Help with a Screaming Canary-Winged Parakeet

We made the mistake of "rescuing" a year-old canary-winged parakeet that was at Petco for 6 months and whose "personality totally changed" in the time she was there according to staff.

I think she has separation anxiety because she screams all of the time when she is OUT of the cage with us. We can't put her down without her screaming or leave the room or do any chores around the house because any noises make her scream. She will also just scream when sitting on my husband's shoulder on the couch or whenever he talks. The only time she is quiet is when she is in a cage in a room upstairs away from anyone in the house.

We know this is not a life for her but also don't want to re-home her making her someone else's problem. I think she way be best as a breeder but she isn't old enough for that.

She doesn't like our two green-cheeked conures but she may be better with her own kind but they are so hard to find.

Our house has become so stressful in the last two months since we brought her home. Any suggestions or advice would be extremely helpful.

I find this to be a general issue among many parrot kinds epically cockatoos so I willbe making an anti screaming guide and posting it within the next couple of days. I rescued a m2 that was a huge screamer and this method has worked great for him and many others so I think it is great we shall see what the others think in due time, but now to your issue.

The method revolves around 1,2,3 then a time out. So an acceptable amount of parrot screaming is 15 minutes in the morning and before bed(calling the flock behavior). And maybe 5 minute Burt's throughout the day. Anything over this is considerably excessive for captive parrots. Let her scream for the allotted time because it is only right, after that warn her with a one (these numbers wil be your key words). If she doesn't stop the next is two then three and then a time out. Place a separate time out cage in your house. Take her to the time out cage and give her a 10-15minute time out. Then bring her back to we're she was before the timeout. Keep doing this you should see decreases in the time she screams. It will take some time for her to Understand the numbers so be understanding. As well always praise all quiet with a treat or abnormally excited verbal praise. Ignore the screaming and only respond with a number. Do this religiously you cannot not be lax one day and strict the next keep it consistent for it to work. This is just a slight over view if you dont get it feel free to message me the full walk through will hopefully be out this weekend if I have the time.

Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.

I bought my 2 parakeets from petco, after they got over their fear of me they LOATHED attention. I don't blame them, it was a hard life in petco the way they were treated. Though they never really had a noise problem. All birds LOVE to make noise. Can you describe what sound it was ? Sometimes, if a parrot is really attached to his or her favorite person, they can have separation anxiety . They are afraid of you going and never coming back just like toddlers, you need to let her know that you are just going for a second. If When you put her down and leave, if you exit the door and she can't see you, when she screams for you whistle back. This is just like how a flock member would do it in Australia , they would communicate to let each over know they are okay . She is probably screaming or chirping is because she is just happy where she is and that she is surviving. If it gets too much on your nerves , then give her a toy to keep her busy.

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I will try the modifications that you suggested, The screams sound like a machine gun and are extremely high pitched. My son has sensory processing disorder (on the autism spectrum) so it is especially difficult for him.

Thanks again for responding!

No problem feel free to message me if you have further questions I am willing to help you as much as possible at any time. I wish you the best of luck screaming is one of the worst behaviors to stop maybe besides plucking:/. Because so much could be triggering it and it can be add to pin point.

There's always going to be alternative methods.

Living With Parrots Cage Free: Does Ignoring Really Work?

For your son you might consider earplugs for the short term until you can get a handle on the behavior.

Also, you might try teaching him (the bird) how to whisper. My wife taught our Hahns and now when he gets a bit excessive we whisper to him and allow him to communicate that way.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. I was thinking that she might do better with another canary-wing - but finding someone with a canary-wing who wants a friend will probably be a difficult task since they aren't that common. My two green-cheeked conures were interested in her at first but she made it clear to them that she wanted nothing to do with them.

My problem is, when I am home, my conures are pretty much with me all the time and are generally quiet and well-behaved (and fun and cuddly and getting into things as I do work around the house, or mellow when we are hanging out on the couch). I feel so badly that she can't be with us all the time and that she is alone in another room. She has lots of toys but doesn't play with them.

Lilly, the canary-wing, prefers my husband so if I try to have her out with me and she hears him or sees him, she screams until she gets to his shoulder and sometimes even jumps to get there.

We have moved he cage downstairs next to the other birds and yes, she screams in her cage now - I guess because she can hear us and is not with us. But if we get her out she screams, too.

So I guess my question is - do you think she would feel more secure if she had another canary-wing with her or do you think it would be the same situation with my other birds?

We have a really good local bird store who is willing to re-home her for us. Our intent in buying her was basically just to get her out of Petco 2 months ago and we knew the bird store was a back-up plan. Maybe a different family without a loud 11 year old, 2 parakeets and 2 conures is not the best situation with her since any noise makes her yell.

Your feedback would be really helpful. Thanks!