ok.. it's been nearly a year and it's getting worse

[GlassOnion]

Oh another big thing- try giving him a lot of low-calorie foods.

My cockatiel will have scream fits in the morning if he gets a lot of seeds for a few days. As soon as I return him to his pasta/veggie mash, he'll stop screaming almost entirely. True story.

[brfussne]

Oh another big thing- try giving him a lot of low-calorie foods.

My cockatiel will have scream fits in the morning if he gets a lot of seeds for a few days. As soon as I return him to his pasta/veggie mash, he'll stop screaming almost entirely. True story.

My Caique was rasied on a lousy seed diet & i'm currently trying to wean her onto pellets. I'll have to try this and see if her screaming fits get better!

[cml]

I don't think you should clip, I really think that it would just make him more desperate for attention. He needs to wear out his energy, have you considered harness training him and taking him outside to fly? What about running around the house flying and giving him a soaking shower afterwards? I do agree with Naruthon(sp error) that it would be best to replace his screaming with a different sound. Does he do any clicks or whistles or have any human words? Perhaps you can reinforce that strongly so he knows that when he makes that sound, he gets what he wants.

Replacing screaming with another sound worked for us!

[Khaiqha]

You sound like you need in person help. No one online is going to know all the details about you and your bird. Bird stores usually have in store consulting, and bird tricks does consulting over Skype. Heck, try and find people in your area with birds.

I don't think you should give up on the bird, if you're willing to change yourself.

[marie83]

Actually Khaiqha has a good idea there. Don't use bird tricks though, heard alot of bad things about them. Definitely try and get a behavioural specialist in to teach you techniques that may help. I definitely don't think your parrot is beyond help, plenty of older parrots can be rehabilitated with alot of time and patience, although it probably wouldn't be realistic to expect anything other than an improvement rather than a cure. Keep us updated.

[cml]

Keep in there, and dont give up! We have faith in you, you can change this screaming trend!

Listen to Naurthons advice about changing the sound for something else. It requires you to REALLY promote the good sound (like a whistle or something else your bird does that you like), with lots of attention (not just a minute), and treats. It also REQUIRES you to respond to it immediatly, repsond with praise and RUN to him, to show that the good sound produces extraordinary results. Ignore the screaming completely, shut the door if you can.

You can do this!

[Grey_Moon]

I had a similar (actually *exact*) problem with my cockatiel.

I am *NOT* going to say the same old things. There is the same old 'click for this, ignore for that' routine but sometimes it *just* doesn't work---it might, but I like to look at things holistically.
Instead---lets work through some stuff

1) You say sometimes he screams and then bites himself---he could be ill with what my tiel had (Giardia) and this might be making him itchy and uncomfortable so he could be being a brat--get a vet to look at him

2) What is his diet like? Those seeds have alot of carbs and fat= energy!!! And like kids on a sugar-rush---he'll be screaming and going nuts. Try taking them out (and saving them for treats) and put him on a pellet/sprout/veggies but low-fruit (again excess sugar) diet

3) And I think this is going to a *biggie* you mentioned he's always nibbling all over you and stuff---he probably is getting all hormonal and over-attached, so the big thing is to tone this down. You do this by becoming interactive but a little more hands-off and less cuddly. A *HUGE* thing is going to be the addition of a sleep cage and a stand-alone playgym away from his cage---you are providing him a) with a more natural lifestyle as he flies from his sleep cage to cage to gym using up some of that energy and need to travel and b) you are reducing his hormones because the only time a bird spends almost 24/7 in a hole/cage is in the breeding season---so by changing it up you help tell his body it's not breeding time

4) He is screaming for a reason, something he needs is *NOT* being met. He's desperately trying to tell you that. It could be he's not doing enough with the flock (try sleeping close to him, eating together and showering together in a daily routine. It could be he doesn't feel safe when you aren't there. It is *NOT* enough to 'just ignore it and itll go away'---people stupid simplify positive reinforcement. If for example a dog is bursting with energy and barking---most people just go oh well it's all him, he just needs to be ignored. But he's never going to stop unless both redirecting the behaviour (teaching him to sit quietly instead of bark) UNLESS the root cause of the behaviour (frustration, lack of exercise and boredom) is ALSO indentified and dealt with. What your particular conures need is I don't know quite yet---but his excess energy is compounding the the issue. I'll continue in another post...

[Grey_Moon]

Re-reading all your posts, I would take the pigeon mix out. Give him a sprout mix that does not contain corn, safflower or sunflower. That should remove excess energy along with making sure he has plenty of excercise.

That sort of agitation could also be due to an allergy---so that may be a road worth pursuing.

Clipping is ultimately up to you. I don't see it helping much in this situation because yes he'll be easy to get a hold of to train but cuts off an important outlet for excercise.

Silly question but I'm assuming he has a stimulating environment? Boredom could be another issue---a long-lasting foraging toy with treats put right in before you leave (a bit of those seeds would come in handy!), and make sure he's had a *drenching* bath every morning before you leave for work, or anytime you leave really if it helps. Leave the radio/tv on to a bird quiet *and* being alone means certain death.

Does he make *any* other sound or just the screech, a sound you like? Outside of a you-leaving-the-room scenario see if you can establish a pattern of you calling with the noise you like and him answering with it. Then, see if, when you leave you can offer that sound and he'll answer it---start making it as you're leaving, not after he's started yelling. The big thing here is reinforcing his sense of safety. He needs to know he'll be ok when you are gone and he needs to learn to be a bit more independant.

What I'm going to say is going to run counter to *EVERYTHING* anyone else will say here---when he yells, ANSWER (with the noise you like). This is not a cry for attention in the 'you're here but I want you to look at me' (that IS an appropriate situation for the ignore then when the bird screeches but when offers a new noise respond n reinforce scenario) this is a screech of fear and insecurity (where is she going omg omg omg omg the predator will get me omg omg omg, what do i do when she's gone i don't wanna be alone im so scared and lonely hey wait you're my mate where ARE you going??)---if you don't answer he's just going to panic more and more and more--eventaully start replacing the screech with the contact call you two developed. Evidently the old 'ignore him and he'll stop...this is just an extinction burst...and another and another and...welll i'll just tough it out for 30 years...' hasn't worked so it doesn't hurt to try something new, my tiel quited down dramatically when I did this, unfortunately I was not able to remove the 'predator' my grey parrot so the behavior didn't stop but improved somewhat. Use the psychology of parrots, not animal trainers and change tactics. Respond to the need while simultaneously addressing the underlying issues and slowly re-shaping the expression of the need.

[Annne]

hi haven't had much time to get on here. Just an update i've reduced his fruit and am taking out the safflower seeds and i haven't been feeding him the soaked pigeon mix and he seems better. I'll try to cuddle him less and see how that goes. I think grey moon has raised good points and i'll keep them in mind. By the way he does have a playgym on the kitchen bench but he only ever uses it when i put food all over it but even then he stays on it for 5mins then flys for me.



pics of most of his toys... just missing the rest of his blocks and the toys that are zip tied/ harder to get out of his cage.


And a pic of him flying. I've been trying to tire him out a bit like michael suggested and that seems to be working as well. It just gets a bit hard because he stops listening before he's tired out

[Graybeard]

Fantastic pic. I saved it to my screen saver, to see randomly with other bird pix.

Thanks.