getting a second bird

[Silentraven]

I have a senegal that I just cant seem to figure out, he has all the toys he could want, space to fly around every day, a good diet and training. but he is just unpredictable at times, and has screaming issues. for most of the day even when out side of his cage he will just make the same noise over and over like a broken record. this noise for me is like nails on a chalk board, but i cant go and pick him up because he doesnt like me, he has chosen my wife over me and made that very clear. I work nights while my wife works days, so every morning before work i have to listen to him making the same screeching noise on repeat with out being able to give him the attention that i am sure he wants.

my question is do you think that he may want a friend? some one that would be able to give him the bird friend ship that i believe he truely desires. we have a cockatiel in the bird room with him but the cockatiel is nervous about him, and they dont go unsupervised together, because the senegals beak is so much larger, i would be afraid of the tiel getting hurt.

does any one have experience with adding a second bird (of similar or same species) and having an effect on behavior? i know that adding another bird may make him less sociable towards us but im willing to take that risk if thats what needs to be done.

[Graeme]

I think you may only end up with twice the noise.

Instead of another bird, try to figure out what you can do to change the current behavior. I would look at how to improve your relationship with the bird. I would start from scratch, treat him as a new bird and go through the motions you would with a new bird, time spent interacting, talking to it, training etc etc.

[Silentraven]

not to sound like a jerk but i have tried for a long time to fix the behavior my self, with training and diet. and read books and watched dvds on the subject. he just doesnt change. i have even tried playing music of whistlers in the house in hopes he would pick up some of those sounds instead. he hardly ever just sings anymore like he did a few yeas ago when i brought him home. i am at the point now where he is just making me want to get rid of him, but im not the kinda person that just dumps an animal. but when you have tried everything else what else can i do. i have even used measures to reduce sounds in the room to no avail.

[KimberlyAnn]

I'm so sorry about your noise issue, that can be crazy making!

I do not know much about this situation other then what I have read. I can bump up the topic though in hopes that someone with knowledge will come along. Weekends can be kinda slow so please keep checking back!

I have read that getting a bird friend they can bond with, helps with sound when it comes to constant contact calling. Does your bird do it only when your wife is not there? It sounds like he's trying to contact call for her. This is not good for you because you do need your sleep and I'm sure it's crazy making for the other bird too and causing stress.

I also know that any attention you give the contact calling, will make it worse. I know people have had great success going in to give the bird treats when they hear the bird is quiet. Sort of training the bird that quiet is good. But this will be hard for you to do if you are trying to sleep.

I am sure someone will be along very soon to give their two cents on the benefits and drawbacks on having two bonded birds. I wish you luck!

[Graeme]

If you have tried training and being the sole care giver etc, then I am afraid I can't suggest anything else, it may well be that your bird will never like you, for what ever reasons.

I really hope that is not the case and hopefully someone here that has more exp can chime in to help you resolve this.

[Silentraven]

is there any one there that actually has second bird experiences? thanks to every one who responded, but im waiting to hear from something like "when we got a second bird it...."

what im hoping for is that getting my senegal a cage mate would make hm less bored and perhaps less screechy

[Pajarita]

I had four senegals (currently only two). The first two were females and although they had no problem with one another, neither had any interest in bonding with each other in any way (meaning, not even as friends). Then I got an 11 year old male (the Senegal from hell -LOL) who fell in love at first sight with one of the females (completely ignored the other one which also showed no interest in him). The female he chose, Tobita (used to be a Toby), loved me to pieces and continued loving me even though she bonded with him (he HATED me and attacked me for over 3 years every single day, several times a day but then he hated all humans). Tobita died and Sweetpea (the male) remained. Then came Zoey, and neither she showed in any interest in Sweet neither Sweet showed any interest in her.

Now, Tobita came to me originally because she screamed so much that her owner, who loved her dearly, was afraid she was going to get evicted from her apartment. She screamed for about two days and never again. Two years later, the owners moved and, as she had been keeping in touch with me, had come to visit several times and knew that Tobita did no longer scream, she asked me to return her and, against my better judgment, I agreed but told her she needed to take Sweet as well because they loved each other and I would not split them up. 48 hours after she got them, she called me asking me to please take them back because Tobita had not stopped screaming since she had gotten there. She came back and I've never seen a bird happier to see me, she danced and purred and danced and Tsk Tsk Tsk at me for hours! And she never did scream once.

People usually say that senegals are quiet as far as parrots can go and I would agree to that because three of the four I've had were/are real quiet birds but there are exceptions. And I think it has to do with how comfortable the bird feels where he is. Now, I am not saying that you don't take good care of your bird, that you don't love him enough or anything like that! What I am saying is that some birds require something we cannot give them... whether this is to live cage-free, a companion of their own species, 24/7/365 company, etc, depends on the specific needs of that individual parrot. I have this theory that there is a percentage of birds that simply do not resign themselves to been pets to humans regardless of whether they were handfed, good care, love, training, etc and just want to live with other parrots (but this doesn't mean that I think it's OK to give these parrots to breeders, mind you!).

I don't know if this is what you wanted to hear but it's what I can offer from my personal experience with senegals.

[cml]

is there any one there that actually has second bird experiences? thanks to every one who responded, but im waiting to hear from something like "when we got a second bird it...."

what im hoping for is that getting my senegal a cage mate would make hm less bored and perhaps less screechy

Yes, I have "second bird"-experience.

Getting another bird changes everything, but it can be a wonderful thing for them. From what I read about senegals, I am not sure I would house them in the same cage but rather adjacent cages instead. They will still get lots of interaction between them and can do flock behaviour etc, but you will be able to supervise their out of cage time.

Now, I havnt read through all of this thread, but while I am a proponent for not having lone birds, I must stress that you must be ready for it. It will be more work, it will be more noise and things are tougher. It's worth all of it though to see them happy in my opinion.

If noise is a concern you shouldnt go into this thinking its a magical solution. It will not be fair on the birds.

[GreenWing]

'Don't have double birds but I did have a Senegal.

S'okay, so, I gotta couple questions: are you encouraging the screaming in any way, i.e., do you walk towards the bird's cage and talk to him after he screams, or do you respond to the screaming? I would consult with Michael about this, personally... the parrot wizard is an expert about these things and he greatly helped me with my Senegal.

My Senegal would screech for me when I would leave a room but you absolutely need to try to discourage it. Try doing a call instead (or your wife, since he chose her). Ignore screaming but do a call... say their name, whatever. Tiki would do this high pitched screech and it was only her way of calling me, like a name she gave me and I would make the call back to let her know I heard her. She never screamed. Constant screaming is an issue and your Senegal basically is insecure and needs to build confidence.

I don't think adding another Senegal to the mix is going to fix your problem, in fact it may worsen it because Senegals are EXTREMELY jealous for one. And second, as Pajarita mentions, you never know if the Senegals will even like each other...

Sorry, I don't know if this is helpful at all... you mention your Sennie prefers your wife, how much time does she spend with the Senegal?

Then I got an 11 year old male (the Senegal from hell -LOL)

This made me LOL

[Silentraven]

'Don't have double birds but I did have a Senegal.

S'okay, so, I gotta couple questions: are you encouraging the screaming in any way, i.e., do you walk towards the bird's cage and talk to him after he screams, or do you respond to the screaming? I would consult with Michael about this, personally... the parrot wizard is an expert about these things and he greatly helped me with my Senegal.

My Senegal would screech for me when I would leave a room but you absolutely need to try to discourage it. Try doing a call instead (or your wife, since he chose her). Ignore screaming but do a call... say their name, whatever. Tiki would do this high pitched screech and it was only her way of calling me, like a name she gave me and I would make the call back to let her know I heard her. She never screamed. Constant screaming is an issue and your Senegal basically is insecure and needs to build confidence.

I don't think adding another Senegal to the mix is going to fix your problem, in fact it may worsen it because Senegals are EXTREMELY jealous for one. And second, as Pajarita mentions, you never know if the Senegals will even like each other...

Sorry, I don't know if this is helpful at all... you mention your Sennie prefers your wife, how much time does she spend with the Senegal?

Then I got an 11 year old male (the Senegal from hell -LOL)

This made me LOL

I definitely do not encourage the screaming, on most days i can kinda tone it out (some days are harder than others). we have tried doing a whistle call, that we get him to do before we enter the room or give him attention, but he doesnt do it as a constant. my wife spends a few hours with him a day when she gets home from work. when he was younger he used to sing all the time and it was great, now that he is a bit older and gone through puberty he seems to just like the screaming, i almost never hear him just singing any more.