Quick screaming question

[scooter4n]

HI all.
So here we have Congo African Grey.
She is 2.5 years old and Lucy is a just a good bird.
Most of the time she is in very good mood, talks, likes to come out and hang out, plays, just a good bird.
Not screaming much at all, but in last few months she developed this scream, I think she picked up from kids or the TV, but this very loud scream comes out from nowhere, its like she is testing us.
Anyway, I have two options, and I want to hear your opinion on this:

A: After few screams I say too loud ( she always repeats back: Lucy is too loud) so I get up and cover her with the cage cover for 5 min. She quiets down very fast, than I uncover her and she is good for a day, sometimes less, so this technic kind of works for short term ( day or so), but I am afraid I am training her to call me in with the scream, even when I cover her.

B: we just seat trough the scream and ignore her completely, this option not working soo well, she will do this scream on and off for few min to 5 min, than kind of quits, but its too loud, so sometimes my wife gets upset.

SO what should I do, continue covering her, or ignoring her?

[Graeme]

Well almost everything says to completely ignore the bird. But I tend to think they know when they are doing something you don't like, they know by the tone of voice or your body language that you are not happy with them.

I have a sun Conure and when he does something I don't like I hold up one finger and give him a stern look. He knows what it means, sometimes he will stop it and sometimes he will ignore me. then I just grab him and put him in his cage for half an hour.

Is your bird in her cage when she does this? If so then this could just be a call to, "let me out I want to play" in which case I would only let her out when she is quiet.

If she is already out of the cage I would just do what you are doing, put her back into the cage and cover it until she settles down.

Now you will more than likely get others who completely disagree.

[scooter4n]

Thanks for input.

Sometimes she is in the cage, sometimes out of the cage, I would say 50/50.

When she is in the cage I would just cover her, when she is out of the cage, I come to her without making too much contact I say " Too loud" she will step up without any problems and go in the cage, and keeps repeating" Too Lout, quite, too loud" and I cover her.

Usually before I cover her once she makes the noise first time, I say " Lucy, it's too loud, quite" just giving her a sign, so she knows what is coming, sometimes she stops, other times she keeps screaming, than my next move is to cover her.

I just wish she gets it that this loud sound is too loud and stops

[Pajarita]

She has now matured sexually so she is not what she used to be. Parrots (same as all other animals) are like people and they do baby things when they are babies (and are also very easy to control and that's why Graeme talks of just lifting his finger and the baby sun conure obeying), teenage things when they reach puberty (and behave like brats!) and adult things when they reach adulthood -and they keep on changing as they get older. Some get better, some get worse, it depends on the individual bird, the species and the conditions it's kept. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've heard or read people saying: She/he never did this before! Because the other thing that parrots are is patient -they wait and wait and wait for things to get better and, when they see they are not, they complain.

Now, grays do NOT like to be by themselves and, most likely, the scream is a call for company. Is she flighted? How many hours does she spend out of cage? How many hours on one-on-one time? Is she on a solar or a human light schedule? Does she follow the same routine every day? The thing with parrots is that they are not like dogs which would be happy just laying down and taking a nap in the same room we are in, they need physical contact so, to them, unless their body is actually touching your body, you are not close enough. They also need strict routines or they get confused and begin to feel insecure (and grays, been naturally high-strung require this more strictly than other more independent species -like zons, for example). They also need entertainment - and that doesn't mean having the TV on! It means flying, playing with their human, taking a bath, etc. Grays are smarter than other species and they get bored easier.

So, what you need to do is evaluate her life and see what is lacking there and provide it because, I have to tell you that covering her cage is a punishment (birds are the most vision-dependent of all the vertebrates species so depriving them of light IS punishment) she doesn't deserve.

[scooter4n]

Lucy is non flighted.
Routine is pretty regular, but sometimes we have day off here and there, so it's changing, but normally its pretty standard.
Working Monday-Friday 7 to 3:30, home at 3:45, wife gets home hour later, kids home about 3:30 as well.
Once we are home we let her out of the cage, she hangs on the cage when we are downstairs, plays around, very happy when we are home, talks allot. SO she is in the center of attention for about hour or two. Gets snacks threats...
After that I go take a shower, she comes with me most of the time. Likes to go shower, I ask her" Let's go shower" she repeats, Let's go, come on, lets go shower, and very happy to go.
Than I spend hour or so in the office, she has play stand in there and spends some time with me there.
Later she ether downstairs or when ever in the house.
So She gets 4-5 hours in our company, just around us...
About 1 hour of contact time with me...
More on the weekend...
But she don't mind cage, she has lots of toys and I would say half of the time when cage door is open she still inside playing..

[Pajarita]

Well, if she coming out of her cage at 3:30 and spends 4-5 hours with the family, she is been put to bed way too late this time of the year (look at the birds in the trees, they are all asleep by 5pm). Does she sleep in the middle of things? Could she be not getting enough time or quality sleep?

Have you tried putting her on a stand next to you instead of leaving her in/on her cage? Because that's when she screams, right? Also, if the routine is so steady, you should be able to pinpoint the time when she screams the most and what is happening around her and right before that particular time and see if there is anything that is triggering it.

[scooter4n]

She always screams when she is on the cage or in the cage, you are correct.
BUt this scream is mixed with other sounds, like she will go in to this talk mode, doing all of the sounds, and than in the middle of it, she will pull this loud scream, than she will go back to the other sounds she knows, sometimes keeps repeating this for some time.
Like I was saying in the first post, it's like she picked up this annoying sound that is very sound and unpleasant to everyone in the room. When she is doing it, it dont seem to me that this is only sound she makes, because its in between talking and all, also I dont feel like she is calling me to get her out. TO me feels like she trying to have conversation with us, or be part of our conversation like we are talking and she is talking and she makes this to say" Hey I am louder than you, or Hey I am here"

About sleep schedule, she is going to bed around 9-9:30, and she loves to stay late if she can, she is super active after 9, and some days we stay up till 11, and she just pull of things to do, very active and playful.
During the day when everyone out of the house she naps all days. I have webcam where I can watch her from work, and she is not doing much, eats, walks around the cage, but most of the time in the same spot napping.

[Pajarita]

Yes, they do nap a lot when they don't sleep enough at night but it's not a good, deep sleep, the kind that brings on REM and dreams and allows you to learn and remember things as well as brain cells to regenerate (parrots dream, same as people). Plus, birds still perceive light with their eyes close because of the photoreceptors they have in the brain so even though she is sleeping, her brain 'knows' it's day and her glandular system is still reacting to the light. Birds follow the sun so it's really not healthy for her not to do it, her endocrine system will become (if it's not already) all screwed up and depress her immune system... Please do a bit of research on photoperiodism and birds.

Why don't you try changing this scream to something else? Because although it's true that they pick up bad sounds (alarms, phone ringing, bad language, etc) they also forget them in time and replace them with something else. Maybe you can try saying or making a specific sound (a soft one -LOL) very often as well as putting her on a stand closer to you.

[scooter4n]

good points.
Thank you.