Exessive screaming! Dont know what to do

[Suzanne_Oeid]

Thats really adorable that you guys have a little routine happening. See the way you put it, its very rewarding what you were able to achieve with Freddy but like you said its now easy at all. im glad that you said it does take a while because i was linking it as id i was to teach him a trick and he learns those super quick. that i guess gives me a little more patience. if you dont mind me asking, what do you suggest i do?
its not just about walking away, he so screams when he is on me. do i let that go? how about when taking him outside or elsewhere. i feel like when im with him then its not about feeling lonley the whole family could be sitting around too and he'll will scream like crazy.

[Pajarita]

Bad habits are hard to break so you have to be VERY patient about his screams. Now, in my personal experience, there are a few things that help a lot: good diet, good light, solar light schedule and strict routines.

The good diet part is relatively easy with toos because they are excellent eaters - so much so that they are the only parrots I know that go for the leafy green before anything else (try crunchy ones like the very heart of the romaine, the stalks of the red Swiss chard, bok choy, celery, etc).

Good light is more important that people usually realize because birds have photoreceptors deep in the brain (mammals, don't -we only have them in our eyes) which trigger hormone production so a good full spectrum light (CRI 94+ and Ktemp 5000 to 5500) is very useful.

Solar schedule is so he is not producing sexual hormones all year round, something that is unheard of in Nature and which, when it happens in captivity, it ends up causing the poor bird chronic pain (their sexual organs are all internal and, during the resting season, are small and dormant but, when they produce sexual hormones, they grow and grow to the point that, sometimes, they displace other internal organs with the consequent discomfort and pain) so he need to sleep in the dark, wake up with dawn and go to roost with dusk. This means no artificial lights before the sun comes out and after the sun is halfway down to the horizon.

Routines: now, this, as simply as it sounds, is actually difficult for most people to do for the simple reason that we do what we have to do whenever we have the time to do it. But, with birds, especially the ones with 'issues', it pays to be very strict about it until the bird is 'fixed', then we can be a bit more flexible about things -but not very much, mind you. The concept behind the keeping strict routines is that parrots been highly social animals that, when kept as pet, end up been without a flock, the routines help them find an anchor in their lives. They learn them and, when they anticipate an event and this event happens exactly when they though it was going to happen, it makes them feel in control of their lives (something that they have in the wild and it's completely lacking in captivity) and secure.

I have very strict routines, I always get up right when the sky is beginning to get the merest light and, as I come downstairs to let the dogs out, I uncover the cages that are covered and take out the dishes with water and the leftover seed mix they got for dinner. As there is more light, I open the cages and let them out (I always say "Good Morning!" and "How are you?" to them as well as "Wanna come out" so they learn cognitive speech). When the sky is lit, I give them their raw produce and, about an hour after dawn, I give them their gloop (also always saying the same phrase which, in my case, it's in Spanish because I speak Spanglish to them ) Now, with toos, you have to be careful because, as Australians, they like to go "walkabout". What I used to do with Freddy before he went to live in the birdroom was put him on a stand in the kitchen and give him stuff to eat from my hand, first one thing, then another, then something to chew on (like a piece of cardboard folded, a pinecone, etc.) and I would talk to him, bob up and down, sing with the radio, etc. You don't necessarily have to have him on you (although they all love that!) but you do need to pay attention to him. Then I would put the gloop in his cage and put him back in it, closing the door. I would then do the cats upstairs, the birds in the birdroom or whatever chore you have as long as it doesn't take too long. Then it's time for real one-on-one and you can use it to train him for recall or whatever but it can also mean sitting down to just cuddle with him. It's always good to observe what he likes best and do this at this point in time (with Freddy is the clicking of the beak -which, by the way, I don't do until he gives me a kiss when I ask him), swing him at the end of a folded towel, let him take a bath in the tub with the shower on cold water (by the way, this is a great thing to do right before lunch because it tires them out and they spend a lot of time preening so they learn to be quiet during it) or whatever. Then it's noon rest when you would put him back in his cage for a little while -an hour or two and you can entice him with a foraging toy with a couple of nuts in it. If he screams during this time, walk up to his cage but don't let him out and spend a few minutes with him talking to him - he will scream at the beginning and this is a time when you have to ignore him in terms of not giving in and letting him out but, as he realizes that this is just temporary and that he will come out again and do 'whatever' later on, he will eventually stop. This time of the year is great for this type of training as the days are short so the afternoons don't last that long - it is exhausting at the beginning, I won't lie to you. Then you let him out again and find some kind of activity for him to do (could be going outside for a little while, could be playing in a box -they LOVE boxes with stuff in them like pieces of wood, scrunched up paper, little squeaky toys, etc) and, before you know it, it will be time for you to turn off the lights so he can get his 'dusk' and dinner and go to sleep after. Now, it's important that the roosting time (after dinner when they are getting ready to go to sleep) be a quiet time because if you have kids playing video game, the TV on, people talking or whatever, he will want to be in the middle of things and will not become drowsy.

Did that help?