MALE COCKATIEL KEEPS ON SCREAMING UNCONTROLLABLY

[mitus]

Hi guys!
I hope I will find my help here, I'm really looking for advice. Perhaps one of you had a similar situation.
My male cockatiel (Parrotas), which has been with us for over a year, keeps on screaming uncontrollably whenever it is sunny outside/the room is bright. He shares the cage with a female, who doesn't do that. We cover them with a blanket for the night, and uncover them whenever we wake up, so they can enjoy the natural light. This is when the nightmare begins. He starts screaming, as if asking for darkness, and the scream is so frustrating, both my husband and I cannot take it sometimes. We usually just leave them open, and leave the flat to do our things, but once we return, he still keeps on doing the same. He calms down during the evenings, when we let both of them fly around.
We thought maybe he was afraid of sunlight? Or maybe had depression due to the lack of Vit D? But we left them during Easter holidays for the weekend (and trust me, the weather was gorgeous and the sun was super bright during those two days), and when we got back, he changed! He was singing, playing around, he went out of the cage and flew together with Carrote (the female). He was really active and happy. Unfortunately it lasted for no more than 3 days, and he began to become annoying and what seems like depressed again. Of course, the screaming followed
Has any of you been in a similar situation? Could it be just his personality, or is there something seriously wrong with his physique perhaps? Please, let me know, I'm desperate to hear any advice!

Thanks so much!
Caroline

[Pajarita]

I am sorry, I am sure it's me but I don't know if I understand correctly your posting so I will just go over general care of tiels and, if you still have doubts, please feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Cockatiels only call all the time when they are hormonal and have no mate so, taking into consideration that you have a male and female pair, I would have to assume his screams are due to his been overly hormonal (this causes not only sexual frustration but also chronic pain).

Now, birds are all photoperiodic (photo = light with periodic been self-explanatory). This basically means that their bodies know which season (period) it is from the amount of light they receive. If you give them long days all year round, they will produce sexual hormones all year round (which NEVER happens in nature). Their bodies register the number of daylight hours through exposure to dawn and dusk. The photoreceptor cells in their bodies 'turn on' their internal 'stopwatch' with the light at dawn and off with the light at dusk - the number of hours in between these two events tells their bodies when it's time to start or stop producing sexual hormones so, in order for their endocrine system to be in tune with the seasons and work as it should, they need to be kept at a solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk (this means no artificial lights before the sun is up or after the sun is halfway down to the horizon with complete darkness before dawn or after night falls). I also suggest you use a good quality full spectrum light (CRI 94+ and Ktemp between 5000 and 5500) on the ceiling fixture of the room where they are kept during the day.

The thing with tiels is that they are highly opportunistic breeders so you need to be very careful with their light schedule as well as their diet because free-feeding protein food (seeds, pellets, nutriberries, avicakes, nuts, etc) would also bring them into condition so I suggest you re-evaluate their diet, too. I recommend you feed them gloop and leafy greens for breakfast and a measured amount of a good quality seed mix for dinner with a vitamin/mineral supplement once or twice a week and cuttlebone in their cage. They also require 3 to 4 hours of flight time during the day (flying is the only exercise that dissipates sexual hormones from their bloodstream).

I had a large flock of them when I had the rescue (between 30 and 35) and I never had any kind of hormonal behavior from them (as well no off-season laying, eggbinding or anything) by following the solar schedule and feeding I mentioned.

[beakycheekie]

When does your tiel scream? Just in the morning when you uncover the cage? All throughout the day? At evening?
My male sings (it's VERY loud, makes my eardrums ring if I'm close by so I guess some may call it screaming) first thing in the morning when the sun comes up and then in the evening when the sun goes down and usually right before they fall asleep when it's dark. The singing/screaming usually lasts between 5-15 minutes. Does this sound like what yours is doing?

Also, do you have to cover the cage at night? I don't cover mine as they seem happier without being covered.

[liz]

I believe Pajarita is right about the pain. He does not complain when he is covered because he knows it won't do any good. If he can't see you he thinks you can't see him.

I have discovered that Rambo is female. He is very hormonal right now and constantly putting his butt up at me. He has never been big on head scratches from me but will take what he can get.

I did not realize until this thread that he has been screaming a lot because Myrtle screams back at him. I thought the two were just aggravating me.

I cannot get Myrtle in a cage that has a door so I can't give her the same treatment so Rambo is getting extra priveleges. I am in Florida so I take him outside in a little cage while I care for the horses. It takes about an hour sometimes two and Rambo loves to be out there telling everyone and everthing hello. I hang him from the deck roof so he can see in every direction and see me most of the time.

He doesn't start screaming again until afternoon since he wore himself out outside. When I set the little cage down near him he climbs in and is ready to go. One afternoon I walked passed the little cage and he was in it as if he was telling me he wanted out again.


Going outside is a distraction from his problems and seems to help. The only suggestion I can make is to give him extra privaleges in any way you can come up with so as to distract him from his problems. Flying time helps a lot.

[seagoatdeb]

The kind of screaming he is doing is taking a lot of energy, so more outside time should help. Also having a cage close to a window can help some parrots too. Dont ever reward screaming. if you do give him more time outside, make sure he is not just been screaming when you do it.

[Pajarita]

I am sorry but I don't agree with the 'don't reward screaming'. In my personal opinion, screaming is not a bad behavior that needs to be ignored or not rewarded the way we would do with a child that is misbehaving. The way I see it, if a bird screams is because it needs something it's not getting so giving it to him or, at the very least, trying (even if it's unsuccessful) to make things better should not be considered a reward... I actually see more like a duty on the part of the owner.

[seagoatdeb]

I am sorry but I don't agree with the 'don't reward screaming'. In my personal opinion, screaming is not a bad behavior that needs to be ignored or not rewarded the way we would do with a child that is misbehaving. The way I see it, if a bird screams is because it needs something it's not getting so giving it to him or, at the very least, trying (even if it's unsuccessful) to make things better should not be considered a reward... I actually see more like a duty on the part of the owner.

I see it as training, and communication. Since screaming is what is bothering their parrot people, it is important not to reward the screaming but instead to give the parrrot more outside time and attention. So you are using positive reinforcment, and not reinforcing the behaviour you want to change. As a matter of fact, a lot of parrots learn to scream because they get rewarded for that behavior. Really dont get at all where you are coming from on this one. no one is denying that the screaming indicates a need, and only methods that would adress that need were mentioned.

[Pajarita]

I am coming from the point that if a parrot screams constantly because it's overly hormonal, lonely, anxious, etc. (which are the ONLY reasons why a parrot screams all the time) taking it outside is not going to solve the problem and neither will ignoring it. Constant screaming is never a bad behavior that needs to be corrected, ignored, trained out of, or that was 'learned' (although it can become a habit), it's a symptom of a problem that needs to be corrected so the solution is to identify the cause and eliminate it. It's the same as a baby crying... they don't do it because they were taught to cry or because they are bad so one should ignore it in order not to reward the 'bad behavior', they do it because they have a bellyache, a fever, are uncomfortable or just need to be in somebody's arms for a while.

[seagoatdeb]

i was going on the fact that the OP says he calms down when he is out of the cage at night, suggesting to me that more outside time would help. Liz also thought more outside time would help. It is widely accepted to not reinforce screaming by rewarding the behavior, but we can agree to disagree and that is just fine.

[ParrotsForLife]

I am coming from the point that if a parrot screams constantly because it's overly hormonal, lonely, anxious, etc. (which are the ONLY reasons why a parrot screams all the time) taking it outside is not going to solve the problem and neither will ignoring it. Constant screaming is never a bad behavior that needs to be corrected, ignored, trained out of, or that was 'learned' (although it can become a habit), it's a symptom of a problem that needs to be corrected so the solution is to identify the cause and eliminate it. It's the same as a baby crying... they don't do it because they were taught to cry or because they are bad so one should ignore it in order not to reward the 'bad behavior', they do it because they have a bellyache, a fever, are uncomfortable or just need to be in somebody's arms for a while.

A Parrot screaming should not be rewarded they will only continue it then and remember Parrots hide illnesses so why would they scream at you to tell you they are sick? Some Parrots scream for attention and running to them to give it is rewarding them and they will continue screaming so their owner runs to give them that attention.And yes it does become a habit then.I have also seen you on a few threads and I don't like your behaviour at all especially the way your talking to Deborah and you even called her Brandon so you must have me in your head.I would like all this childish behaviour to stop I really don't like coming here to arguments all the time and it will turn members off coming here.I don't know how Wolf doesn't see how you behave maybe he doesn't want to see it because he believes your really sweet.