Need some help with lovebird's behavior

[tetosy]

Greetings.
I'll share some info to understand the situation a bit better.
I bought my lovebird at the end of 2023 (October, I guess) from an awful a breeder, which I didn't know at that moment, who promised that the bird is tamed and friendly.
Unfortunately, the bird was not even close to the description: constant panic-mode and timid. I was and still patient with him, because he indeed made some progress. He doesn't maniacally fly in the cage the moment he sees me approaching the cage anymore, he is less scared of all possible noises that can be heard in the house. He is very curious, in fact, and very polite. He adores my laptop, tablet and phones. He likes to seat on my table lamp just to watch what I'm doing. For some time he even sat on my shoulder just because he could better observe the screen of the laptop. Also, when I'm leaving the room, he starts vocalizing and stops the moment I return back. He just continues to do whatever he was doing before: preening, eating, playing and etc. So, somehow I want to believe, that he partly accepted me eventually.
But he has never allowed me to touch him with hands. Never. He sees my hands as a threat. The moment he sees my hand somewhere around his feet its a pure animal fear and an instant escape attempt with screeching. I never hit him, tried to harm him or anything similar related to wounding or traumatizing him.
I always try to take care of him, buying new toys, allowing to sit almost wherever he wants, I even gave up to him my windowsill and filled it with toys, perches and a made a mini-pool for him to bath. And yet he still is scared of my hands. The biggest progress we've made - touching his beak and he also accepts seeds from my hand. But bare hands - big no.
I don't want to give up on him, because I still believe he can become a good friend. He has never beaten me - if he doesn't like my hand, he gently pecks it or tries to step back, but never biting with force. Not even a physical sign on my hand that he did something to it. Even if he is scared when I'm doing something in the cage, he doesn't bite me or attack, but skittishly observes from the side.
And another problem that recently appeared - he became very, very vocal. These are not basic chirping, loud self-discussions, but just screaming and screeching. At first I thought that he wants me to open the cage so he can go out. But the issue is that even when I let him out, this screaming continues. I figured out that he reacts to other birds outside (crows, magpies and other) and well, of course he doesn't understand that they can't hear him screaming his lungs out. So I started covering his cage with a blanket when he starts screaming - it helps, but the moment I remove it, the cycle begins again.
So after all these explanations, any ideas what to do? I'm thinking about buying a friend for him, but is there a guarantee that the screams won't double? And I won't have two half-wild birds? I can even accept the outcome if they won't like me, but at least I want this screaming to stop, because it becomes unbearable more and more often.
I will be grateful to hear your advice on how to solve my situation.
I thank you in advance for reading this text to the end.

 

[rheashard2]

Your patience is greatly complimented. The work you've done sounds amazing. As for getting him to accept your hands that is hard to determine. Continue with your current regime. Screaming and yelling is another thing. There is no single or best answer. There are numerous posts here about what has been tried. What is his age? When birds, not just parrots, reach puberty loud vocalization aka screaming starts. The degree and amount depends upon species, bird personality among other things. Check out other posts here. I know distraction geared for your parrot personality works. It's best to try to determine cause before a second bird. There's always the chance it'll increase bad behavior.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Many birds are friendly to their humans like yours is but still hate hands. I have a budgie I hand raised who's very bonded to me but will not perch on my hand or let me touch her bit she interacts with me a lot in other ways. She sits on my head and shoulders freely. I'm okay with that. I adore her and she's a happy bird. I don't need to touch her to enjoy immensely. Most birds are not touchyfeely and a lovebird that lets you pet him is an exception to the rule despite what all those TikTok and YouTube videos imply. Your lovebird may never tolerate hands.
Regarding the screaming- lovebirds are pretty well known for having very harsh loud voices- one of the reasons I would never get a lovebird. Two lovebirds can be twice the noise. I'd wear earplugs or noise blocking earbuds at home and need peace and quiet. It's a better solution for both you and your bird than covering him with a blanket or otherwise trying to get him to stop. If ypu get a second lovebird they may bond to each other strongly and exclude you, or they may not get along at all and have to be housed separately. It's hard to predict.

 

[wrench13]

So first off, there are tons of generalizations about each species of parrot - Greys are talkers, conures are nippy, macaws like to bluff and so on. But you must realize, really realize, that every parrot is its own bird so to speak. Individual parrots can exhibit some, all, or none of the commonly accepted traits of that species. Your lovie seems to fall in with some of the commonly accepted traits of lovebirds. Nervous, not fond of touching and fear of hands.
Having said that, yours sounds like he is very attached to you and is giving you most of what he has in the tank for 1 on 1 relationships. Be thankful! Some lovebirds never get even close to their owners! I;d continue to work with him, as some improvement may be possible, but accept that this might the limit. Accepted methods for curtailing screaming involve rewarding the bird when he is quiet, ignoring the screaming. Closely observe him and the surroundings to see if there is a trigger involved, like suggested above. At his age, at least 1-1/2 years, its doubtful that puberty is involved, but again, no hard and fast rules with parrots. However he may be going through an exceptionally strong mating season, which does happen occasionally, and that can make birds loud, and off tilt personallity-wise.

And no second bird! Unless you want one for yourself. Getting buddies for problem parrots only occasionally fixes anything.

As far as the screaming, covering him to stop it is not really doing him or you any benefit. What would the result be if he continues the habit? Permanent covering? And eventually he could figure things out and start screaming from inside the covered cage !