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Hi, I'm a new bird owner

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Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby tracyadams » Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:58 pm

Hi, I'm Tracy. I bought a high sun yellow conure in October. He was born Aug 25 so he's almost 6 months. He's very friendly and loves me, but when I walk away he squaks like nobody's business and makes me want to strangle him! Of course, I would not. I've been covering him and saying no when he does it. I'm being consistent. If there is something else I should be doing, please let me know! Thanks!!
tracyadams
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: High sun yellow conure
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby ParrotsForLife » Sun Feb 05, 2017 3:17 pm

Do you mean a High yellow sun conure? Conures can be very loud especially sun conures, I would just ignore the screeching and show him the screeching wont get him any attention.
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ParrotsForLife
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby alienlady » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:51 am

Although I don't have a conure I did have a screecher. As Pajarita said just ignore it. I didn't cover mine but waited until she came up with something more acceptable. Which turned out to be hello and that was what I answered to. No more screeching now she has learned how to call me.
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alienlady
Poicephalus
 
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby Navre » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:53 am

In the wild, at six months old, he would never be alone. He is screaming for you because he wants you. He isn't going to get spoiled at this age. You should go to him when he wants you, as much as you can. He will get less needy as he gets older.
Navre
African Grey
 
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Hooded Parrot
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby Wolf » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:08 am

I would not cover him for this behavior regardless of how frustrating it is for you, nor would I just ignore the birds cries and pleas in trying to get your attention. No parrot, in its natural habitat was ever hatched alone or was ever left on its own from the time of hatching until it died. They are flock creatures and as such they were never intended to be alone for more than just a few minutes at any given time. When in their natural environment a parrot that is alone and screaming for its mate or flock is placing its life on the line and it knows this. It knows that by doing this that it may very well attract a predator looking for and easy snack sooner than it may find its mate or flock. So their calling out in this matter is a very big deal and very important to the bird, important enough to place its life in danger.

Welcome to the big, wide world of parrots ! This type of screaming and begging behavior is something that most if not all of us must come to terms with at some point with all of our parrots. Just as a human baby does not scream and cry without a good reason for it, no parrot is going to scream and beg for you unless it has a good reason for it and no one would suggest that you just ignore the baby and let it scream itself out, yet this is often suggested when the baby in question is a parrot. It makes no sense to me.

This type of advice is not only the wrong thing to do, but following it could lead to serious mental and emotional issues later in the birds life. Not only does the proximity to its flock help the parrot to survive by confusing a predator trying to catch a bird, which is a real and tangible benefit to the bird, it also is so important that the bird derives a large portion of its feelings of safety and security as well as its feeling of well being from being in and part of its flock.

I guess that due to my long experience with other animals, it never occurred to me to ignore any animal that was making a lot of noise, especially the young ones, so I just never did it when my first birds arrived and started calling for me or screamed at me to not leave them. It just never occurred to me and then I learned that it would have been the wrong way to respond to the birds behavior.

what many of us do is to choose a word, a phrase or even a whistle that we use to respond to the bird in these circumstances, something quick and easy to use over and over on a consistent basis. when I leave the room and the bird starts calling for me then I respond with this word or whistle or phrase and then when the bird realizes that I am answering it and quietens down then I re enter the room and go check on the bird. If you are consistent with this then the bird will pick up on this and use the whistle or word or phrase to call for you instead of using their considerably louder and irritating flock call, but you must be consistent as well as patient because the change will not happen overnight.

Our parrots are among the most intelligent creatures on this planet and with this intelligence they are always looking for a way to communicate with us. By responding to them in the manner that I have suggested we teach them that even if we can't be right there that we hear them and are listening to them and this helps to foster a more trusting environment for the parrot. It also has a major effect on their level of self confidence, their personality and even the level of intelligence that they develops.

Covering them up to make them be quiet or ignoring them when they are begging for you teaches them the hopelessness and futility of expecting you to listen to them and help them when they need you. It teaches them to not trust you, it makes them much more frightened of you and their environment not only causing them to be much more flighty and skittish but also more likely to respond to you more aggressively.

Well that is about all I have to share about this for now. I hope that this will help you to effectively deal with this behavior as well as help you helps you to understand your bird better as well as helping you to look at this from a more parrotlike perspective.
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby alienlady » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:15 am

alienlady wrote:Although I don't have a conure I did have a screecher. As Pajarita said just ignore it. I didn't cover mine but waited until she came up with something more acceptable. Which turned out to be hello and that was what I answered to. No more screeching now she has learned how to call me.

Sorry i misread his age. Please ignore my reply it is not to be used for babies.
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alienlady
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby Wolf » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:22 am

Some replies came in while I was typing my answer and I really must say that Pajarita did not respond yet to this topic so she did not say to ignore the bird nor would she say such a thing. Parrotsforlife is who advocated ignoring the bird and that is no longer the recommended way of addressing this type of problem, although about 20 years ago it was still in mainstream usage, but we have learned more about our parrots since that time.

All of my birds came to me as adults, but I still went with the ideas that I have just shared. I never ignore my birds when they call for me especially when I can not get in to check on them right away, If it is important enough to them to call for me then it is important enough to me to at least answer them, just as I would answer any other friend that called to me.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby alienlady » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:49 am

I do apologise it seems I'm misreading everything so I will shutup now and slink off to the corner.
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alienlady
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby Pajarita » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:46 am

:lol: Don't worry about it, Lady! We all confuse posters all the time.

But, no, Pajarita (me :D ) would never, ever, ever suggest any bird that is asking for attention be ignored! As a matter of fact, I think this is my biggest beef with the 'traditional' advice that is usually given out in birdsites. I don't know who came up with the ridiculous notion but, whoever it was, it was not a bird person - that's for sure! And I'll tell you something else: I am convinced that most screamers were made that way by their humans ignoring their cries for help when they were babies. Wolf explained it correctly. When a bird screams, the first thing one should do is go to the bird because ignoring it will only stress him out, increase the anxiety that being alone brings and re-affirm the idea that the human does not love it. Not good and completely counterproductive.

Covering the cage during the day is a no-no. Birds are entirely dependent on light to the point that they are not only the most visually-dependent species of all the vertebrates but, for them, light is a nutrient because it regulates (or alters) the working of their endocrine system which, in turn, keeps the immune system working right. You do NOT want a bird with a screwed-up endocrine system because this translates into birds that pluck, scream, bite, get sick, are terribly moody, etc.

Keep the bird at a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk. Feed it a varied, fresh food diet (you cannot free-feed protein food to a conure), use a bowl for water and not a bottle (my sun conure bathes almost every day so make it a large bowl). Establish a daily routine and stick to it (being able to predict what is going to happen and when goes a loooong way toward making them feel secure). Let him out of the cage for, at least, four hours a day and spend, at least, 2 hours of one-on-one. And go to him every time he screams to reassure him. Don't give him a treat but do talk to him and scratch its head. Leave a radio on when you are not home and, if you work full time, I recommend you get somebody to come over to spend time with him or find yourself a birdy daycare place.
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Re: Hi, I'm a new bird owner

Postby alienlady » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:12 am

It is my fault entirely. I'm having a bad M.E day and I shouldn't reply to posts because I get confused and can't express what I really want to say :roll: . I have sent you a pm Wolf and no it was my fault not yours. Hopefully my post will be ignored and if I'm lucky maybe Wolf will tell you what I meant to say. If he doesn't mind that is. Again my apologies to the poster , Pajarita and Wolf.
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alienlady
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