Yellow Nape Whistling When I leave!

[ParrotFace]

My wife works from home. When I leave to go anywhere, ALEX whistles non-stop and drives my wife nuts. For hours. Like I have to fix this or give her up. ALEX is 20 years old and a good bird. Except when I leave. Help.

[marie83]

How long have you had him and how long has this been going on for?
Other question is how does your wife react to his calls?

Just need some more info so we can try to help you better.

[ParrotFace]

She is 20 years old and we have had her since she was a baby. Breeder raised and hand fed. Very cuddly, obsessed with me. My wife FREAKS out because ALEX will whistle for hours unless she can see my wife after I have left for the day. We have several cages around the house so when she sees my wife upstairs, all is OK. When my wife leaves her sight, whistling non stop. This is now my wife's HOT BUTTON, she just gets enraged. I'm going to put her in the master closet in her big cage this week...she eats well, is treated like a queen but my wife just does not want to deal with her anymore. She might whistle in the closet but wife won't be able to hear it. I'll put a radio there, she has 2 new toys, her seed treat, her Harrison Diet food and we will see how it goes.
If ALEX never made a noise, I'd be fine. The whistling problem has gone on for a few years but my wife will tolerate it no more. I'm afraid I may need to place her in a different home. Looking into the Gabriel Foundation here in Denver. Just at my wit's end as to what to do. I know it's not fair for the bird to be cooped up for 8 hours in the closet but not sure placing her in a new environment for the rest of her life is better. I'm struggling mightily with it.

[marie83]

If she only whistles frequently when your wife is out of site then couldn't she have a cage near where she is working, for some, if not all of the day?

[friend2parrots]

Hi Parrotface,

I know it must be hard for you and your wife right now in your household, with what your parrot is doing , and the fact that its been going on for a while... I just wanted to reassure you that the problem that your facing does have a solution, with a happy ending, that features you, your wife, and a peaceful bird all living together in perfect harmony for the rest of your lives as a happy family.

But in order for you to get there, you have to see it as an incremental process, as a road you need to get yourself, your wife, and your parrot on. Its the road of training. youve come to the right place, beacuse training is the main focus of the Parrot Forum.

There are a lot of wonderful and supportive parrot problem solvers on this forum who are ready to help you. There's tons of information here that will bring you EFFECTIVE results. A lot of us had terrible problems like this with our parrots, and we have worked through them with training.

so don't lose heart! it CAN be done!

[friend2parrots]

by the way, marie has already offered a great tip above - have you tried that?