THANK YOU FOR CLICKING ON THIS POST!! I'll try to keep this relatively short..
I have a conure and a mini macaw. I would consider myself an experienced bird owner, since I have had the mini for nearly 13 years, but I MUST be doing something wrong and am so desperate for help.
I love my birds dearly so when my husband and I relocated a couple of years ago we took the birds with us. I have no doubt that this was a traumatic experience for both since it required a long plane ride, new cages, new home. We had to downsize to a one bedroom apartment w/ living room, from having a large enough house where the birds were in separate rooms. That first year in the new apartment was extremely difficult for all of us - because that's when the year of epic tantrums began. I worked out of our bedroom while the birds occupied the living room (in separate cages next to each other). They would scream for HOURS on end. I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown. They woke up every day at dawn (sometimes before 6) and screamed bloody murder. I know vocalization in the a.m. is normal but this was beyond that. It was never ending. Since we lived in an apartment we had to get up right when they did and take them out right away. Fine, we adjusted our lifestyle to accommodate that and have been doing it since.
The mini became extremely attached to my husband and I think has separation anxiety when he goes to work in the mornings, because that starts another hour+ tantrum.
We have now have lived in a rental house with a larger living room & 2 bedrooms, so it is more "home like" of an environment, for over a year now. I thought this would help some of the problems. It did seem to a little bit. But it's still a small house and the birds are in a shared space that we walk through to get anywhere.
I acknowledge that the trigger here is definitely that we have moved twice in a 2 year period. We are trying to buy a house so that we don't have to move again for a very long time. I know we all need the stability.
I set a routine for the birds, in which they get 13-14 hours of sleep per day. 11 hours at night, and at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. I try to have them nap at the same time every day. Not sure if they are napping while I'm working after the morning tantrum too.
Since I set the routine, things seemed to get a little better. I decided to take the mini to very reputable avian vet here, three times to evaluate his behavior when things started getting worse again. I thought he was starting to pick out some feathers under his wings. She gave us a variety of medicines to try (not inc. prozac), but they were supposed to help calm him down a bit. I really didn't want to do this, I feel bad medicating, but she said that we probably needed a two prong approach. IE short term medication to mellow him while we try to tackle his behavior, environment or other possible stressors. Some of the medications were for in case he had a parasite making his skin itch or something, I can't remember exactly. She wants him to try prozac if it doesn't get better.
Nothing helped. I was eventually advised to try making him forage for his food in case he is bored. He has a large cage and I am constantly buying the birds new toys from Dr Foster. I ordered one of those cardboard box feeders where the bird has to rip apart the box for food. He seemed to like that a lot so I got some other foraging toys. He will not touch them. He plays with toys sometimes, but I feel like he is so reliant on human companionship. He WILL sit on perches if it's near my husand or I, but a lot of the time he fusses and wants to sit on us instead. He screams a lot (seemingly for no reason but I'm sure there is a "reason"), and it makes the conure join in and work each other up. When my husband is home he spends most of his time on his shoulder and shreds his tshirts like he is preening him excessively.
I guess I am at my wits end. I have a baby coming in a couple of months and I just don't know how this is going to work anymore. My husband is losing his patience. I don't want to get rid of either bird, I want a real solution. So I guess my question is, from reading my story, do any of you have suggestions? I'm looking into contacting an avian behaviorist because I feel like I've tried everything in the book, but none live here. Anyone have experience doing a training/consultation over skype or the phone? I found one guy called the Bird Whisperer, and took a look at this website https://iaabc.org/consultants because they list certified parrot behaviorists.
HELP
What am I doing wrong!???
I have a conure and a mini macaw. I would consider myself an experienced bird owner, since I have had the mini for nearly 13 years, but I MUST be doing something wrong and am so desperate for help.
I love my birds dearly so when my husband and I relocated a couple of years ago we took the birds with us. I have no doubt that this was a traumatic experience for both since it required a long plane ride, new cages, new home. We had to downsize to a one bedroom apartment w/ living room, from having a large enough house where the birds were in separate rooms. That first year in the new apartment was extremely difficult for all of us - because that's when the year of epic tantrums began. I worked out of our bedroom while the birds occupied the living room (in separate cages next to each other). They would scream for HOURS on end. I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown. They woke up every day at dawn (sometimes before 6) and screamed bloody murder. I know vocalization in the a.m. is normal but this was beyond that. It was never ending. Since we lived in an apartment we had to get up right when they did and take them out right away. Fine, we adjusted our lifestyle to accommodate that and have been doing it since.
The mini became extremely attached to my husband and I think has separation anxiety when he goes to work in the mornings, because that starts another hour+ tantrum.
We have now have lived in a rental house with a larger living room & 2 bedrooms, so it is more "home like" of an environment, for over a year now. I thought this would help some of the problems. It did seem to a little bit. But it's still a small house and the birds are in a shared space that we walk through to get anywhere.
I acknowledge that the trigger here is definitely that we have moved twice in a 2 year period. We are trying to buy a house so that we don't have to move again for a very long time. I know we all need the stability.
I set a routine for the birds, in which they get 13-14 hours of sleep per day. 11 hours at night, and at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. I try to have them nap at the same time every day. Not sure if they are napping while I'm working after the morning tantrum too.
Since I set the routine, things seemed to get a little better. I decided to take the mini to very reputable avian vet here, three times to evaluate his behavior when things started getting worse again. I thought he was starting to pick out some feathers under his wings. She gave us a variety of medicines to try (not inc. prozac), but they were supposed to help calm him down a bit. I really didn't want to do this, I feel bad medicating, but she said that we probably needed a two prong approach. IE short term medication to mellow him while we try to tackle his behavior, environment or other possible stressors. Some of the medications were for in case he had a parasite making his skin itch or something, I can't remember exactly. She wants him to try prozac if it doesn't get better.
Nothing helped. I was eventually advised to try making him forage for his food in case he is bored. He has a large cage and I am constantly buying the birds new toys from Dr Foster. I ordered one of those cardboard box feeders where the bird has to rip apart the box for food. He seemed to like that a lot so I got some other foraging toys. He will not touch them. He plays with toys sometimes, but I feel like he is so reliant on human companionship. He WILL sit on perches if it's near my husand or I, but a lot of the time he fusses and wants to sit on us instead. He screams a lot (seemingly for no reason but I'm sure there is a "reason"), and it makes the conure join in and work each other up. When my husband is home he spends most of his time on his shoulder and shreds his tshirts like he is preening him excessively.
I guess I am at my wits end. I have a baby coming in a couple of months and I just don't know how this is going to work anymore. My husband is losing his patience. I don't want to get rid of either bird, I want a real solution. So I guess my question is, from reading my story, do any of you have suggestions? I'm looking into contacting an avian behaviorist because I feel like I've tried everything in the book, but none live here. Anyone have experience doing a training/consultation over skype or the phone? I found one guy called the Bird Whisperer, and took a look at this website https://iaabc.org/consultants because they list certified parrot behaviorists.
HELP
What am I doing wrong!???
