Exhausted

[Mommy monster]

Hello there.
I have a 1 year old male Green Cheek Conure. I am losing my mind. He has a huge cage, good food, plenty of toys. His wings are not clipped and flies freely in the house. He is out of his cage 50% of the day, whenever I am home. The minute I put him in his cage he screams bloody murder. There is no peace in my house, he makes me cry every day. My 2 dogs are anxiety ridden from the screaming and they shake and hide in corners of the house. This has been going on for months. I have taken him to the vet and he is fine. I am losing my mind and every one else in my house. I just needed to vent. I hate being home because of my bird. How awful is this.

 

[Sophieskitchen]

I dont have too much advice im afraid. I just want to say that Im so sorry your going through this. I know with my girl, I keep her on a schedule...so she knows what to expect. If possible i think a routine lowers their anxiety. I also shower her every day or every other at the very least (i put her on a shower perch and just have her in the shower when i shower) and we do 15 min of target training every day. I think these things help drain her energy too. Can you start a routine with your guy and try showering him and target training him? It might be worth trying.

 

[kme3388]

Hi there, and welcome. Conures are very social, and mine contact call regularly. I’m so used to it that I don’t think much of it. I have a sun & jenday. They are cute as a button but they do make a lot of noise. None of my parrots enjoy being in a cage. They’d prefer to be out of their cages, and with me all day long. Phone noises are their favorite. It’s a competition on who’s louder the phone, or the conures!!??!!

I can understand what you are saying, and why you need to vent. I adore my parrots but when I’m having an awful day, and then my parrots are screaming as soon as I walk in the door (which any other day I adore as I know they are just happy to see me) & I can’t get a minute to myself I can get frustrated & overwhelmed. Usually I’ll leave them in their cages until I’m not emotionally reactive.

 

[Mommy monster]

I dont have too much advice im afraid. I just want to say that Im so sorry your going through this. I know with my girl, I keep her on a schedule...so she knows what to expect. If possible i think a routine lowers their anxiety. I also shower her every day or every other at the very least (i put her on a shower perch and just have her in the shower when i shower) and we do 15 min of target training every day. I think these things help drain her energy too. Can you start a routine with your guy and try showering him and target training him? It might be worth trying.

I will give the target training a shot, thank you so much

 

[Mommy monster]

Hi there, and welcome. Conures are very social, and mine contact call regularly. I’m so used to it that I don’t think much of it. I have a sun & jenday. They are cute as a button but they do make a lot of noise. None of my parrots enjoy being in a cage. They’d prefer to be out of their cages, and with me all day long. Phone noises are their favorite. It’s a competition on who’s louder the phone, or the conures!!??!!

I can understand what you are saying, and why you need to vent. I adore my parrots but when I’m having an awful day, and then my parrots are screaming as soon as I walk in the door (which any other day I adore as I know they are just happy to see me) & I can’t get a minute to myself I can get frustrated & overwhelmed. Usually I’ll leave them in their cages until I’m not emotionally reactive.

Thank you

 

[GoldenDaysAz]

Yikes! I empathize with your situation. Conures are bold and sounds like you have a real character. Have you always been his caretaker? It definitely sounds like he’d rather be outside of his cage and expecting you to respond to his request. I have a couple suggestions you could try. From my experience, Sunrise and Sunset are typically when mine are the noisiest and when I devote my attention to my conures. Mine LOVE to be outside. I want to emphasize their urgency to be outside at these two moments in the day where I take them outside to see it. They have trained me in this area now. It’s our routine but now they expect it and after they get it, they settle down. Every time they’ve had baths, they also settle down to preen. Perhaps you could allow him to bathe before putting him in his cage. Also be sure he’s set up with fresh food and water before he’s back in his cage. Looking forward to hearing your progress. -All parrots communicate, only some use words.Lou

 

[Bertica2964]

Hello there.
I have a 1 year old male Green Cheek Conure. I am losing my mind. He has a huge cage, good food, plenty of toys. His wings are not clipped and flies freely in the house. He is out of his cage 50% of the day, whenever I am home. The minute I put him in his cage he screams bloody murder. There is no peace in my house, he makes me cry every day. My 2 dogs are anxiety ridden from the screaming and they shake and hide in corners of the house. This has been going on for months. I have taken him to the vet and he is fine. I am losing my mind and every one else in my house. I just needed to vent. I hate being home because of my bird. How awful is this.

I have 2 Indian Ringneck and a Quaker parrot, we have a routine that is very peaceful in my house
I uncover their cage at around 7:30 am and they fly to the kitchen where I feed them their chop, then they fly around the house and back and forth to their room, I do some target training, after that they take a shower and they come down for a while, in the meantime I do fresh pellets and fresh water in their cages
After that they all go to their cage and are in there until 4 pm
At 4 they come out again and then they eat fresh fruits or veggies again,
Fly around until 7 or 7:30 pm
And then they are ready to go to bed
They each has their own cage and I cover it so that they can get their rest
So maybe that will help you kind of see how others do it
Remember the more active they are the better

 

[WingDing]

Here are excellent articles from a couple of experts behaviorists for late night reading:
From Pamela Clarke:

Your Screaming Parrot and You

I posted a short survey on Facebook several weeks ago, asking readers to express interest in one of three future webinar topics. I was surprised to find that almost as many people asked for a webin…

pamelaclarkonline.com

From Barbara Heidenreich:

https://www.mnbird.org/userfiles/image/Screaming-Heidenreich.pdf