Let's talk noise!

[DavidIsrael]

I do apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes.

So, we all own parrots, some of them can be considered very loud and some less. Some can make a lot of noises during the day but in general aren't that loud.
So, I thought I'll ask a little bit about how you guys live with your parrots need to voice their opinions!

The Questions:
1. What kind of parrots do you own?
2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.

I will now provide my own story

I've been hand feeding parrots for two years now. I've had all kind of birds over and until today I am looking for the perfect parrot to own as my own bird. One of the main issues I have in deciding is noise level. For example, from day one I was dying to own my own Eclectus but have serious issues with their screams. I live in a very small space and when I hand reared a female Eclectus I found myself suffering (even taking to account that they are extra loud at weaning age, still, I don't think I would of enjoyed an adult's screams either).
Since then and with a lot of research, I learned that pionus parrots are pretty low on voice. I had two blue headed boys, at first they are very loud but when they come to their weaning stage they become much nicer on that subject, as an adults I hear that they do have their moments.

I can say for sure that my problem isn't with how often parrots scream (I do have a group of adult cockatiels) but with how loud they are when they do scream.

Will be happy to hear your opinions and advices.

[greymatter]

The Questions:
1. What kind of parrots do you own?
- Cockatiel (Stryder)
- Caique (Rosco)
- African Grey (Merlin)

2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
- Morning(5-7am)/Early Evening(5-6pm)/Later evening (8-9pm) - it's really not all that loud, more sounds and talking amongst themselves and jumping into our conversations (i.e. Merlin saying, "HUH??? PARDON???" from the bird room when I'm talking with Husband in another room)
- These relay to us leaving & coming home from our Clark Kent day jobs & last meal before sleep & Merlin starts telling everyone to "Go Night night!" at 8:58pm every night

3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
- Only when I've had a really exhausting sleep and have a headache/earache in conjunction with said bad sleep & the cockatiel scream from the non-cockatiels begins.
- Generally I feel lucky as they're not terribly loud unless I leave one alone on their playstand, hence none of his flock members are around - the calling begins
- Merlin has the occasional moment where he wants to be a cockatiel, and then Rosco joins in - a Caique & Grey squawking like a cockatiel is a bit blood curling to the ears. This only happens once every few weeks.

4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
- Generally if they're doing the cockatiel scream, I quietly close the bird room door, and it passes.
- It's no good to reward with food (which would be SO easy, but also detrimental to us training them), and to pay them attention while they do this is just as rewarding as food.

5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.
- That's basically it, don't positively reward the screaming behaviour
- AND don't raise cockatiels with an African Grey parrot baby - the Grey will think it's a cockatiel, hence the breeding scream

[patdbunny]

1. What kind of parrots do you own?
sun conures, jenday conures, parrotlets, indian ringnecks, african greys, bourkes, finches, cockatiels, rosellas, eclectus

2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
10 minutes early morning, 10 minutes at dusk. Most of the birds are pretty quiet throughout the day including the breeding conures unless they're disturbed. Except for the african greys - they vocalize all day long, which actually gets annoying.

3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
me - no; husband - yes

4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
ignore it. With the pet sun conure we have a cockatiel buddy for him. I inadvertently discovered the 'tiel buddy system with my first conure. I had two tiels first then got the jenday conure. She was very quiet since she had companionship. We can easily leave the room, leave the house, walk around without the sun conure attached to a person and the conure's fine since there's a tiel buddy.

5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.
Go find an adult specimen of whatever you're considering and have it scream in your face for 15 minutes and see if you can stand it. I didn't think any parrot noise would bother me until I got the eclectus. The tonal quality of their scream kills me.

[sidech]

1. What kind of parrots do you own? Eclectus (Red-Sided male)

2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
5 months old baby. A lot of screams, as a matter of fact everytime he sees me, he screams. This is supposed to be a baby behaviour that they grow out of around 5-7 months. I can't wait. Even when he's on my shoulder, he screams (right in my ear...)

3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
Yes, I sometimes feel discouraged. I can't wait until this behavior stops. When he doesn't see me, you don't hear him, other than when he's practicing talking or just happily chatting.

4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
I go out of his sight, and he stops. Sometimes I feel like a prisoner in my own house...

5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.
I've said it all on this subject. Other than that, he is a really great pet. It's just a tough phase to go through right now.

[zazanomore]

1. What kind of parrots do you own?
Budgies (2)
Cockatiel (1)

2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule?
They love to sing in the morning. However, their sleep schedule is the same as mine. I go to bed around 11, wake up around 7 or 8. I never wake up to any awful noises. Most of the time I'll wake up to the budgies making sweet chirpings. Einstein see's me open my eyes, and he tells me right away "love you". Nothing is better than waking up to that every day.

They typically have their midday play time. They'll make all sorts of crazy noises and have fun. Swinging upside down, dancing, singing, and acting like typically birds. And they always tucker themselves out and that leads them into their nap.

In the evening, they get pretty excited. I change their water and food, and give them scraps from supper.

Around 8 or 9 they get kind of grumpy, and they put themselves back in their cages, and they're quiet until morning.


3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
Today. I have a cold right now.

Biggest downfall of keeping your birds in your bedroom, is when you are sick, they will beg to be out the entire time.

4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
You just have to tone it out. I live in a pretty loud family. I'm pretty used to toning out things.

5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.
Don't keep your birds in your room.

[TheNzJessie]

I do apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes.

So, we all own parrots, some of them can be considered very loud and some less. Some can make a lot of noises during the day but in general aren't that loud.
So, I thought I'll ask a little bit about how you guys live with your parrots need to voice their opinions!

The Questions:
1. What kind of parrots do you own?
2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.

I will now provide my own story

I've been hand feeding parrots for two years now. I've had all kind of birds over and until today I am looking for the perfect parrot to own as my own bird. One of the main issues I have in deciding is noise level. For example, from day one I was dying to own my own Eclectus but have serious issues with their screams. I live in a very small space and when I hand reared a female Eclectus I found myself suffering (even taking to account that they are extra loud at weaning age, still, I don't think I would of enjoyed an adult's screams either).
Since then and with a lot of research, I learned that pionus parrots are pretty low on voice. I had two blue headed boys, at first they are very loud but when they come to their weaning stage they become much nicer on that subject, as an adults I hear that they do have their moments.

I can say for sure that my problem isn't with how often parrots scream (I do have a group of adult cockatiels) but with how loud they are when they do scream.

Will be happy to hear your opinions and advices.

rainbow lorikeet and a budgie (but i will do this for my rainbow lorikeet only)
jango is noisy when he either, wants food or wants attention and around 5pm

yes i do ahve moments where i cant handle it and say i cant do this. but i remove my self from the room and let jango calm down and the i give him a grape for being quiet


if its around 11am i will give jango his wetmix. its its any other day then a saturday he comes out form about 12-3. and then he gets his fruit and veg dinner about 4-5pm and then his door is left open on his cage and he comes out as he wishes. he prefers to just sit on top and watch me (if i shut the door on him he gets noisy)

zazanomore i love you're last tip LOL! if only it was that easy! Qwil loves in the downstairs loung to get the morning sun but jango is in my room because he is quiet in the morning (Until i get up) but qwil starts singing at about 5am and i just couldn't handle it he comes at hits on the top of my laptop with me during the day thou =p (while jango is getting some sun outside)

[DavidIsrael]

Great answers! Keep writing, it's fun to read.

[Amerz]

1. What kind of parrots do you own?
A young, just-weaned Meyer's parrot

2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
She's pretty quiet most of the day. She doesn't even make noise at dawn or early morning, which really surprised me . As long as she can't see sunlight, she won't wake up or make noise until i go in and open the blinds and turn on lights.
When i take her out and set her on her perch by the window she chortles, whistles and chatters to herself - i wouldn't say it's loud, but it's audible enough that if I'm watching a TV show or something it can get a little annoying. I usually enjoy the sounds she makes, they just sound like the birds you hear around springtime - happy whistles, etc. The only complaint is that she'll do it nonstop sometimes - i think she's trying to talk to the birds she sees in the tree outside the window.

3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
No, not really. Although, sometimes when i put her back in her cage and leave the room she starts chirping loudly and running up and down the cage because she wants to be out. She'll keep this up for about 5 or 10 minutes after i leave the room, but then she quietens down and doesn't make a peep. One thing I will say - she does not screech at all, which is *awesome* - my first bird was a cockatiel who screeched all the time. She will squawk if something doesn't go her way, like if she tries to fly onto my shoulder from her perch, but of course doesn't make it because her wings are clipped. Or if she drops a toy she's playing with. But it's never often, and never obnoxious. Mostly cute

4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
I try not to pay any attention to her when she does squawk at me for attention, because i don't want to reinforce that behavior.

5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.
When she's on her perch by the window and i want her to stop whistling and chattering i'll usually give her something to keep her quiet - a toy she can shred or a noodle with peanut butter in it If she's entertained, she's quiet. I saw someone on here had the quote "a busy beak is a quiet beak" and I think that's very true!

[Dave]

1. What kind of parrots do you own?
3 budgies, 1 goffin, 1 senegal
however, we have a close friend who is at our home several days a week . they bring their:
1 budgie, 2 lovebirds, 1 ducorps
2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
Budgies all day, goffin mornings and bedtime, senegal rarely
3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
nope
4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
unless they are "arguing" or somebody got on the wrong perch, we ignore it. But noise is really no issue
5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.
Have to always be supervising, or have ALL in their cages. goffin bites birdy toes, and ducorps can be cranky.

[GlassOnion]

1. What kind of parrots do you own?
1 male cockatiel

2. How would you describe their average daily noise making schedule. ..
Lots of whistles/clicks, spontaneous screaming, etc etc

3. Do you have moments in which you say to yourself "oh my god, I can't live like this”?
Kind of, I have moments where I wish I had a LOUD bird that shrieked at morning and at night and mostly quiet during the day, as opposed to very frequent fairly loud noises throughout the day.

4. How do you, or did you, handle your parrots when they are loud.
Wait it out painfully, or if he's doing it in my ear gently grab his head and cover his beak.

5. Any other notes or tips on the subject will be most welcomed.
Don't buy a rehomed bird with spontaneous screaming problems.