Hello everyone- Roy

[RoyH]

thanks alot wolf, u r now pointing at many questionable behaviors... i put paul beside me everytime i m home... and i talk to him... and try to comfort him. when he is screaming, mom or me approach and try to south him, always wiggling its tail, flapping wings and screaming lol...funny:)
i ll be getting a friend for him soon:) cz i feel that he s lonly.

[Wolf]

Please don't misunderstand, it is simply that I am not there to see for myself what is going on in Paul's world, so I have to count on you or Paul to tell me what is going on and you know Paul, he isn't saying. I think that you are doing all that you know to do, but with only a little crack to peer into Paul's life, I have to guess a lot using what I know about parrots try find what is triggering Pauls actions.
While it is normal for a parrot to scream and call when it first wakes up in the morning and again in the evening when they are going to roost, they rarely scream or call during the rest of the day, unless they are alone or if something is wrong. This is because all that noise will draw a predator to them and they may become dinner. He may also scream if he is afraid. I don't know of many other reasons that he would be screaming, unless you are somehow rewarding him for screaming. This reward could be as simple as you come running when he calls and pick him up, when the think to do might be just to answer him. Of course you want to be sure that he is alright, but if you know that he is safe and not hungry then he may just be calling to you when you get too far away from him or if he can't see you.
Birds are very smart creatures and they are very complex as well and because of this, the more that we know about Paul and his world, his immediate surroundings, his schedule or daily routine and especially his interactions with you, the better and more accurate our answers to you will become. Until we get enough information about these things, we have to guess at why Paul does what he does based on our personal knowledge of these birds and the various reasons that they do things. None of my comments are meant to disrespect you in any manner, they so far are just guesses based on what I know and the current lack of knowledge about you and Paul's relationship, and routines. I think that you are doing the best that you can for Paul, but I have no idea as to how much you do know or don't know. Again I am forced to guess.
Allow me to try to show you what I mean. You said that when Paul screams that you or your mom approach and try to soothe him. That is fine, but what do you do to try and soothe him? What causes him to start screaming to start with? Where are you and can he see you when he starts to scream? There are no details about this for me to use to help figure out why Paul is doing this or exactly what you do in response to him. Soothing Paul when he screams can mean many things and can mean that you do any one or more of several things such as giving treats, petting him, talking to him, letting him out of his cage to name a few, but you don't tell me what you do. Do you see what I mean?

[Pajarita]

Cockatiels are VERY flock oriented and always scream when they don't have a flock (or, at least, a companion) with them. They also scream when they are hormonal (I don't know his age so I don't know if this is the case or not) but, when they are angry or afraid, they hiss. I had to isolate one of mine in the canary room because he got a foot hurt and, although you never hear a peep out of him when he is with the others, he has been calling and calling in the canary room because he is lonely. The only time I've seen tiels flap their wings is when they are clipped (or cannot fly for one reason or another -pinioned, missing a wing or part of one, never let out or prevented from flying due to a severe handicap -my blind tiel used to do it, too) so if yours is clipped, that's the reason why he is doing it. As to been afraid of you and your spending time with him, you need to make sure the 'visit' falls into a strict routine and do it every day, at the same time and for, more or less, the same amount of time. The cage should be at eye level, too because if you are taller than him, he will feel intimidated instead of accompanied and you will end up with the opposite result of what you are trying to accomplish.

[RoyH]

hey wolf, hey pajarita... like i said previously, paul's cage is always near me , and when i said mom or me come to sooth him while screaming, i meant we come and sit right next to him and start to talk to him...sometimes i open his cage and let him fly around the room, but the problem is that he s always afraid of me, and it s hard to get him back to the cage, as he doesn't come bk by his own. I m finding it a really hard task honestly, but i m not the type of people who abandon their pet upon facing a difficulty.

[Wolf]

Hey Roy;
I hope that you, Paul and all of yours had a great holiday.
This is really good that you let Paul out to fly about and get some exercise, I am still trying to piece together Paul's daily routine so that we can figure out what it is that he is trying to tell you. Anyway, one of the best ways to gat Paul to start going back into his cage is by letting him out about 2 hours before his dinner time. Then call to him and show him you putting his dinner in his cage. Even if that doesn't get him to go in the first few times don't let it bother you too much. He will probably go in before dark, especially if you leave the lights off so that he notices that it is getting close to dark. You might even have to wait for him to go to roost some place else when it gets dark and use a small flashlight to locate him so that you can go get him and put him in his cage. Just don't shine it in his eyes and turn it off once you find him. This will keep him where he is while you approach in the dark. But you won't have to this more than just a few time before he figures it out and then he will start going back on his own. He just doesn't know that he needs to go to his cage to eat or to go to sleep and just needs to learn this, so be patient, he will pick it up pretty quickly.
You said his cage is near you when you are home. Does this mean that you move his cage or is it already near to where you will be?

[RoyH]

yeeeh It s been crowded in here the past few days... family gathering and celebrations...and i wish for u guys a happy new year
thanks for the tips wolf...and about the cage's location, i m placing paul in the living room with us , now as it s cold outside... sometimes i carry his cage even closer to where i m sitting... is it a bad habit to change the cage's location? and btw, even if he s with us, he wiggles and bounce alot, and keeps on moving left and right on the perch, and he may scream and whistle loudly... is it a sign that he s being playful?

[Wolf]

Kind of, it is more like he wants out of the cage. Right now he isn't as familiar with his surrounding as he could be so he isn't relaxed. He wants out so that he can explore, exercise ( fly) and to hang out with you. As he relaxes more and trusts you more he will probably want to hang out on you.
I don't move my cages around, partly because of their size and partly because my birds don't like a lot of changes in their things. They are more secure with a routine that remains pretty much the same.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is correct, cages should stay in one place, near a window and at eye level. Your moving his cage from one place to another and having to sit down to get to his level is what is screwing things up. He needs to know that his cage is in one specific place or he will never learn to go back to it and you need to put it high so the middle of the cage is at the same level as your nose.

Once you find a good spot for his cage (it also needs to be in a place where he can sleep in darkness and quiet once the sun goes down), wait about a week so he gets used to seeing the room and learns to recognize all the features. During this week, get him used to getting his dinner when the sun is halfway down the horizon. Then, one evening, close the door(s) to the room, put signs on the outside so people don't just walk in, turn off the overhead lights, open the cage and move back so he can come out on his own. Let him fly around if he wants (if he just stays on his cage, it's fine) and, about one hour before it gets real dark, put his dinner in his cage and walk a bit away (don't stare at him, look at him out of the corner of your eye and just keep on doing whatever you are doing, reading, watching TV, doing homework, playing video games, etc) and he will go back into his cage to get his dinner and roost for the night. BUT he won't do it if you free-feed him protein food, you need to feed him gloop, chop, mash or whatever for breakfast and his high protein food for dinner. He might not do it the first night and, if he doesn't, do as Wolf said with the flashlight (use a small towel to grab him very gently) but, if you do this day after day, he will learn and go back on its own.

[RoyH]

thank u guys, i ll work on applying ur advice... and will let u know how it goes:)

[liz]

Don't move the cage, move the bird. Give him a little table top perch where you had been moving the cage.