Screaming

How much screaming is normal and when does it become excessive? Obviously if it was ALL day non-stop it is excessive. What about when you leave the room for a bit?

Butch has been with us for about two weeks. He calls out a little in the am and at night. I'm ok with that. But right now his cage is in a bedroom upstairs while he was quarentined and while waiting for a new cage. So hubby and I will take turns spending time with him in the room. Watching tv etc. but when we leave to spend time with the other fids or eat dinner etc he starts screaming.

I know to not acknowledge it but is there anything else we can do? Or is it going to take time for him to trust that we will come back to him. When he's quiet I will call up to him. But this doesn't seem to help much.

Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks
Sassy

The screaming in the morning and in the night is acceptable for about 15 minutes... if it becomes an every time you leave the room and it continues constantly then it is excessive to me. Like with my jackpot it was if we weren't here he screamed and that was just to much so we had to fix it.


This is a post I made in a topic recently of how I got my toos to stop when I brought them in and relized the screaming was excessive, I really need to get my guide wrote up so I can have it available for everyone, but this is just an overview of it.

It goes like this she gets three warnings so an acceptable amount of screaming is about 15-30 minutes in the morning and at night this is a flock calling behavior and is acceptable. So now to the method. Every time screaming becomes excessive after this you give her a warning, one, then two, then obviously three. Then after all that ether out her in the time out cage or in a cage and cover her for 15-20 minutes. If she still screams after this ignore it never give verbal praise for screaming that is what they want.... Repeat this over and over it will not fix the screaming over night. It took my salmon crested cockatoo over 3 months to learn screaming got him no where. This is a matter of repetition and doing it every day, teach your grandparents how to do it so they can do it when they are home or it won't work completely to your advantage. Never ever yell back or give her a response to the screaming this will just make it worse.... To do this method you must keep your cool and expect some testing the waters in her end. Once she realizes this isn't a game and it is seriously punishment which may take a couple days. Her screaming will slow down more and more until you get it to that acceptable amount.

Hope this helps and he's I know some people don't like this, but if you don't like what works then o well:s.

Thanks. Would closing the door to the room be equiv to covering?

Well as the bird is currently in another room that is far away from you that is probably more the issue, but I'd say no as my bird room has a door to the main house and if I close it they will still yell if they weren't corrected in this... So unless you taught that one two three ment the door is getting closed and that was a negative action for the bird then it would work but I used a cover as it was easier just to say hello you didn't listen three times now you get a timeout and no extra stimulation, which is no fun in there minds so eventually the bird stops. My method is developed through.. Well this may sound stupid but I put myself in the birds mind and thought out how a cockatoo would play a game and what affected the game. What effects most games is the ability to get a response so thus fore covering took away my bird selfs ability to play a game in which was screaming. The cover then made me think what I could entertain myself with in my cage because now I didn't have the peices to the puzzle to play a game. So the method really does two ways if you follow it, it corrects the behavior of s reaming and it makes the cockatoos become more self reliant, as they must entertain themselves while covered.

Another thing I must mention is if you go to cover and the bird acts afraid please do not cover, they may be scared of this object in which now you must try and desensitize them to it first.

So closing the door may work if you enforce that the door is the negative response I suppose, back to birdie self.... Ok I screamed and hit a three now the door closed not allowing me anything but this room for a little. Now I should try and entertain myself in my cage as I can't see out of the room. It may work, it may not, kinda has the same idea, but it didn't work for my cockatoos as they could still hear us plus seen the other birds playing and so on and that was just to much to scream at

These are very social creatures. It sounds like Butch does not like being left alone, and who would? He's just expressing his dislike. I wouldn't punish him for expressing himself, maybe teach him to vocalize differently... by talking to him in a concerned tone of voice, which tells him you care and love him. When you leave the room, tell him bye bye and that you'll be back soon. I hope his quarantine is over soon, so he can have more opportunity to be around others.

LoryLover said:

These are very social creatures. It sounds like Butch does not like being left alone, and who would? He's just expressing his dislike. I wouldn't punish him for expressing himself, maybe teach him to vocalize differently... by talking to him in a concerned tone of voice, which tells him you care and love him. When you leave the room, tell him bye bye and that you'll be back soon. I hope his quarantine is over soon, so he can have more opportunity to be around others.

Click to expand...

I agree with all of this as well, but the moment the screaming becomes not expressing themselves and turns into a behavioral issue is when it needs fixed and same sort of reinforcement is needed may it be positive or negative(acceptable negative not cruelty). Just my two cents and the excessive thing is really your call on how much you can deal with And what your families tolerance may be.


Btw sassy do you know of a belly dancer on your area, she gets us to come to an event in your town annually to have birds during performances.

LoryLover said:

These are very social creatures. It sounds like Butch does not like being left alone, and who would? He's just expressing his dislike. I wouldn't punish him for expressing himself, maybe teach him to vocalize differently... by talking to him in a concerned tone of voice, which tells him you care and love him. When you leave the room, tell him bye bye and that you'll be back soon. I hope his quarantine is over soon, so he can have more opportunity to be around others.

Click to expand...

This is a great suggestion. Lilly screams when I leave her but if I say "Goodbye Lilly" and wait until she says Goodbye Baby then I know she is okay to leave. Let her know that you acknowledge her and love her but you have to leave.

Ok going to have to work on the one two three part. I always talk to him in a soothing low voice. I did just have him out for playtime and dancing and making a general ruckus. I told him its playtime and he can make lots of noise then I started screaming too. When the time was up I put finger to my mouth and said shhhh playtime is over. He was great going back to his cage till he grabbed my shirt and started shaking saying let go.

I know this going to take lots of work and patience. Thanks for the help.

As for the belly dancer. I don't know of any.

Sassy

So far so good. This seems to be working a bit. Today's challenge is that a certain someone keep taking his water owl out and flipping it. Hubby bent the bar that holds the bowl so hopefully he doesn't flip it again.

o cockatoos and what they dont get into huh? sounds great keep us posted.