Sudden noisy behaviour

[mrvitamint]

Hi all!
(first of all, please forgive my grammar mistakes as I am not a navite English speaker, I'm doing my best. Secondly, I know this topic have been discussed a million times, I've read many many articles and forums, but still need advice)
I need advice with my noisy Alexandrine parrot. ( I can't help but mention, I noticed that Alexandrines are much less popular in western counties than they are in my country. I really don't know why )

The issue: I've got a female Alexandrine, Bella, she just turned 3. She is handraised, had been a pretty well behaved parrot since the beginnings. Until I moved in together with my gf. Now Bella can't keep her beak shut, she starts screaming right after she is left alone, and I need advice with that, or rather someone to say, "that"s it", This is the way you keep her quiet".

Background info: I'm not new to keeping parrots as I breed smaller species like lovebirds, cockatiels, kakarikis and bugdies for 8 years now, but really am no expert. Especially with larger parrots.
Bella used to live in my quite big room, now she has a whole apartment. Although she is handraised, she have never been a cuddly bird, she was pretty OK with us being separate, and living our own lives. I mean, she loves being on my shoulder/hand/head, but still is independent. When I got her, my first thing was to teach her to step up, and she learned to say "smart" on her own, but that's all about training and tricks. Living in my room also meant she didn't get to meet a lot of people, mainly only me, and my close family. Now that she's living in a whole flat, she meets much more people, but seemingly it does not bother her.

When this issue started, I thought she was scared being alone in the entirely new environment, and kept looking for my attention, because I was the only familiar thing in her new life. As it turned out, this is not the case. Now, a month later, she keeps making noise when being alone, although she is obviously pretty comfortable here. She only does this when we are home, but she can't see us. When nobody's home, she is quiet.
Solution(?): I've read, that ignoring the screaming, and only playing with the bird when it's quiet can be a thing to do. I've tried this, and she does not give up easily, she can scream for hours, which is something really unbearable.
So what I am going to do is: Buying her new toys ( maybe she is bored with the current ones). Teaching her new words and trying out the clicker training, to keep her busy. What do you guys think?
I've read somewhere that spraying her with water can be a solution. I believe it is harmless, but honestly that is something I do not really want to do, only if no other options is left.

Believe me, I would not ask for advice if the situation wasn't desperate. I know her usual noises, and I'm avare that parrots make noise, and I'm OK with that. But this is something else, I can't step out of the room, because she starts to screem from the top of her lungs as long as I come back. This is unbearable, and honestly causing really hard time in my relationship.

Thank you for any replies in advance,

Best wishes, Dani.

[Wolf]

Alexandrines do not reach adulthood until they are three years of age and I think that this screaming must be related to that. I don't know where you live so I don't know what the breeding cycle there should be.
I would not resort to spraying her to make her be quite as that could create a problem with her bathing. Nor do I recommend that you ignore her screams as she has a very good reason for it, at least to her, as it is very dangerous for a lone bird to start screaming, in the wild, this draws more predators looking for an easy meal or snack.
I would recognize first of all that this is probably her calling for a mate and although I would not come running as that could reinforce the screaming, I would at the very least answer her and as she understood that you are answering her the screaming should begin to decrease in volume and duration. When she responds to your answering her by quieting down some I would let her see me so she also knows that you answered and that you are there because she can see you. I would answer her either with a short, probably two note whistle or with a short one or two word phrase( you must use the same whistle or phrase every time) and she will pick up on this alternate way of calling which is much quieter and tolerable to the human ear. It does take a bit of time to work but it has worked with all of my birds.

[Pajarita]

You say you wonder why psittaculas are not popular in the western world? Well, you found out now, haven't you? They just don't make good companion birds, that's why. They are not really cuddly (and most people want a cuddly parrot) but still very needy of company and they can scream bloody murder when unhappy (nobody likes a screaming parrot). It's hard to keep them happy when alone and that's why they are considered mainly aviary birds instead of companion birds that can be happy living with a human. Aviary birds are happiest when they have a mate of their own but people don't usually want a bird just to look at, they want a bird they can interact with and psittaculas are not usually very good at it.

I think Wolf is right, she is now sexually mature and feels the need for a mate intensely. She was fine with you as she was growing up but now she is not satisfied any longer with the situation. Diet and a solar light schedule can help a lot in terms of her producing sexual hormones only at breeding season but neither can help with her need for constant company, I am afraid.

[Wolf]

Kookooloo, my CAG, is somewhat similar in nature as she is not cuddly but also craves my closeness and used to scream whenever I left the room. I started whistling back to her, it took some time but she started whistling for me instead of screaming. Much easier to deal with instead of the screaming. She now gives the call whistle a couple of times and when I am responding back with the same whistle, she will start improvising with different whistle just like she is building songs, which I join right in on. It has changed the whole nature of her calling for me. It is more enjoyable to me and she seems to love it.

No it does not stop them from wanting and calling for you but it does change how they do it so that it is not as annoying, nor does it mean that you can skip the part that you check on them, but it changes it so that you can check soon or you can wait a few minutes while simply answering the bird. It also does not change the fact that some screams for you are of the kind that you need to get there in a hurry and over time you will learn how to know which is which.

[mrvitamint]

Thank's everyone!
You see, I've already got information I haven't read in any article, so it was worth opening this topic
I will definitely try that singing trick, good idea


Wolf: I'm aware, that Alexandrines reach puberty in such ages. It was the first thing that came to my mind with this issue, but I think this is not the case. The reason for that -as the title suggests- her behaviour change was so sudden, I don't think puberty comes in a few days.
I'm ignoring her scream when she is screaming for no reason, or when she is making her calling noise in nonsense situations. I believe I can distinguish her "cry for help" from her other noises.

Pajarita: I have to argue with that. I know several psittaculas who are friendly enough, not like cockatoos of course, but rather cuddly. I think Bella being "antisocial" is a feature of her, and not her species.
They are indeed noisy like hell, but I must say, I was rather comfortable with her noise level, until this situation began. Moreover, I found my cockatiel much more annoying, although not being that noisy, but until a cockatiel keeps singing all day long, an Alexandrine screams much less.
The main reason for wondering why are they so unpopular is because as far as I know Indian ringnecks are pretty popular everywhere, but Alexandrines are not. Nor are Moustache parakeets and Derbyans, whom are also quite popular in my country (Hungary)

[Wolf]

Well you also mentioned a change in environment and that could also be a contributing factor. Hormones are a funny thing as some are very fast acting and other slower and it may just be that they need to reach a certain level before they cause a behavioral change, especially one such as calling out as that is a very dangerous think for a lone bird to do. I am not in a position to say that you are incorrect, for one reason is that you are there with the bird and should know it much better than I could possibly. All that I can really do is to compare what I know with what you share with me to suggest a possible cause and or a solution. Sometimes regardless of the actual cause of a specific behavior the solution may be the same or at least very similar. I may or may not be correct and will reevaluate what you have shared but it still might be worth looking into further. I will re read what you have posted along with anything that you might add to it a little later today and let you know if I think of anything else that may be helpful.

[Pajarita]

Oh, I didn't say they are not friendly! ALL parrots are friendly! The final 'success' or 'failure' (and I do NOT like either term to define a human-parrot relationship) depends on what you expect from your parrot and your husbandry. For example, you mention the cockatiel vocalizing all the time and, in my personal experience, you only hear a male cockatiel sparingly during breeding season while you don't usually hear a peep out of a female. What I said was that people don't like them much here because the adults tend to be aloof with humans after they become sexually mature PLUS all psittaculas are hard to keep bonded to their human (they require long daily reinforcement). It's not that it cannot be done, mind you! I used to know this guy who had four of them and they all loved him to pieces. He understood them, had impeccable husbandry and lived for his birds so it worked out.

[Wolf]

Sorry about it being so log since my last reply but I really can't think of anything else at this time based on the information that you provided.