early morning squawking

Hi, I was just wondering if you all knew of a way I can stop my 11 month old green cheek from squawking and waking everyone in the house. His cage is in the living room so he has a lot of time with me. I cover his cage around 9:30 at night and then by 6 am he is squawking. He used to sleep until around 7 when I would get up and uncover him. Now during the work week he gets uncovered at 5 am when we are getting ready for work. I tried to leave him covered up until 7 so it would be consistent but he was not having any of that. As soon as he would hear me up moving around he would squawk to be uncovered. Now my husband is complaining because he is getting woken up at 6 am on the week-ends. Help, I would like to be able to sleep at least until 7 on the weekends. He is definitely not sleeping his 12 hours. Oh and do you have any suggestions on how to get him not to bite me when he jumps to my shoulder and crawls around to the back of my head and gets caught in my hair. He is not usually bitey until I put my finger up there and tell him up. It's like when he gets on my shoulder he does not want to get down. He steps up from anywhere else. Thanks

The biting while on your back is a dominance issue. He has figured out you cannot get him well from there and birds like to be high.
Our bird store, which is amazing, strongly suggests no bird is allowed on people's shoulders. It causes them to choose one person- the tall one, and situations like this.
I haven't decided yet if I'm going to tempt fate lol

There isn't much you can do about early squawks and evening squawks. While it's important to avoid excessive screeching, in truth, squawking in the morning and evening is more a natural instinct for them. It's referred to as "calling the flock". (It's sort of like 'home room' in school)

Mine so that as well. It's backed off because I ignore them when they go off. And I don't feed or let them out in the morning. They get fed in the afternoon when I get him from work around 2pm. This way they get a routine without the early morning 'FEED ME NOW'. Just don't forget, as soon as a light shines (house lamp or sunlight) they start waking. I don't ever cover mine either, they can see me so they aren't as upset that they can hear but not see in there. They usually go to bed when I turn the lights out. So weekend are funny because after midnight they get angry the light is on as it's usually of between 9-10. Each here a good morning scratch while I get dressed but that's it. Then they go to sleep again when I leave.

I am absolutely terrible... JellyBean's sleeping cage is in our bedroom and he goes to bed with us.. which is pretty early.. He settles down immediately and then between 6.30am and 7am (depending on how much sleep he has had) he wakes and starts saying "Jeff, Jeff (my partner) UP UP UP" it is hysterical - cheers me up every morning!. I get him up and take him to his poop place.. then I go back to bed with him - he immediately settles down in my hair - buries his beak it is - for another 40 winks while Jeff (who is NOW awake) walks the dogs... JellyBean and I have such a cute time together! I don't sleep - would be too afraid of hurting him... If I did leave him in his cage, there would be a ruckus - not screeching but talking, chewing etc!!

He is always on my or Jeff's head or shoulder! only when behaved though... any sign of biting and all those privileges are gone..

Too cute JellyBean!!

I think being in the same room as the bird helps with a lot of the calling. They don't need to be loud to know you hear them. I live in a 2 room situation (a bath, and then everything else) in my RV, so my birds can see me nearly 100% of the time. They don't do morning or evening calls. Although, if I sleep in longer than my conure, he will try to get my attention by marching around and saying, "Hey you!"

Maybe try feeding a meal at morning time so he's busy eating?

My birds don't sleep on a 12 hour schedule. Instead, they sleep with the sun and wake with the sun, so they can get anywhere from 9 hours to 14 hours of sleep.


As far as the shoulder issue... why not teach your conure to walk down your shoulder for a reward?

Christie71 said:

...Our bird store, which is amazing, strongly suggests no bird is allowed on people's shoulders. It causes them to choose one person- the tall one, and situations like this.

Click to expand...

Not so. The bird does not always choose the tall one. That's a myth. And being on shoulders does not create one person birds, either. Lack of enough socialization does.

As for getting your bird down from your shoulder, I second Monica's suggestion. Use treats so that he begins to make positive associations with coming down when you call. The goal is to get him to WANT to do as you ask.

You'll have to be persistent, but eventually he'll come around.

It is a common misconception among people that birds seek higher ground in order to establish dominance. This is completely false. There is no 'order' in flocks, so to speak. Birds seek higher ground for one reason, safety. Also higher ground allows them a greater view of their surroundings.

It is also a common misconception that shouldering a parrot establishes dominance and encourages territorial behavior. Not so, there are plenty of instances of parrots become territorial without ever setting foot on someones shoulder.

Parrots like to sit on peoples shoulders for one reason most of all, they like to be near their owners.

If a parrot develops significant territorial behavior it's mainly because boundaries and limits have not been set and followed through on.

Skittles has the rule of the roost and yet he is VERY obedient to me. He wasn't always like this, I assure you. He used to be a loud pain in the ***. But once I set limits and boundaries, and followed through on them, he is the most obedient parrot I've ever owned.

I cannot stress enough the importance and power of boundaries and limit setting. All of the progress I have made with Skittles is because of that in one way or another.

By the way, most of the time when I want Skittles to leave my shoulder, I point to where I want him to go and snap my fingers and say "over there". He complies the vast majority of the time.

i wasn't aware that SC or GCC conures could or would talk. Mikey my sun does say good boy tho it is raspy but i can tell... now as for my husband hearing him... not a chance. Maybe he doesn't have the ear for it. Mikey is also the only one who does this out of the menagerie of the flock i have. Also my tiel Billy has a larger vocabulary than most of the birds i have. My opinion tho is time and having the patience to interact and them learning but also them being willing to learn and not have the distractions. Mikey didn't to my knowledge know any words. Me working with him almost constantly and repeating the "good Boy" when he behaved was to me i think the key. for as long as i have had birds i am still learning... i feel if i am not learning i am not living. Eli my quaker has also learned in a couple days to say "here kitty, kitty, kitty... Thank goodness neither of my cats come to that but their names instead... when he learns the names of the cats then i will worry lol... thanks everyone for the advise and information. I love reading ALL the post in all the forums. yep even tho i am a lurker. lol... at the moment i have 12 birds inside my small home... all are in computer room due to our recent cold nights..... welcome to Florida lol once the nighttime temps come up they are back on the porch. Except for Eli and Billy everyone for the most part is outside and covered at night.. i don't have an issue with stray cats as Jazzy my cat runs them off, nor other animals as i also have 4 dogs.. I am very thankful i have my little zoo keeps me sane and they all seem to watch out for the little guy.... lol to bad all people weren't like that to everyone... oh well life goes on....