Behavioral changes

Hi all,

I need your insights. Ill try to keep things short as possible.

I have a 2yo Ekkie named Abe who is generally a real sweetheart, closely bonded to me, gentle temperament. We brought our first (human!) baby home a few weeks ago and the house has gone from pretty laid back to chaotic. I also had a bunch of family over for a few weeks too.

It seems that Abe has picked up some annoying habits over these recent weeks and I am wondering whether this is just his natural aging into toddler years or a result of his environment. He screams for attention very often and whenever he's left alone. He seems more aggressive and agitated too. Abe and I now have the house to ourselves and Im trying to extinguish the screaming in particular. I have a feeling he'll go back to his old self now that there is much less activity around him... is he just not well-suited to crowds and noise? Or is this just how ekkies get as they grow older? What do i do once my family (including the baby) are back? Abe is used to being near us and I dont want to shut him away in another room And I would never do so anyway but I am worried his screaming might harm the baby's hearing

Ideas?

p.s. Yes I know parrots can't be expected to be quiet etc We like our chattery, noisy bird just fine. This seems more like a behavior issue.

p.p.s Apologies if this is supposed to be in the 'Behavior' section, I couldn't tell for sure

I don't have an Ekkie, but how close to 3 is he? I ask because sexual maturity happens at 3 (ish) so this could be like puberty...If he screams, I am hoping you ignore it (assuming he is doing it to get your attention etc). If he is screaming, you have to wait him out and I would suggest not returning to the room until he is quiet for a solid 10 seconds (then praise "thanks for getting quiet!" ) If he screams, leave the room and gradually increase the time he has to be quiet before you come back in. If he screams at all, the timer starts over. If you absolutely have to re-enter the room and don't have time to wait, you could try tossing a sock or something into the room while hiding behind a wall (lol) sometimes that will surprise them enough to get you your 10 seconds of quiet. Obviously don't to this is you have a scared bird-- the goal would be to startle (as a last resort) not to terrify or cause him to fly into things.

If you know you are going to walk away, you can try talking as you work just to let him know you are alive, but if he screams, I would stop responding...and stay out of sight until quiet.

Good thoughts, Noodley One.

We have a wonderful bunch of Ekkie lovers here who will be along to help.
Such fabulous and comlex parrots...

Meanwhile, I'm glad you're here.

Thank you both

What I've always done is just ignore him and the screaming usually subsides. He's definitely doing it for attention, more specifically he wants out of the cage and onto my hand lol or to just hang with the flock.

He's never actually been much of a screamer (and is still a year away from turning 3) and I really have no clue where this came from. Maybe the increased activity in the house?

So you're suggesting everyone in the room actually leave for a few seconds when he screams and let some time pass after the screaming stops before coming back? His cage is in the main living area so that should give the family some exercise

Strange bird

Not an Ekkie owner, but, in my case, my bird is out of her cage if I am in the room (Umbrella Cockatoo). She screams sometimes when I leave the room and I don't return while she is screaming. Is there a reason your bird can't be out while people are in the room? Mine is trained to stay on her cage unless she is moved or called (or totally freaked out to the point where she flies). I wouldn't tell everyone to leave the room if the bird screams---but I would say that they shouldn't look at the bird, or talk about the screaming (which is going to be difficult)....It is really going to depend on how many people are in the room, what they are doing, how old they are etc etc.
I can see why your bird wants to be a part of that flock activity (a group of people hanging out nearby). I was posting my "leave the room" comment about times when I have been in the room and my bird has screamed for my attention when I am at my computer or not bringing her her food fast enough. These are the cases in which I leave. You can try having everyone leave, but that doesn't seem sustainable...plus, as a flock animal, I can see why your bird wants to be part of the action. Do not ever attend to screaming for attention....and NEVER yell at her to stop....BUT, could you possibly let her out of get a play-stand if you plan to do lots of interacting near her?
If you leave and she starts screaming, no one should come back until she is quiet for your specified interval (start an 10 s and work your way up over time).

noodles123 said:

Not an Ekkie owner, but, in my case, my bird is out of her cage if I am in the room (Umbrella Cockatoo). She screams sometimes when I leave the room and I don't return while she is screaming. Is there a reason your bird can't be out while people are in the room? Mine is trained to stay on her cage unless she is moved or called (or totally freaked out to the point where she flies). I wouldn't tell everyone to leave the room if the bird screams---but I would say that they shouldn't look at the bird, or talk about the screaming (which is going to be difficult)....It is really going to depend on how many people are in the room, what they are doing, how old they are etc etc.
I can see why your bird wants to be a part of that flock activity (a group of people hanging out nearby). I was posting my "leave the room" comment about times when I have been in the room and my bird has screamed for my attention when I am at my computer or not bringing her her food fast enough. These are the cases in which I leave. You can try having everyone leave, but that doesn't seem sustainable...plus, as a flock animal, I can see why your bird wants to be part of the action. Do not ever attend to screaming for attention....and NEVER yell at her to stop....BUT, could you possibly let her out of get a play-stand if you plan to do lots of interacting near her?
If you leave and she starts screaming, no one should come back until she is quiet for your specified interval (start an 10 s and work your way up over time).

Click to expand...

I see what you mean. Let me explain a bit more. This is usually a two person (plus one bird) household. What happened the past couple of months is 1) A newborn baby was added to the mix and 2) We had family staying over as well. Before that he was out of the cage whenever one of us was around (my wife in the daytime bcs she's a student, me in the evening) and in my case he's usually on my shoulder. So the whole routine was turned upside down. My wife is too busy with the baby, the house had guests, my own schedule was disrupted and I couldn't hang with him as much. We tried putting him on his playstand but he still screamed. Basically he screams when hes not being attended to as much as he used to.

Now everyone is gone and it's just me and him for a few weeks. He screamed once today. And then nothing. But it's only Day 1.

Basically Im trying to see whether 1) he's learned a bad habit and 2) Whether we need to make changes to his lifestyle or ours to keep him calmer despite the fact that we now have a baby in the house that needs attention too and some protection from noise (Ekkie screams... ouch).

Complicated, I know. Sorry.

Edit: Just want to add that I never respond to his screaming, and never give him what he wants if he screams. My wife is a bit less disciplined and tends to shout at him sometimes. Understandable under the circumstances but I know its wrong.

He could have just been really upset by the routine shift --they are creatures of habit. Plus, the addition of a bunch of new flock members and less attention to him probably felt pretty upsetting. I would try to safely include him around the baby in order to prevent jealousy...Again, the key-word being, safely...Like, could you hold the baby while the wife hangs with the bird etc etc...The bird feels like it is your family too.
I am not saying attend to him when he screams, but if the attention he got before was like the bare-minimum for a parrot, then you may have to get creative in increasing his attention (pre-screaming). I am not saying that birds can't learn to be independent, but you probably need to make sure he is getting at least a few hours of out of cage time + some quality interaction.

Thank you! (Yes I meant it in agreement with you re responding). What you’re saying makes sense. I will have a convo with my better half and be sure to include Abe more in our expanded family I think having a ton of new people around didn’t help either like you said. Hell it stress me out too

He seems to be settling down now that the stimulation and noise abated a bit.

Thanks very much guys. Love this forum.

Yep, changes are big for parrots, and I thought our little ekkie was one of the chillest until we shifted house - he started panic screaming for us. Then when we started shifting furniture around a few weeks after moving into the new house, he started panic screaming again. He's calmed down, but in the new house, we have sliding glass doors to go in and out of the house, which means he has to go in his cage more frequently. Of course, he doesn't understand why he's being excluded from the flock.

So I've learned to integrate him in small ways - when the door is open and we're working on stuff outside and inside, on goes his harness, and he sits outside or on my shoulder. Or if I'm cooking, he sits on the far side of the kitchen. It's just small things like that. He's happy to just watch and play with his toys so long as he feels like he's part of the group.

Sometimes I even have a backup trick: Cairo chills out and chatters away after a shower, so if I know I'm going to have to leave him alone to handle chores around unsafe/forbidden parts of the house, I'll time it to shower him beforehand, then let him practise his vocab alone. I'd imagine if your Abe has something similar, this might be helpful for a nap session or a feeding session.

Another way (and I realise we're a bit of an anomaly, but if it's possible) is to bring him out and around with you. When I run out to pick up takeaway food or run other errands outside, Cairo comes with me. It is a tricky balance to make sure I'm not cultivating a velcro bird, but so far, he's been good about learning to be independent when we're not around and to keep himself occupied when we're occupied. Just have to remember that we're their flock. It's clearest when we nap, he also wants to nap. So naturally, when we're out 'playing' or 'foraging', he'll also want to be involved with the family.



As for new people, it's really just constant socialisation and training. Cairo is naturally shy of strangers, but over weeks and months, he's learned that 'strangers' (our friends) are ok if we introduce them because 'strangers' we introduce to him have treats sometimes. As for intruding into 'his' house, we have a flatmate who stays only about half the time. She offers him a treat when she enters and really just engages with him on his own terms.

One thing I learned is the for absolutely new people (those he's never had any positive interaction with whatsoever), it's better for him to be out of his cage when they arrive. I know other people have had opposite reactions, where the birds take it better inside their cage. Your mileage may vary. So you can definitely try out different scenarios.

But another thing I always have done is the strangers entering always give him some distance and a minute or two to adjust, then the next step is they offer him a treat and leave the interaction at that. In the next few minutes, you can read his body language and see if he's willing to step up to them or if he's only comfortable with staying on your shoulder. And for Cairo, it really varies - some people he immediately takes to (I was shocked when he flew over to a friend he'd never met before) and some people it takes him several sessions of just watching from a distance.


I can't say if Abe is acting this way because of stress or hormones, since we're just starting to discover Cairo's moodiness (he's turning 17 months old). But others more familiar with ekkies growing up will probably be along shortly

Awesome advice, thank you. I think I am going to have to get more creative about including him. Before I used to have more spare time and he'd basically always be with me. Btw I've started doing what you suggest about taking him on errands! He hates the harness unfortunately but he has a nice bird pak that he likes Poor guy, it must've been a disorienting few weeks.

Am I strange for worrying about him so much? Haha