Behavioural Problems Behavioural Problems
Macaws, cockatoos & Conures develop the habit of screaming, fact. If you don’t identify and deal with the problem it will progressively get worse until you find it unbearable, as some birds can scream for hours.
The first thing you need to do is identify what causes your bird to scream. However (and please remember this) you MUST NOT shout at the bird to be quiet. This only teaches your bird that screaming at each other is a normal action and will inevitably only make things worse. You should also not go running to your bird telling it to be quiet, all that will do is teach your bird that if it screams you will come running and give it the attention it wants.
Try to find out if what, if anything triggers the screaming. For example if your bird is in a particular location, or when you leave the room. A lot of birds will scream when their owners are eating a meal (e.g. dinner) and they aren’t eating with them.
Whilst in some cases, it may not be possible to stop your bird screaming, you can encourage it to replace screaming with less noisy alternatives.
Right, let’s investigate, say your bird starts screaming when in the cage; is it in the morning, midday, or in the evening.
If your bird screams in the morning while you are trying to get the kids ready for school, with every one running around doing this that and the other, your bird is there saying “look here, it’s me you know”. Try giving your bird 5 minutes of your time; make the bird some breakfast when you make yours and the kids. Most parrots live in a flock which means they do things together! Remember, your family are now that bird’s flock, so when you eat they want to eat with you. When you are running around like a headless chicken in the morning, and when you’re late, your bird does not know the meaning of late; all the bird knows is that they want some food just like you. So give them some toast or whole grain cereal, make them feel part of your flock. Let them out of the cage to eat breakfast with you (I can hear people saying now that I haven’t got time! well make time! you had time to buy the bird, if you want a happy bird, you have to make time for its well being).
Your bird is screaming midday when you are trying to get dinner ready for the evening, or you are doing your cleaning (assuming your bird has had your love and attention in the morning). I know it is hard to give them attention all the time; your bird has to learn to play on its own during the day. If you can work out what time they start screaming, try giving them something new to play with or give them its favourite food just before he/she is due to start screaming. If this fails, then cover his/her cage with a dark (black out) cover for about half an hour then take the cover off, do not cover your bird for long periods of time. After a sort time your bird will learn screaming gets them nowhere.
Finally, birds screaming in the evening. This is the time you need to play with your bird. When you have your dinner, give your bird its dinner cook him/her some rice and vegetables, he/she will then feel part of the flock and in no time will learn when it is play time, breakfast time, and dinner time. These birds thrive on a schedule where they know what happens next; let them know by having a solid schedule.
BrokenWing |