Ear piercing screech!

[OllyGreen]

My parrot keeps doing these ear piercing screeches. I give him alot of attention, he always has food available and has loads of toys to keep him company yet he keeps screeches. I don't mind when he does it every so often as all parrots do but he does it all the time. He can speak really well and he does sometimes do these cute little chirps which I wish he would do rather than screeching all the time. Is there anything I can do to stop him doing this all the time?

[Skyes_crew]

When he's in the cage and you here the cute little chirps you like, give him a treat and praise him. When he's screeching ignore him completely. Over time he'll realize the screeching will get him no attention.

[OllyGreen]

Oh ok then, thank you for the advice, I'll do that

[jmlw7]

Is there anything else to be done besides ignoring the screech? I understand over time they will learn it gets them no where when ignored completely (back turned and everything) but the in the meantime stuff is getting migraine worthy from our female IRN, almost a year old. Ever since breeding season started she has been extremely clingy and vocal.. REALLY vocal. The other day I stayed home with her from work and she was flying from the living room to the bedroom. In each room she would "call" me. If I thought it was too loud and ignore her, she would scream louder and louder and louder. I completely ignored her, she flew right onto my lap and screamed in my face. She KNOWS her cute little whistles get my attention, but she is really acting like a brat and chooses to scream instead. I KNOW she was yelling at me because she chewed her shower perch suction cup and it fell off the mirror and she wanted it back up, but I totally ignored her until she quieted down before I put it back up. It was quite a long while before she was quiet again. Is there anything we can do for those of us with screaming IRNs instead of waiting til they learn? For some of us the learning process is very long and painful.

[MissK]

This kind of thing is why screaming is on my short list of new adoption deal breakers. I would be totally confounded by it.

-MissK

[Skyes_crew]

Unfortunately no while it seems like the 9th dimension of hell right now, it will get better...I promise. Josie, pick one of Remy's play perches and put it in a quiet area. When she acts up like that step her up and place her on the perch and walk away. No eye contact at all. You may have to do this about a Million times lol. But absolutely no attention vocally.

[jmlw7]

Unfortunately no while it seems like the 9th dimension of hell right now, it will get better...I promise. Josie, pick one of Remy's play perches and put it in a quiet area. When she acts up like that step her up and place her on the perch and walk away. No eye contact at all. You may have to do this about a Million times lol. But absolutely no attention vocally.

I'm a little afraid picking her up and putting her down somewhere else is reinforcing something somehow, although Im not sure what. I feel like the attention piece of actually picking her up may reinforce the effectiveness of her screaming. Will the no eye contact, no vocal thing really get the message across?

I think my fiance started this with her whenever he is home from work with her because he is on phone calls most of the day. She probably starting getting loud one day and he gave her a dirty look or put her somewhere else she would like until she quiets down. Now she expects it from him because I realized its much worse when he's around. I'm trying to get him to recognize and control his own reactions too but now its me waiting for the both of them to behave properly with each other! As now all of my techniques are double the effort and time spent. It will take twice as long

[Skyes_crew]

He probably did cause it without realizing it. It happens. My husband had a habit of tapping his hand on my conures cage every time he passed it. She became fearful of people walking past the cage. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why until I saw him do it one day. He wasn't trying to be mean, it was just a subconscious habit. I moved her cage to a place she could see people coming head on. It took a few months but she's back to normal now.

The no eye contact, no vocal is to reinforce that this is not a ride for enjoyment. By putting her in a quiet area away from interaction with you it tells her you're unhappy with something she's done. Don't let her lose sight of you. Just walk away from her. Also try to catch it quick. As soon as she screeches put her on the perch and walk away. When she can stay a minute or two quiet, go back and treat and praise her. Make a huge deal out of it.

[OllyGreen]

Thank you all for the advice, I'll reward him when he talks and does the cute little chirps and will ignore him whenhe does those screeches to encourage him to talk rather than screech because he can speak really well now

He screeches a lot more when my boyfriend or anyone else is in my room. I don't know he doesn't like anyone else but he behaves so badly when there are others in the room and calms down when it's just me and him. I hope he starts getting used to other people soon!!

[Skyes_crew]

Thank you all for the advice, I'll reward him when he talks and does the cute little chirps and will ignore him whenhe does those screeches to encourage him to talk rather than screech because he can speak really well now

He screeches a lot more when my boyfriend or anyone else is in my room. I don't know he doesn't like anyone else but he behaves so badly when there are others in the room and calms down when it's just me and him. I hope he starts getting used to other people soon!!

It may be a bit stressful, but try to socialize him as much as possible. It's a lot easier now when they are young vs. later when they are set in their ways.

[jmlw7]

I hate to hijack this thread, but this morning Remy really had a screaming fit. We had the regular morning routine and she was screaming as we were preparing her daily food and foraging toys. I put her in the guest bedroom, no eye contact or vocal and shut the door. She was quiet immediately. Then I went in, praised her, brought her back out and she started up again. Then we had to leave for work and when we put her back in her cage, when she normally explores all her new fresh fun food and toys, she started screaming again. We could hear her all the way down as we were walking out of our apartment (we live on the 3rd floor), and outside as we left the deck door open. Its embarrassing and really really loud. Any ideas of what on earth is going on? Any clue on how to stop it? We are honestly floored that we havent gotten any complaints or eviction notices yet. Today was the worst its ever been

[Skyes_crew]

She knows the morning routine...she knows you're leaving. And I think as Ellie may have suggested she may be pair bonding with you. Keep up the mini time outs. It will take more than just a few for her to realize their purpose. In the meantime, are there any funds available for another cage? Yes another cage lol. My suggestion is for her to have a separate daytime cage than nighttime cage. Something for her to look forward to going to when you leave for work. A place where there are certain toys and foods she only will get while you are at work. The second cage will be strictly for when you are at work. Not for nights, not for weekends...no matter how much she begs. Then on mornings you are getting ready for work she will be getting excited about getting in the cage. When she's finally allowed in there just as you're walking out the door, the urge to scream will be the last thing on her mind. But you have to make that cage super special and make it stand out way better than her other one.

[BrendaDup]

Hi, must be something in the air.. mine woke up on the wrong side of her perch this morning! she has been doing great but this morning wow, I tried leaving the room, it didn't help , I was trying to pay bills well that was not happening with her doing that so finally I just closed the curtains turned off the light except my desk light and she quieted down, played with her toys . Thank goodness paying bills is bad enough

[jmlw7]

interesting how the issues on this thread have to do with females

[Skyes_crew]

The poor things are restless I have always said I didn't want female birds...the reason for my male bird family. I do have a female sun conure though. For awhile she was restless too. She recently bonded with my cockatiel and has become much more tolerable. I wonder if female IRN's just need to be with other birds.

[MissK]

I feel like a huge traitor, but I also seek to populate the house with only male birds. That one Budgie girl did sneak in, and I'll not part from her, but I won't let it happen again. It just seems that the girls have Issues, and I would worry a lot about protecting them, and then there's the whole breeding issue. Oy.

-MissK

[BrendaDup]

Now I find this out! Willow is my first IRN female, one minute she will let me pet her the next she is running or she is trying to bite ..but I love her ,she is so pretty and will be even more when her wings grow out.

[jmlw7]

I feel like a huge traitor, but I also seek to populate the house with only male birds.

I feel so guilty feeling jealous of everyone on here with male birds

[Skyes_crew]

Don't feel guilty it's not like you don't love Remy you live and you learn and if you ever get another bird you now have a preference

[ellieelectrons]

Since noone is standing up for the females here, I'll do it

There was a post from Imran a while back saying that he preferred females as pets. He felt they bonded (not in a pair-bond way) more strongly with people. I'll have to do a search and see if I can find it.

There are exceptions to every rule - there are bitey males and gentle, non-bitey females.

In my Janey's defence, we did a lot of things wrong with her when she was a baby and that could contribute to her on-edge behaviours now (eg. head stuck between bars of travel cage, spooked by car door and flew into a tree). It could just be because we got her first, but I do feel that she is more strongly bonded to us than Charlie. Also, I wonder if females generally have more aptitude for trick learning (obviously there will be exceptions - eg. Nila ). When I've been training some Alexandrines I've found that the females pick up tricks quicker - although, they all do pick them up eventually.

Ellie.