Are some conures just screamers?

[Greenhouseparrots]

I have had my crimson bellied conure, Tequila, for three years now. I got her at three months old (so they told me, I suspect she was older as she had a red belly already) and she has always been a screamer. I've always thought maybe she's bored, or hormonal, or stressed, or her diet isn't right and have done so much research and made so many changes all to no avail. She still screams almost constantly.

She has been hormonal in the past but that seems to have subsided, yet she still screams so much. She puts her head down and wings out and screams in the same way as she does when she wants out of her cage, but she'll do this when she's already out, has already had food, has already had a training session and foraging toys and I have multiple birds so she gets lots of social interaction too. I wondered if maybe it meant she wants to go outside as they have an aviary too, but she does it out there as well sometimes and seemingly for no reason. I feel like she's trying to tell me something but I can't figure it out so I'm wondering if some conures just scream almost constantly just because. It's different from her happy noises, which are loud but I don't mind them and I'm happy when she's making them. It's just constant loud screeches which you cannot ignore and when I ask her what she wants she'll stop for a second to look at me and then go again. Ignoring her doesn't work either and she'll settle down to do something like eating but she doesn't really play either so toys aren't a distraction for her. As soon as she's done eating she's back to screaming full volume. She doesn't even preen properly, hence her feathers are very ratty and she hates showers so I can't shower her. She bathes in a dish but won't preen afterwards so that doesn't keep her occupied for long.
Strangely she likes preening my other birds, just not herself much. She also doesn't like to sit on me and hang out like my other conure so I can only really interact with her when I have treats.

If this is just how some conures are then I'll be fine with her, but I do feel like she's unhappy with the almost constant screaming and I want to fix it if I can.

 

[clark_conure]

Reading this my I think your bird is more into interacting and vocalizing with other birds. And not so much the parent.

I kind of thing you are stuck with it unless you can forge a stronger bond with the conure.

Just my opinion.

 

[Abi.and.amber]

I have had my crimson bellied conure, Tequila, for three years now. I got her at three months old (so they told me, I suspect she was older as she had a red belly already) and she has always been a screamer. I've always thought maybe she's bored, or hormonal, or stressed, or her diet isn't right and have done so much research and made so many changes all to no avail. She still screams almost constantly.

She has been hormonal in the past but that seems to have subsided, yet she still screams so much. She puts her head down and wings out and screams in the same way as she does when she wants out of her cage, but she'll do this when she's already out, has already had food, has already had a training session and foraging toys and I have multiple birds so she gets lots of social interaction too. I wondered if maybe it meant she wants to go outside as they have an aviary too, but she does it out there as well sometimes and seemingly for no reason. I feel like she's trying to tell me something but I can't figure it out so I'm wondering if some conures just scream almost constantly just because. It's different from her happy noises, which are loud but I don't mind them and I'm happy when she's making them. It's just constant loud screeches which you cannot ignore and when I ask her what she wants she'll stop for a second to look at me and then go again. Ignoring her doesn't work either and she'll settle down to do something like eating but she doesn't really play either so toys aren't a distraction for her. As soon as she's done eating she's back to screaming full volume. She doesn't even preen properly, hence her feathers are very ratty and she hates showers so I can't shower her. She bathes in a dish but won't preen afterwards so that doesn't keep her occupied for long.
Strangely she likes preening my other birds, just not herself much. She also doesn't like to sit on me and hang out like my other conure so I can only really interact with her when I have treats.

If this is just how some conures are then I'll be fine with her, but I do feel like she's unhappy with the almost constant screaming and I want to fix it if I can.

My friend's male green cheek conure Rico(3 years old) has always been a screamer. Inside and outside of his cage. One time, I took my female pineapple conure Amber to visit Rico, and he was just as loud. He wanted to interact with my bird, but my bird hates all other birds, so she sort of attacked him playfully. I don't think it's an issue. Rico is always screaming, regardless of where he is, or if he's fed or not. Rico also doesn't like humans much, so I think it's fairly normal

 

[ravvlet]

Some birds are just LOUD. Our Amazon Kirby is very quiet, but I have seen videos of a local OWA who screams constantly too, and I couldn’t believe they were the same species!

Bless you for being so patient and caring. I have one quiet human kid and one human kid who says everything in an outside voice - I think that’s how it works for birds too.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Reading this my I think your bird is more into interacting and vocalizing with other birds. And not so much the parent.

I kind of thing you are stuck with it unless you can forge a stronger bond with the conure.

Just my opinion.

This does make sense as she was an aviary raised conure, and she does love the other birds I have. She keeps them all in check and has been amazing with my rescue parrots. I think she's definitely the smartest bird I have, and I can rely on her to follow the rules, as well as being able to teach her almost anything since she's so clever. Unfortunately it's only when she wants treats that she bothers with me (or when she's screaming at me)

How would I forge a stronger bond with her?

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

My friend's male green cheek conure Rico(3 years old) has always been a screamer. Inside and outside of his cage. One time, I took my female pineapple conure Amber to visit Rico, and he was just as loud. He wanted to interact with my bird, but my bird hates all other birds, so she sort of attacked him playfully. I don't think it's an issue. Rico is always screaming, regardless of where he is, or if he's fed or not. Rico also doesn't like humans much, so I think it's fairly normal

This reassures me a lot! I think she may just be loud as well and I'll stop worrying that she's unhappy so much!

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Some birds are just LOUD. Our Amazon Kirby is very quiet, but I have seen videos of a local OWA who screams constantly too, and I couldn’t believe they were the same species!

Bless you for being so patient and caring. I have one quiet human kid and one human kid who says everything in an outside voice - I think that’s how it works for birds too.

I guess they really do have different personalities! Before I got birds I didn't realise just how different each one would be, even if they were the same species!

 

[clark_conure]

Theres a few drastic ways, but I'm not going to even mention them. Your bird is happy, so just spend time maybe it will settle out.

 

[Abi.and.amber]

This reassures me a lot! I think she may just be loud as well and I'll stop worrying that she's unhappy so much!

Best of luck to you!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

This reassures me a lot! I think she may just be loud as well and I'll stop worrying that she's unhappy so much!

You would think she'd get a sore throat! Maybe she screams because she IS happy? I think some birds scream for the sheer joy of it or because they love to see your reaction. Can't do much about it other than invest in really good noise cancelling headphones. Yes, I know they don't make the noise "go away", but if they can bring the decibel level down about 50% it would be easier to ignore.
Speaking of ignoring, if don't react at all- like pretend you don't even hear it- what does she do? If she doesn't see you because you're in another room, does she still scream nonstop? Does she stop screaming while you are giving her your undivided attention (exhausting)? I wonder if your other birds find her screaming tiresome.

 

[chris-md]

Have you given any consideration to the possibility that you might be reinforcing the yelling? Nonstop yelling really shouldn’t be natural. If you’ve looked at it from a perspective of enrichment, diet, hormones, and everything else, have you considered that you might have accidentally trained this behavior? For example: what happens when she screams? Do you come running or suddenly appear? Do you make a fuss? Do you vocalize to her? Or do you completely ignore it?

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Have you given any consideration to the possibility that you might be reinforcing the yelling? Nonstop yelling really shouldn’t be natural. If you’ve looked at it from a perspective of enrichment, diet, hormones, and everything else, have you considered that you might have accidentally trained this behavior? For example: what happens when she screams? Do you come running or suddenly appear? Do you make a fuss? Do you vocalize to her? Or do you completely ignore it?

If she's in her cage then I ignore it as it means she wants to come out of the cage. Luckily she's usually out of the cage if I'm around but I have a camera so I can see her from work and when I look on it she's usually screaming to come out even though no-one is home. She's bonded to one of my cockatiels so I thought that she wanted to be closer to her and so their cages are next to each other, and she also shares her cage with my other conure so she's not lonely. The other conure is fine and I don't have any problems with her which is why I worry.

When she's out of the cage, there's loads of toys and stuff to do but she doesn't play with them at all. She used to but she has no interest in playing anymore. The only toys she plays with are foraging toys, up until she gets the food and then she stops and will probably start screaming. I caught her playing with some toys in the outside aviary briefly, but that's the first time in about a year and she has the same toy inside and she doesn't touch it. She likes to perch near me and scream at me and if she's out of the cage I'll talk to her and ask her what she wants and then do some training with her. Do you think she's asking for training when she does it out of the cage? We can train and then stop and she'll still scream at me but maybe it's not enough? I find it difficult to do the training all the time as I have a small space and I get mobbed by them all as soon as I get the treats out. There's nowhere for me to take one or two of them away either as they're not allowed in the rest of the house. I'm also worried about giving her too many seeds as I use sunflower seeds to train her and she gets hormonal a lot. When I train her I'll go through the tricks she knows (step up, kisses, spin, pick up objects, recall) and then maybe introduce something new as well. She does sometimes just scream at me and refuse treats when I'm trying to train her though.

She's a lot happier when she's outside, probably because she was born in an aviary, but I can't let her stay out there all the time as it's not safe overnight and the neighbours would complain as she would get up at the crack of dawn. I've gotten her to stop screaming in the mornings and now if she does I just have to say "good morning" and she settles down for a bit as she knows she's going outside soon. At the moment they're going outside almost everyday and she really benefits from it.

I just remembered that sometimes she'll scream at me and I'll be ignoring her but she'll carry on and I'll have a small go at her (not shouting but I'll just say "Tequila can you stop!" like you would to a child), and then she either gets louder or she starts making happy noises which I don't mind. If she makes happy noises then I'll talk to her some more and if she carries on screaming I try and figure out what she wants. If she really won't stop I leave the room and it's gotten to the point that I don't like being in the room with them because of her constant screaming. She might settle down for five minutes but then she's back at it and I end up leaving.

It's not contact calling either as she has a separate call for that and she'll call out to me when I come home as her cage looks out the front of the house so she can see, and she can also hear when people are home. I always call out to her when she does this and then go and say hi even if they're not able to come out or if I'm not staying. And then she usually starts screaming to be let out, or tries to attack me since she's hormonal

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

You would think she'd get a sore throat! Maybe she screams because she IS happy? I think some birds scream for the sheer joy of it or because they love to see your reaction. Can't do much about it other than invest in really good noise cancelling headphones. Yes, I know they don't make the noise "go away", but if they can bring the decibel level down about 50% it would be easier to ignore.
Speaking of ignoring, if don't react at all- like pretend you don't even hear it- what does she do? If she doesn't see you because you're in another room, does she still scream nonstop? Does she stop screaming while you are giving her your undivided attention (exhausting)? I wonder if your other birds find her screaming tiresome.

I ask her if her throat is sore from all the screaming sometimes
If it was happy screaming I wouldn't mind but it's so sharp and loud that it feels like it's not happy to me. She does happy screaming and most of the time the ear piercing shrieking she does is not it.
If I ignore her she gets louder and faster and you cannot ignore it so I usually leave the room if I'm struggling with it too much. She does it even if I'm in another room, and when I'm not at home too. I have a camera so I can see what she's up to when I'm not around. If I give her my undivided attention then she'll be quiet as long as I have treats and we're training, but if not then she'll scream at me. She looks at me when she does it so that's also why I'm worried, because it seems aimed at me. Sometimes when she's being too loud my cockatiel that she's bonded with will scream once and that stops her for a bit, as she likes it quieter. The rest of them ignore her but will join in when she's making happy noises. Sometimes the other conure will join her in screaming but she's generally quiet and won't scream unless she has a reason.

 

[Eleanor]

I have had my crimson bellied conure, Tequila, for three years now. I got her at three months old (so they told me, I suspect she was older as she had a red belly already) and she has always been a screamer. I've always thought maybe she's bored, or hormonal, or stressed, or her diet isn't right and have done so much research and made so many changes all to no avail. She still screams almost constantly.

She has been hormonal in the past but that seems to have subsided, yet she still screams so much. She puts her head down and wings out and screams in the same way as she does when she wants out of her cage, but she'll do this when she's already out, has already had food, has already had a training session and foraging toys and I have multiple birds so she gets lots of social interaction too. I wondered if maybe it meant she wants to go outside as they have an aviary too, but she does it out there as well sometimes and seemingly for no reason. I feel like she's trying to tell me something but I can't figure it out so I'm wondering if some conures just scream almost constantly just because. It's different from her happy noises, which are loud but I don't mind them and I'm happy when she's making them. It's just constant loud screeches which you cannot ignore and when I ask her what she wants she'll stop for a second to look at me and then go again. Ignoring her doesn't work either and she'll settle down to do something like eating but she doesn't really play either so toys aren't a distraction for her. As soon as she's done eating she's back to screaming full volume. She doesn't even preen properly, hence her feathers are very ratty and she hates showers so I can't shower her. She bathes in a dish but won't preen afterwards so that doesn't keep her occupied for long.
Strangely she likes preening my other birds, just not herself much. She also doesn't like to sit on me and hang out like my other conure so I can only really interact with her when I have treats.

If this is just how some conures are then I'll be fine with her, but I do feel like she's unhappy with the almost constant screaming and I want to fix it if I can.

I had a female conure screamer as well. We had a very strong bond but she had her morning bonding/cuddle schedule and otherwise was screaming. I don't know anything about flock behavior. Is there an alpha female? Do they scream looking for a mate?