He screams every time I leave

[collinss2015]

Hey everybody,
I am new to this site but I really need some help here. and I really hope you guys might be able to give me that. I have a Male cockatiel names Charlie. I love him to death But I fear that he has a very un natural connection with me. Most of the time I am the only person that he will allow to take him out of the cage or put him back in. But the thing that is getting out of control is his screaming. He screams every time that I leave the room and recently it has gone to the point that if he can not see me he will start to scream. My family really wants me to give him away because of this, but I love him and don't want to do that. However, this screaming is driving me crazy as well.
The only think that I have found to fix this is temporarily covering him up then uncovering him when h stop screaming but I feel like there has to be a way to teach him to stop screaming entirely. I have had Charlie for almost 4 years now, and I got him when he was less than a year old.
Thanks!

[Wolf]

There are probably several things happening here to cause this problem. The first major cause of Charlie's screaming is that he is alone and lonely. Cockatiels are extremely social birds and will always do much better when they have a mate. So many people will only get one, but the truth is that they should always be purchased in pairs. If you have a large enough cage to get him a mate, I would do so. You could probably find him a suitable mate of the same age at an avian rescue. The next thing that you can do is to decide on a whistle that you could teach him to use instead of his flock call. This works because it is not as loud and is a more pleasant sound. I don't know how much out of cage time that Charlie currently gets, but he is less likely to scream as much if he gets sufficient time with you out of his cage. Most parrot species really should have a minimum of 3 to 4 hours daily of out of cage time.
There are other factors that also contribute to and or cause a parrot to scream and these are hormonally induced. These causes are dependent upon feeding your bird the proper diet and keeping it to a solar light schedule.
Every year parrots cycle into their breeding mode and the main cues to starting and stopping this cycle is the length of the days as well as the wavelengths of the solar radiation that they do and o not receive and the other primary cue is food. With food it is base on having an adequate supply of food to raise their young and on the type of food available to them.
All birds are photoperiodic which means that their internal clock is regulated by light. In order to keep this internal clock from becoming free running you need to expose him to the dawn fro the very first lightening of the sky until full daylight and again they must be exposed to dusk in its entire duration from the beginnings of twilight until full dark. This is required to keep their internal clock running accurately and then as far as their food goes they must have a limited amount of fats and proteins.
We can help you to adjust his diet but only if we know what he eats and when and I have just explained hoe to regulate his light schedule.
I hope that this will help you with your situation, please let me know if I can be any further help.

[liz]

Diet and lighting are extremely important. I also suggest strongly that you get him a friend. These sweet little birds live in flocks. It is unnatural that he is alone. Two cockatiels are really not much more work than one. I have nine. When I bring a new rescue home they automatically do contact calls until I add it to the flock.

[Pajarita]

Both Liz and Wolf are entirely correct. My tiels don't make a peep unless it's breeding season and then it's just a couple of vocalizations and that's it. But, take one of them away from the others and keep him by himself and he will drive you crazy with the flock calls! I recently had to do that because Peter, a high pied pinioned male I took in years ago, had hurt one of his feet so I put him in the 'hospital' cage in the canary room and he called and called and called and called ALL DAY LONG! Once he went back to his flock, silence.

And, by the way, covering him up and uncovering him during the day is not advisable, you are screwing up his endocrine system even more and confusing him completely which, in turn, will make him feel insecure and call even more.

[liz]

My cockatiels are not quiet. The boys sing sweet relaxing tunes and sometimes even sing together.
The only one I can say makes noise is a rehome/rescue named Lola. She had been a loved pet. She calls me at 6:30 every morning like an alarm clock but gets quiet when I answer her. The lady I got her from must have been an early riser and Lola just hasn't adjusted yet. Lola dances when the boys sing. The girls make sweet little tweeter sounds.
A lone cockatiel makes much more noise because it is alone.

[collinss2015]

Thank you all for your help. I only have one problem I am 17 ears old so I still live with my parent. I will be leaving I a year or so for college and Charlie is coming with me. However until then, I have thought that giving Charlie a mate would calm him down but my parents say that they don't want another bird. I have tried everything in the book to get them to reason with me but they wont listen and only get more and more angry when Charlie screams. Is there way that I could quiet Charlie with out getting another bird? I will try showing my parents these posts but I don't think they will listen.
Thanks everyone again!

[liz]

I am sorry you are in that situation. I know what you are going through. I was not allowed to have indoor pets when I was young. I made up for it.

[Pajarita]

No, there is no other way that I know of. Tiels call and call and call looking for a flock or a mate. You can put him on a strict solar schedule and feed him reduced protein to keep his hormonal season short but he might still call because he is alone and highly social birds like cockatiels are never meant to be alone, they live with their flock from birth to death.

Have you asked them why they don't want another bird even though it will be the solution to the problem?

[collinss2015]

Unfortunately, the only answer that I can get it because my mom doesn't want one. I cant get any other explanation that that.
What would you suggest that I feed him? Right now I am just giving him plain cockatiel bird seed?

[Wolf]

Well some of us cook food for our birds.It is very difficult to find a store bought food that meets the actual requirements nutritionally for our birds so I feed my birds a food that we call gloop. It consists of cooked white beans, lentils, whole grains, and vegetables. In addition to this we feed raw vegetables and fruit which vary depending on what is available and upon the species of bird and follow this with an evening meal of a good quality seed mix. I will let Pajarita supply you with the recipe as it is hers.