in a toy instead of a treat. Then all that work for nothing. Keeps them guessing!
- Often the only easily accessible food in the cage he can get it the one he likes least, ie broccoli or zucchini etc. I'll hide other vegies in paper, so he doesnt know what hes getting until he's opened it.

She wont play with a foraging toy unless she sees the food inside, so we like the ones we can reuse.
I'd suggest you start wrapping up your treats. You said remy will only go for it if she can see it, but begin by wrapping a favourite nut or something in paper so you build an association that a wrapped up item is treat worth getting to...give these to her when training or out on the perch

Also, my all time favourite foraging toy is still a toilet roll. Can't beat em!
AJPeter
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by AJPeter »

It's a bit late in the day to post on this thread but for what is worth l stopped Billie from screaming by blowing a referee's whistle at her, when she screamed l blew, l hung it up near her cage and she has only screamed once since and then when l reached for the whistle she stopped.
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ellieelectrons
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Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by ellieelectrons »

lol - now that is an old school technique! Reminds me of the water bottle spray.

Ellie.
Skyes_crew
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by Skyes_crew »

With my luck my birds would be bringing me the whistle to blow in fun :lol:
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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InTheAir
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by InTheAir »

Skyes_crew wrote:With my luck my birds would be bringing me the whistle to blow in fun :lol:
Nila would think it's a competition and try to scream louder! :lol:
AJPeter
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Re: Screaming is getting worse!

Post by AJPeter »

It was just an idea, are they (IRN) all different l mean can rules apply to them all? I like to think that the reason for screaming is the cause, deal with that and you would not need a whistle. Billie screamed when she saw a fly now she is more reaonable and just watches it fly past. I find talking to her helps settle her down, she gets very agitated when the window cleaners put their water brush on the outside of my windows l explained to Billie what was happenening but l can see she gets very upset when the roof is leaking and there is the drip drip water in the bowl. I said to her let's scream together and l screamed but she was so shocked she never said a mumlin' word!
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