Hello all. I will try to keep this long story short yet thorough enough for the details you need to know. The just of this post is about a 15 yr old male Congo, who recently had a living situation change, and absolutely will not stop making high pitched sounds and alarm calls no matter what "by the book" recommendation we use to try and correct the behavior.
Here goes... I purchased Sterling as a hand fed chick in 2001. He was a great baby and would cuddle, have head scratches, and lay on his back, rarely ever bit. In 2003 we had our first child, obviously he was hitting his terrible two's at the time too so he got jealous, mean and started making a high pitched screech to get attention. We tried ignoring it but nothing, so he got covered a lot till he got quiet but as soon as you uncovered him he started back in thus got covered again etc. This went on for a year trying to break this sound, he always had a ton of outside of the cage time till this noise started. 1 year later in 2004 I was pregnant with our 2nd daughter, so I asked my mom to take him for a year or so since she has a quiet house, because I did not want to make him worse.
She had him over a year since we could not give him the attention he needed with two little ones in the house. We were about to take him back when my husband got orders overseas (we are military) so she agreed to kept him while we were overseas. As far a I know they got along well during this time and he stopped being so loud. Shortly after the move my grandfather passed away and my grandmother took it very hard. Sterling was used to seeing her a lot and so my mother asked if grandma could have him at her house to keep her company. That went well and they got to be pretty close, although after a few bites she stopped handling him. She was in her 70s, and so when she got bit it bled pretty badly. He got free range to crawl all over his cage and would go back in for her when she asked him to. This is where he lived for 10 years because we did not have the heart to take him from her, and although she said he could get every loud, he mostly sang and talked a lot. He learned a lot of new words from her.
That lasted 10 years as my grandmother just passed away on November 11th. So when we went back home for the funeral we brought Sterling back with us finally. He knows us as we always spent time with him when we visited. So now we have a 15 yr old bird whom to us is acting the exact same as he was 12 years ago when we parted ways. Currently: He will step up, he is eating okay, he looks healthy, has a vet appt scheduled in 2 weeks, he does not pluck, he does not scream, and he has been trying to regurgitate for me. But, now he will not allow petting, he has no interest in toys and is not good about playing by himself and wants you to entertain him constantly, he tries to bite when you go to put him back in the cage if you do not give him a treat to distract him, and he is still doing this damned alarm call with very loud peeps for attention that drove us nuts in the first place.
We know he is going through a huge change and are trying to have patience. His cage is in a corner and partially covered so he feels safe in his new surroundings. He has the same toys and I kept most of his favorite treats so he has some stuff that did not change, I just incorporated a good pellet mix into his diet. My grandmother was feeding him fruits, veggies and eggs but would also fill his bowl to the brim with a cheap seed mix every day. He is trying to assert some dominance with us by biting and I think he is already mad that it isn't working. We have to use a perch to put him back in his cage, we never used to have to do that. If he has been good he gets a treat when we put him up but if he is going up because he was screeching, no treat.
He gets plenty of time out of the cage but he does that wings elevated shaking thing greys do (I know they do then when excited.), and he will do it a lot of the time even in his cage or only 1 foot away like he is scared and then starts that alarm call when you are right there talking to him softly. I don't get it. We praise the good behavior and try ignoring the bad sounds but he is just not getting it. He has a specific loud peep that he alternates with the alarm call screech, that is what we are trying to break. He does a house security alarm and truck backing up beep that are super loud but I think these will fade in time because he wont hear those at our house. I have started putting him back in his cage when he screeches when he is out. Sometimes he gets quiet and sometimes he keeps right on and gets louder so he just stays covered. If he starts the alarm call and ear piercing peeps while in the cage I cover him, but sometimes as soon as I uncover him to reward him he does it again so covered he goes again with no reward.
I am in school for medical transcription so I have to have some relative quiet to hear recordings I am typing up; we live in a small house so this loud noise has got to stop. He does plenty of loudish whistles and lots of talking that are perfectly acceptable, but the truck backing up sound and the sounds previously mentioned are already about to get him in a nice shiny advertisement. I hate to do that though, everything he says sounds like my grandmother, and I know he is going through a lot. The ear piercing sounds make my ears ring which I cannot have happening, and I refuse to have to wear hearing protection in my own house like I have heard some other people do.
What else can we do with a bird who is obviously set in his ways? I think my grandmother unknowingly fed his bad behaviors because he will get loud and then tell himself to "stop that", "be quiet" and "shut up" in her voice.
Here goes... I purchased Sterling as a hand fed chick in 2001. He was a great baby and would cuddle, have head scratches, and lay on his back, rarely ever bit. In 2003 we had our first child, obviously he was hitting his terrible two's at the time too so he got jealous, mean and started making a high pitched screech to get attention. We tried ignoring it but nothing, so he got covered a lot till he got quiet but as soon as you uncovered him he started back in thus got covered again etc. This went on for a year trying to break this sound, he always had a ton of outside of the cage time till this noise started. 1 year later in 2004 I was pregnant with our 2nd daughter, so I asked my mom to take him for a year or so since she has a quiet house, because I did not want to make him worse.
She had him over a year since we could not give him the attention he needed with two little ones in the house. We were about to take him back when my husband got orders overseas (we are military) so she agreed to kept him while we were overseas. As far a I know they got along well during this time and he stopped being so loud. Shortly after the move my grandfather passed away and my grandmother took it very hard. Sterling was used to seeing her a lot and so my mother asked if grandma could have him at her house to keep her company. That went well and they got to be pretty close, although after a few bites she stopped handling him. She was in her 70s, and so when she got bit it bled pretty badly. He got free range to crawl all over his cage and would go back in for her when she asked him to. This is where he lived for 10 years because we did not have the heart to take him from her, and although she said he could get every loud, he mostly sang and talked a lot. He learned a lot of new words from her.
That lasted 10 years as my grandmother just passed away on November 11th. So when we went back home for the funeral we brought Sterling back with us finally. He knows us as we always spent time with him when we visited. So now we have a 15 yr old bird whom to us is acting the exact same as he was 12 years ago when we parted ways. Currently: He will step up, he is eating okay, he looks healthy, has a vet appt scheduled in 2 weeks, he does not pluck, he does not scream, and he has been trying to regurgitate for me. But, now he will not allow petting, he has no interest in toys and is not good about playing by himself and wants you to entertain him constantly, he tries to bite when you go to put him back in the cage if you do not give him a treat to distract him, and he is still doing this damned alarm call with very loud peeps for attention that drove us nuts in the first place.
We know he is going through a huge change and are trying to have patience. His cage is in a corner and partially covered so he feels safe in his new surroundings. He has the same toys and I kept most of his favorite treats so he has some stuff that did not change, I just incorporated a good pellet mix into his diet. My grandmother was feeding him fruits, veggies and eggs but would also fill his bowl to the brim with a cheap seed mix every day. He is trying to assert some dominance with us by biting and I think he is already mad that it isn't working. We have to use a perch to put him back in his cage, we never used to have to do that. If he has been good he gets a treat when we put him up but if he is going up because he was screeching, no treat.
He gets plenty of time out of the cage but he does that wings elevated shaking thing greys do (I know they do then when excited.), and he will do it a lot of the time even in his cage or only 1 foot away like he is scared and then starts that alarm call when you are right there talking to him softly. I don't get it. We praise the good behavior and try ignoring the bad sounds but he is just not getting it. He has a specific loud peep that he alternates with the alarm call screech, that is what we are trying to break. He does a house security alarm and truck backing up beep that are super loud but I think these will fade in time because he wont hear those at our house. I have started putting him back in his cage when he screeches when he is out. Sometimes he gets quiet and sometimes he keeps right on and gets louder so he just stays covered. If he starts the alarm call and ear piercing peeps while in the cage I cover him, but sometimes as soon as I uncover him to reward him he does it again so covered he goes again with no reward.
I am in school for medical transcription so I have to have some relative quiet to hear recordings I am typing up; we live in a small house so this loud noise has got to stop. He does plenty of loudish whistles and lots of talking that are perfectly acceptable, but the truck backing up sound and the sounds previously mentioned are already about to get him in a nice shiny advertisement. I hate to do that though, everything he says sounds like my grandmother, and I know he is going through a lot. The ear piercing sounds make my ears ring which I cannot have happening, and I refuse to have to wear hearing protection in my own house like I have heard some other people do.
What else can we do with a bird who is obviously set in his ways? I think my grandmother unknowingly fed his bad behaviors because he will get loud and then tell himself to "stop that", "be quiet" and "shut up" in her voice.
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