I'm at the end of my rope with the squawking!!!

kristy_peaches

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Hey folks,


I need help!! I have an 11 year old Meyers parrot. She has her own room, which is our spare bedroom with a wonderful view of the backyard and big old trees. She loves her cage, but she is constantly squawking!


If we leave her for more than 15-20 mins, she's squawking. We have been trying to condition her that when she squawks, we close the door to the bedroom, but she won't stop squawking long enough for us to actually reward her for being quiet!



I've tried covering her cage, but she just squawks more. I'm honestly on the verge of tears. I'm 4.5 months pregnant and my husband is so ready to get rid of this parrot. I'be had her since she was 8 months old and it breaks my heart. But we can't have her high pitched squawking when this new born baby is trying to sleep (or if we're trying to sleep during the day our of exhaustion!)


Please any advice to help quiet this parrot down would be greatly appreciated. :smile015:
 

Flynhigh

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It definitely sounds like an attention issue and begs the question why is she left alone in the bedroom? Is this where she spends the biggest part of the day ? The bird needs to be where the flock is when the flock is home. Closing the door will only make the issue worse. You will need to work hard on this before baby comes as jealousy could become a real problem. Has the bird always been a screamer or has something changed within the home to cause this?

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kristy_peaches

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She has always been a squawker. When I lived with my parents her cage was in front of a window in a hallway. My mom worked in the open concept office so she was always there. But when the bird would squawk, there’s no escaping it.

We can try putting her in our living room, but we cover her up at 5:30pm (her choice not ours. Haha). Wouldn’t the tv and the casual conversation keep her up? (Not that we stay up super late, but we watch a lot of movies etc.)
 

Flynhigh

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Having been through the baby days , I can tell you the baby hears everything that you hear and is actually becoming accustomed to every sqwauk and scream . You will have to spend more time gradually over the next months with the bird to get this under control. It will be a test on the flock but more so on mom and dad. Keep in mind the bird was first and as a new parent its easy to close the door or give the bird up for adoption because of the new addition and associated problems with time and sanity. You can make this work but know that nothing good ever comes easy.

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kristy_peaches

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Thank you. I will suggest putting peaches in the living room just to see what happens. We have been trying for a year, so I have been trying to prepare Peaches for maybe 6 months? It’s just really frustrating because we have tried so many things and nothing works.

Giving up my parrot is the last thing I want to do. So I need all the help/advice I can get.
 

Kiwibird

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I also would suggest putting her in a more high traffic area of the house. Bird rooms are great when you have several birds but very lonely and isolating for single birds even if very nicely set up. Parrots are flock animals and want to be included.

Also, she may sense your pregnancy. Be sure she’s included in baby preparations. Have her observe while you set up the crib and let her sit on your belly when the baby starts kicking. Including her in the process may make it easier for her to understand she isn’t being tossed aside or ignored or loved any less :)
 

Flynhigh

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If you can you should allow the bird to sleep in another room as they will not sleep even if covered while the rest of the flock is still up. Does the bird get out of the cage time? Also yes the cage should be where the most active part of the home is. It sounds like the bird has been more of a decoration than companion and is starving for attention. They normally dont scream all the time if their happy, a little in the AM and maybe some in the PM but that's all you should be getting . Keeping in mind they all have their own personalities and traits.

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kristy_peaches

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She definitely gets out of cage time. She usually says “bye bye” when she’s ready to go back to her home. But right when I leave the room she starts squawking.

I think moving her to the living room is a good idea and then I can have her smaller cage for sleeping.
 

Flynhigh

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I agree completely. As with the out of cage time, spending time with the bird is a must as well. Just being out of the cage isn't enough ,there has to be some interaction. Even if it only 10 minutes 2-3 times a day . That time should be just you and the bird or you and your husband. Trick training , target training , recall or an activity the bird enjoys., outdoors ( harness or travel cage ) .

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Flynhigh

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I forgot to mention whether the bird is flighted or not you should have a couple stands to keep in various parts of your home so the bird can be where you are and maybe a toy or two to play with if its not a shoulder bird. Stands can be made of PVC very inexpensively and quickly , just google PVC parrot stands for ideas. If you do the things discussed here you should start seeing a remarkable difference fairly quickly and if you do, you will know your headed in the right direction.

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YSGC

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Pico, gender unknown, is a hand-fed Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, born 2015.
Clearly resolving the cause of the squawking is the first priority.
Still, there is a place for reducing the effect of squawking on the humans in the flock.

Our bird has all of his needs met in spades, especially tons of loving and engaging time with his humans.
Sill, sometimes he simply must yell his little head off.
I don't like it, but try to accept it.
He's a parrot!
Parrots yell, and chew and other annoying things and I have chosen to deny him a life in the wild and live in my home.
He had no say in the matter.

I buy those disposable foam earplugs in a bag of 80 from Home Depot's tool department.
It doesn't solve the problem, but dramatically lowering the volume of the screaming (by 32 dB) helps calm me down.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Orange-Disposable-Foam-Earplugs-80-Pack-92800-LG80-6DC/300575524

Next, being a musician who records at home I have moveable acoustic panels that absorb sound amazingly well.
A big part of what we hear is sound that has reflected off our rooms' walls, ceilings and floors.
I place these panels near where the bird hangs out.
They cut down the scream volume that reaches my ears.

The pre-made foam acoustic panels are expensive and don't absorb sound as well as good old fashioned real fiberglass, preferably Owens Corning 703.

https://www.amazon.com/Owens-Cornin...ocphy=9031091&hvtargid=pla-570392582130&psc=1

I made wood enclosures for them, then covered them with attractive cloth.
(Please research the safe of handling fiberglass.)

Other room treatments will help too.
Thick rugs with thick padding makes a room quieter than exposed hardwood or tile floors.
Heavy drapes help absorb sound.
A large bookshelf full of books is an excellent sound absorber.

Yes this is a lot of hassle, but it's worth it to me because I really really love my bird - but also love my sanity. ;)
Disclaimer - all this sound-reduction is appropriate only after all the bird's needs are met.
In this case the parrot's isolation from his flock is the first thing I'd fix by keeping him near the people.
 
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RemiBird

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I am a bit confused as to why she is alone in the spare bedroom. Like someone else said, bird rooms are great if you have a flock, but your bird is alone.
Hopefully moving her to the living room, the center of activity, helps.
As for the newborn, most babies can sleep through all sorts of noises, lol.
 
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kristy_peaches

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Thank you everyone so much for your responses. We have always done everything else with this bird. She has an outdoor cage for the warmer days, she has a play yard and her favourite ha gout spots throughout the house (she loves hanging out on the stove range!) and she has plenty of toys to destroy and we even made her a standing perch about 2-3 feet high made from driftwood that she loves to munch on.

The only thing we haven’t tried is putting her in the living room. We never thought to have a separate cage for her to sleep in away from her regular cage. So we will be trying that tomorrow!

I will send an update on how she progresses. :gcc::gcc:
 

Anansi

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I think the living room cage and nighttime sleeping cage are excellent ideas. Remember that the changes might not occur overnight, but there is a good chance that as your bird grows used to her more centrally placed location with the flock the squawking will lessen significantly. (Not altogether, of course, as she is a bird.)

One other thing I'd touch on, one parent to another, as you mentioned that you are expecting a little one (Congratulations!!!) and have concerns about the noise, is this: One of the best initial parenting decisions that I made when my sons were born was not to walk around on eggshells whenever they were sleeping. No, what I did instead was to keep the sound level exactly where it usually is. Music. TV. Conversation. And yes, birds.

Why?

Because when you get them used to a virtually noiseless environment when it's time to sleep, they quite understandably have a lot more trouble later on going off to sleep whenever said noiseless conditions cannot be achieved.

My sons are now 11 and 8 years old, and both could sleep through a marching band parade if need be. And they've both been that way since month one. Children adapt, and the conditions that we initially put in place go a long way toward shaping how life affects them going forward.

Now, this isn't to say that you shouldn't try to get to the bottom of your bird's squawking. That would be important even if you didn't have a little one about to come into the picture. I'm just saying that "perfect" quiet for sleep time isn't necessarily the way to go. Just my humble opinion, of course, but thought I'd share, as it has worked out rather well for me.

Looking forward to your updates, and wishing you all the best with your soon to be expanded family.
 

Rudustin

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I have had parrots most of my life and the one thing I have learned is that they are flock creatures. They need the company of what they consider to be their family! The room that the family is in is the place for your bird to be in as well. I find that a consistent schedule of cage time and out of cage time as well as cuddle time helps my bird understand and anticipate the approximate time these times are going to happen. It helps me as well as my pet.
 

YSGC

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Pico, gender unknown, is a hand-fed Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, born 2015.
Thank you everyone so much for your responses. We have always done everything else with this bird. She has an outdoor cage for the warmer days, she has a play yard and her favourite ha gout spots throughout the house (she loves hanging out on the stove range!) and she has plenty of toys to destroy and we even made her a standing perch about 2-3 feet high made from driftwood that she loves to munch on.

The only thing we haven’t tried is putting her in the living room. We never thought to have a separate cage for her to sleep in away from her regular cage. So we will be trying that tomorrow!

I will send an update on how she progresses. :gcc::gcc:

Kudos to you.
You obviously love this bird and strive to give her good care. :35:

FWIW, my conure sleeps in the only room in the house that's heated in the winter, our bedroom.
He sleeps in an aquarium (no water, LOL) with a few perches in it.
I sewed a black felt cover to block out most light ... there are some ventilation holes in the top of the felt.

As Ruduskin wrote, parrots are flock animals.
More alert birdie eyes and ears protect everyone from predators.
Seems reasonable to me that's why an isolated alone parrot is a stressed out parrot.
I'd think, especially so when the bird can hear its flock-mates but is prevented from getting to them.

You wrote, "she loves hanging out on the stove range!"
I'd nip that in the bud!
Comfort on and familiarity with the stovetop may increase the chance she lands there when the stove is in use. :eek::eek::eek:
Not worth the risk IMO.

We've taken these fabulous creatures out of the wild and forced them to live our (unnatural) homes.
I think we need to bend over backwards to protect them from dangers unique to our homes.
 
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EllenD

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Absolutely due to you keeping her main-cage away from the room "where the action is"...They are Flock-Animals, and you and the other who live in your house are her Flock!!! So the reason she's squawking all the time is because she knows someone is at home but she can't see them, and it's driving her crazy!!!

As nice as it sounds, parrots don't appreciate having "their own rooms" with views out of windows like some other pets might. They don't care about anything at all, the toys inside of their cages, the view out the window, the space they have to fly around their own room, etc. if they are being kept away from their Flock when they're home. They don't even like entertaining themselves with their toys in this situation, they are insecure, upset, and can only focus on seeing what the rest of their Flock, who they can sense and hear are in the house, are doing...

If you move her main-cage to the "main-room" of your house, where you and others in the house spend most of your time when you're home, she'll not only stop squawking, but she'll start to entertain herself with her toys, and you could even put her on a stand or floor-perch of some-kind and she'd entertain herself without incident...And quietly, lol, as long as she is with you...And shutting the bedroom door just makes it worse, I know you were trying to use a Positive-Reinforcement kind of system to control the squawking, but unfortunately, as you found out, they just don't care about much else except letting their Flock know where they are at and that they want to be with them...It's what they do in the wild with their Flocks, and it's what they do in captivity with their human Flocks...
 

plumsmum2005

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She definitely gets out of cage time. She usually says “bye bye” when she’s ready to go back to her home. But right when I leave the room she starts squawking.

I think moving her to the living room is a good idea and then I can have her smaller cage for sleeping.


This sounds great and night cages certainly work here, not something I did before but gets my vote! The above changes sound great and should go a long way to helping with her sqwarking. Only other thing I'd add hun is try and find a time in the day where it is just you and her, perhaps that bedtime routine could involve some cuddle time, tricks or plain parroty daftness. She will get to look forward to it. If she shouts for you in the house just whistle, call to reassure her you are about. Having a bird and a baby is gonna be challenging and some forethought would be good. :)
 

RemiBird

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Also, we have these "perch stations" in different rooms. There is a natural wood perch my son keeps in his room when he takes the bird upstairs. Then we have a perch we carry to the bathroom when I take shower (Remi likes to hang out there with me), then a perch where the main computer is etc.
It is a bit of work hauling the perch with us, but it allows Remi to be with us more, rather than sitting on top of his cage and waiting when we have time for him. This way, he is involved in our daily activities. And then there is always riding on the shoulder, lol. Vacuuming, brushing teeth, folding laundry etc.
Not everyone likes that, but it works for me.
 

Sunnyclover

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If any one of my birds were not in the center of the house they'd scream the house to the ground from loneliness. As a result of having night cages upstairs and the 4 bigger day cages downstairs they're an extremely quiet flock. I hope she feels better after you move the cage!

Do keep in mind that she may be used to "just screaming" now and she might still do it even if she's happier. I do hope that's not the case.
 
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