Goodbye Noise-maker

[Kinny]

Argh stupid bird! There goes our plan of handraising and keeping a male as a pet. I wish they could understand English, cos then i could just warn him that if he continues, he will have to be sold and who knows where he'll end up.

I bought a successful breeding pair of Eclectus months ago, and the male just started a week ago, a habit of screeching his head off every morning at 6:00. Which then causes our other Eclectus to copy him and sets all the conures off full volume. We have neighbours so this just will not do. I doubt hes about to stop because he does it for no apparent reason. Perhaps he suddenly decided to screech at light. -_- Silly birds gonna end up leaving his comfy spacious aviary and delicious foods soon.

 

[ParkersMom]

I hate to be the one to tell you this but just because you get rid of the screamer doesn't mean that the others will stop...Before we got our Macaw , Parker our amazon had never screamed...we had the macaw for about 6 months when we decided she wasn't a good fit for us that was over 6 months ago while we had her, she and Parker would have screaming matches and Parker still screams whenever he wants too as if she was still here

 

[Mayden]

Birds are naturally vocal. Breeding birds even more so. Please don't split up a bonded pair.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I completely agree with Heather and Cat.

I had a pair of Red Sided Ekkies whom I raised and kept until they were just a bit over 3 years old. Jasper, the male, was unbelievably vocal. So much so we moved their cage into the farthest room downstairs, away from the living room. That didn't help at all because his screeching felt deafening. I was VERY lucky that they both instantly fell in love with a friend of mine who ended up giving them a new home TOGETHER. I would have NEVER separated them. They are both doing GREAT in their new home. They have an entire sun room to themselves. Yes, Jasper is still loud, but the sun room has a door that can be shut, so nobody is bothered.

 

[Kinny]

Oh no the pair would be sold together as the pair. Its just the male we have an issue with. Hes always been vocal but not at 6am. Its the earliness that's the issue. Our conures only go off when the eclectus starts up. Otherwise they are silent until around 10am.

The noise doesn't bother us so much as the kids sleep through it all. But our neighbours... Well.. Mmm.

 

[melbourned]

Have you tried any behaviorial alternatives. Maybe cover their cages or perhaps have small sleeping cages in your bedroom. If you don't correct this behavior the poor bird could end going to many different homes.

 

[maillet]

You refer to the bird as Stupid? Oh Yes... I can feel how good of a home he has...

Maybe you should reconsider owning birds if that is how you view their natural habits. It is natural for them to be vocal by Sunrise (Includes 6:00am). And honestly I would be willing to bet you are quite hostile with bird when screaming. I would be doing it as well. Maybe you should reconsider your attitude toward screaming as it is not happening for no reason whatsoever. Fact they are breeding pair proves something is now stressful - Like... You?

 

[MenomaMinx]

Get a light blocking window shade. The kind that rolls down in combination with the kind that also claims to block not only light but insulate the room – problem solved.

If you don't want to spend the money on that, use artificial full-spectrum light(which is a preview you probably already have) to reconfigure their sleeping and waking habits to something more amicable to the neighbors. The actual training for this involves red and blue lights during certain hours of the night, and I can flip the research if you want it.

 

[Kinny]

melbourned, no that doesn't seem to work either. :/

maillet, i was rather grumpy when i posted this (i wont go into detail explaining why) but i never actually consider my birds stupid (unless they injure themselves by being morons, but my morons are lovable morons). I suppose i should have worded the initial post more carefully. Of course the screaming stresses me out, but i try to ignore it. I know, its natural for parrots to scream at sunrise, however I've never owned any parrot that's gone off before 7am. And this male eclectus only just started screeching before 7am. I don't mind screeching so long as its no earlier than 7. If previous birds had been noisy that early i would be used to it. I understand your concern, however its not like i go up to my screaming birds and hit and yell at them.

MenomaMinx, that sounds like a good idea, im just not sure if my husband would be ok with all that especially if it didn't work. Will have to have a think about it.

 

[Kinny]

We tried locking the pair in their MASSIVE nestbox (honestly, its like a mini house) with available water of course overnight, and that seems to have solved the issue. In fact the female now loves the nestbox and keeps going back in there throughout the day.

Surprisingly this morning when i opened the flap over the entrance hole, the male Eclectus (Tai) casually walked out and sat on my hand.. O.O and 5 minutes later with a lot of coaxing, allowed me to stroke his chest and back. *goes all squishy inside*

 

[PetoftheDay]

Whew, sounds good! Glad you told us you were just basically venting in the first post. I am a morning person, but neither my Dad or any of my siblings was, just me and Ma, and your first post reminds me of any number of my family members before a cup of coffee and a significant chunk of time has passed since waking up. Glad they will be staying!

 

[Matilda]

This would be good to read. It helps explain what your birds are doing.

Why Does My Bird Screech Insistently at Dawn and Dusk?

 

[GaryBV]

Well that sounded like you had a happy ending - I was going to suggest light blocking curtains, or if you had a walk in closet to wheel him in there overnight, or if you had a finished basement that was warm, to take him down there overnight.

 

[Kinny]

Haha Petoftheday, sounds just like me lol.

Thank you Matilda.

GaryBV, yep those would be good ideas if my Eclectus pair were inside birds. ^^ And if we had a basement.

 

[Kinny]

Of course, every being on this property is bent on ensuring i hardly get any sleep. The bird problem gets fixed, and now for the past few mornings my husband has woken me up by getting in and out of bed multiple times, or like this morning my 5 month old baby decided to randomly wake up at 4am because he is a terrible sucker, so his dummy keeps falling out.. To keep it in he attempts to suck and ends up pushing it out. So now im up feeding him again. It doesn't help that i have a bad stomach infection and need more sleep than usual (of course when i need more sleep it is made that i get much less than normal) and now my infection, instead of going away, has gotten much worse so i have to see the dr again today. *sigh* Yep, im annoyed.