screaming

[Jayjess2013]

My male, is screaming like a high pitched yell when I leave him in the cage
for too long.
at first, I thought it was a mate finding call, but realised it is for attention. I have been covering the cage verytime he screams
and taght him to whistke when he wants me but he still does not get all the time.
He also screams at my nan and mum

[komodo]

Hello
the goal is to modify the birds behaviour by training the bird to whistle or say a phrase to get your attention.

also be careful, if you keep running to a screaming bird, the bird will realise that by screaming you come running.
the bird is now training you to come when it screams. Yes birds are intelligence enough to do this.
Good Behaviour must be immediately rewarded with positive reinforcement.
Bad Behaviour must received a negative reward.
Biting birds are given solitude for a short time

[InTheAir]

Personally I am against using my birds cage as any type of negative experience. I want it to be his safe place that he can enjoy.
I am rather a fan of the strategies outlined by goodbirdinc.com.

As I avoid punishment of any type with our munchkin, so I have several other ways to comprise with him as well as ignoring the behaviour I dislike.
1) fill this favourite foraging toys and put them in the cage when I want him to be in the cage.
2) play his favourite cds when he is in the cage
3) respond to any noise I like hearing. If he calls what are you doing? I will tell him. .. It's kind of embarrassing sometimes if someone overhears it....
Eg: Nila: aaaair
Me: yes Nila?
Nila: what are you doing?
Me: I'm in the bathroom
Nila: what are you doing?
Me: none of your business!

The only thing we have told him off for doing he now does when he feels we are not holding our end of the bargain in the attention department. ... search cornices if you are interested.

[komodo]

I never mentioned anything about punishment. these are methods used by Dr Rob Marshall avian vet the book is the guide to Eclectus parrots

[InTheAir]

Can you elaborate further on what an example of a negative is?
I guess I am not understanding what you mean by a 'negative reward'.

[komodo]

example can be. You are training the bird to come to you using the bird's favorites treats and a clicker. you do not hold the treat out to the bird any longer than 15 seconds. If the bird fails to come you, withdraw the treat from the birds view and don't click the clicker.
The bird then thinks "hey I didn't get my treat and it's disappeared what's going on" This is negative reward for failure. the bird is not punish. after 30 seconds offer the bird the treat again if it takes the treat you click the clicker at the same time the bird take the treat.

another example is if your bird is out on your hand and it bites you put it on T-perch and leave the room for a minute or 3. I gather you have a T-perch outside the cage. birds being social animals don't like being alone. when you leave the room the bird will wonder what did at first. don't expect this to work straight away. like any training the bird will catch on "I bite everyone leaves" so I will stop biting

my IRN is an aviary bred and born bird for over two months I was trying training method that were on YouTube and all I management was to get the bird to step up. I purchase a training system and in 4 days I had the IRN stepping up and down, staying in his cage until I let him out and returning to his cage and taught him designated perches and I'm in the process of having free fly to my hand. his doesn't do this 100% of the time but he is getting better everyday.

[InTheAir]

I'm glad to hear you have had great success with your bird.
The OP did reference that they cover the cage to stop bird screaming. I personally wouldn't recommend that technique.

[komodo]

some interesting reading about clickers
Clicker training is a method for training animals that uses positive reinforcement in conjunction with a clicker, or small mechanical noisemaker, to mark the behavior being reinforced. The clicker is used during the acquisition phase of training a new behavior, to allow the animal to rapidly identify the precise behavior of interest.

Clicker training originated with Marian Bailey and Keller Breland, who as graduate students of psychologist and eminent behaviorist B.F. Skinner taught wild-caught pigeons to "bowl" (push a ball with their beaks) during military research. According to their work, animal training was being needlessly hindered because traditional methods of praise and reward did not inform the animal of success with enough promptness and precision to create the required cognitive connections for speedy learning. Similar methods were later used in training at least 140 species including whales, bears, lions, chickens and domestic dogs and cats, and even humans

A clicker is just one example of a conditioned reinforcer (secondary reinforcer) or "bridge". Technically a stimulus from any sensory mode may become a conditioned reinforcer (ex. light, smells).

[komodo]

neither would I
Rather modify the behaviour with positive rewards or negative rewards. covering up the bird will not work because it's teaching the bird to hate you and it's cage.