Help!

[Ittibup]

Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone can help me...
About 6 Months ago we were given a female Alexandrine parrot.
"Alex" is about 9 years old and we're her 3rd home.
The previous owner gave her to us as he couldn't keep her anymore - she had bonded with him but she then wouldn't tolerate his wife or son and became agressive towards them.
Considering we've never had a parrot before, she's settled in really well, and we love her to bits!
The only issue is, she does this ghastly, ear-splitting siren sound - I think she does it for attention, but it drives us all crazy. My husband has said we'll have to give her away if she keeps it up but I can't do that - the kids and I totally adore her. I'm constanly trying to keep her quiet by giving her food or attention, but I know it's only making it worse!
Can anyone suggest any way of training her out of this?!
Thank you

 

[MrSquak]

Both Tango our alex and talon our grey were trained out of annoying noises by replacing them with good ones. Tango doesn't squawk or shriek just whistles little tunes like a songbird. She loves to whistle, so try that with Alex! If they get the hang of a sound they like making it can replace their standard flock call.

 

[Ittibup]

Thanks, I'll try that! She does do a "dog call" whistle and we whistle that a lot to her, trying to encourage that, but she always goes back to that horrid sound! The "flock call" makes sense, I've never thought about it that way before. The worst time she does this siren sound is when we get visitors and she's in her aviary in our sun room... she can hear new people and must get frustrated that she's not included, so will do that noise until she's let out. Will any new "flock call" do or should we try a tune she's already familiar with?
Thank you again for your help!

 

[Betrisher]

Sigh. We taught our Alexes to 'sing' the drinking song from La Traviata. Sadly, they don't do that *instead* of the flock call, just *as well as* the flock call.

The only thing I've found that prevents the loud calling is covering the cage or giving them something large to eat. A stick of celery is good (lasts a while) or a leaf of broccoli or spinach.

Foraging toys are also busy-making and might be an even better help. I've had a lot of success by filling a 2 litre milk bottle with shredded paper, torn-up coloured plastic, drinking staws and peanuts in their shells, broken-up bits of dry ramen noodles and fragments of coconut. I cut one inch holes at intervals in the bottle and then leave the Beaks to find their treats. It lasts about a day (which is good going, really). You can make a smaller version by using a yoghurt container.

Best of luck with the problem - do let us know how you get on, won't you?

 

[Julianna]

The best way I've heard of to get rid of screaming is to freeze wherever you are and make no noise while your bird is screaming. They're looking for a contact call, but for us anything could count, such as a creaking floor or running sink. If they learn that there is no reaction from the screaming, they won't do it because there's no reason to. It doesn't get them anywhere. The worst thing you can do is answer the call, because then they learn that screaming gets them what they want.

I haven't actually ever had to deal with this myself, though, so I've never actually used this method. It makes sense though, so I'm guessing it works Good luck!

 

[Ittibup]

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate the advice! Today when she was doing the siren sound, we ignored her and she stopped after about 5 minutes, but then just started up again later on. If she's in her aviary, we'll cover her until she's quiet and that seems to work, though it's harder to control when she's out.
Betrisher, that's so funny about the drinking song - would love to hear that! First thing tomorrow, I'll be making Alex a foraging toy out of an empty milk bottle. I don't think her previous owner gave her any toys at all, so the ones I have bought for her, she doesn't really know how to play with, but she does love shredding cardboard boxes, so I think the milk bottle foraging toy will work a treat.
And Julianna, that definitely does make sense... saying "Be quiet" would just be the same response as doing a flock call back to her. I'm going to word the family up and hopefully we'll have some success!
Thanks again, everyone - I am so glad I joined this forum

 

[Betrisher]

Ittibup, I discovered another toy today. I used to give the Beaks toilet paper tubes to chew on, but they quickly lost interest in those.

What I've done is to make three-inch cuts into one end of the tube all the way round and then fan out the resulting fringed end. I made about a dozen of these and strung them onto a dowel, which I balanced across the cage. The Beaks have had a lovely afternoon plucking the fringes off their TP tubes and I've had Blessed Silence!

 

[gemini84]

your right in the fact that she is doing this for attention. it sounds like she has not been taught indepedant play. so as betrish mentioned foraging toys are a great idea, she needs distraction, mental stimulation and to learn to play indepedantly.
good luck, i know how loud an upset/ annoyed alex can be i have 3

 

[Ittibup]

Thanks Betrisher - awesome idea with the toilet rolls! Alex used to like to shred them but lost interest as well. I think she'll love that.
And Gemini, you're right about the independant play. My sister has a blue-fronted Amazon and he keeps himself occupied for hours with his toys... I just thought it may have been a species thing and that Alexandrines just aren't into playing.
Have tried the milk bottle idea and so far, she hasn't really paid much attention to it, but I'll keep trying and might try demonstrating to her how to do it. Is that how you get them interested in toys?
Still trying to not respond to her siren noise and trying to encourage whistles instead... will keep you updated with out progress!!
Thanks again for your advice

 

[Betrisher]

When I made my milk bottle foraging toy, I used (this is gonna sound absolutely ridiculous) the bright yellow plastic wrapper from ramen noodles. Whenever anyone in our house has noodles, they always offer the birds a tiny chunk of dry noodle. So, the birds go ape whenever they hear the paper rattle. Yellow has become their favourite colour. So, when I put strips of the yellow plastic in their foraging toy, they were quick to rip at it! The Beaks are also quick to grab anything shiny, so I've also added some shiny silver/plastic wrapper from a packet of crackers. The rest of the stuffing is just shredded junk mail and torn-up egg cartons.

I think, with this kind of toy, you need to have straggly bits hanging out to indicate there's something inside. I've also added a sprinkling of treats inside the bottle: bits of ramen noodle, peanuts in the shell, broken crackers, peas, bits of wood etc etc. The little darlings are ripping stuff out as I type AND they're quite quiet as they do it! Bless their little hearts!

On a different note, my daughter brought a friend over yesterday to meet the Beaks. Can you *imagine* my embarrassment when Madge landed right on the poor girl's head, ripped off her glasses and flew off with them!!! Naughty bird! Luckily, we were able to retrieve the glasses without much drama, but that's something I'm gonna have to watch out for.

 

[Ittibup]

Haha, that's a classic! At least you got the glasses back!

What are Ramen noodles... are they the same as 2 minute noodles? I have heard of them before but have never seen them.