Screaming for attention

[Iago]

I'm trying to get Iago to stop screaming for attention, especially when I get home from work. I've been trying to wait until he stops screaming but it goes on for 30 minutes or more. It isn't always constant, sometimes there is a 5-10 second break in between. Should I be waiting until he stops calling loudly, even if it just 1 "screamingly loud" squawk? As soon as I get within his sight he goes crazy again and at that point I just walk out of the room again until he stops. I have been doing this for the past few days and it seems to take anywhere from 40 minutes to over an hour before he doesn't squawk anymore.

Am I going about this the right way or is it ok for him to start again as soon as he sees me as long as he is quiet before I enter?

 

[weco]

Keep with what you're doing, but keep in mind that is a natural flock greeting.....when they leave in the morning, there is a cacophony of calls as birds are leaving to begin the day's foraging. The same happens in the evening when flock mates (you in his case) return to the roosting area...and...in the wild that goes on for an hour or more, but your response in low voices, will eventually help in quieting him down.....if you keep your voice low enough that he has to shut up to hear you, then lavish him with 'good boy' 'quiet bird,' etc.....

Suns and most other conures hate to be left out & if you keep walking out/ignoring him when he yells/screams, just keep talking to him in low voices...

Of course, you could learn parroteese & that would probably solve the whole problem, but until then I'd hold fast with what you're doing.....if you get to raising your voice, it will become a game & that much harder to discourage.....

 

[Thingamagigs]

I have personally found ignoring doesn't work (for any of the birds I have had) if you havent already been in the room to walk out the second the noise occurs :/ Thats just my experience of which my experience of sun conures is limited to about 8months of ownership.

We got Mana (our galah) to stop calling excessively in the morning by giving in to her, I know that sounds strange but she was doing it out of a genuine desperation to be close to us. Now that she feels secure that we will come to her when we can, she calls a lot less.

But Iago is a sun conure I am not sure how well any techniques work for dialing down the calling. Mine (her name was bobby) always made noise and the more I ignored the more noise she made. The only thing that made her dial it back was rehoming her to someone who already had another sun conure, so she always had a friend. I did get reports (we stayed in contact for years ) however that she was still noisy, even for a sun conure. But the lady was smitten regardless of the noise

 

[Iago]

Of course, you could learn parroteese & that would probably solve the whole problem, but until then I'd hold fast with what you're doing.....if you get to raising your voice, it will become a game & that much harder to discourage.....

I never raise my voice to him. I don't say a single thing when I walk in and if he starts screaming I just turn around and go just out of sight.

 

[Thingamagigs]

Of course, you could learn parroteese & that would probably solve the whole problem

ROFLMAO!

I just discovered there is no laughing emote!
I know some parroteese, I use it to stop Mana from doing something naughty (mimic the galahs "STOP THAT!" sound), it works very well, I use it sparingly.

 

[DannyA93]

Right when you get home its normal for them to scream out of excitement that your there so what you can do is when you get home go straight to his cage let him out and see what happens if he's still screaming for no apparent reason then do the ignoring technique Most of the time if they're just excited to see you they'll quiet down almost immediatly when you let them out with you

 

[LoryLover]

Right when you get home its normal for them to scream out of excitement that your there so what you can do is when you get home go straight to his cage let him out and see what happens if he's still screaming for no apparent reason then do the ignoring technique Most of the time if they're just excited to see you they'll quiet down almost immediatly when you let them out with you

I wholeheartedly agree with what Danny said. My lory is always SUPER excited when I or my husband comes home... and she greets us with 'HI!!!!' in a very happy voice followed by several 'I love you's', followed by 'come here'... and so on. To ignore her would be very mean of us and just confuse her.
(A parrot that doesn't know how to talk, may express their excitement by screaming)

Have you tried going to Iago's cage and talking to him in a very happy voice? I think if you do that, it will make him happy and maybe he'll learn to start talking to you when you get home, rather than screaming.

Our lory is so observant, that she can even tell when my husband and I are just about ready to leave the house, and she'll say to us as we pass her room "ready to go dear?", then she'll say "bye-bye, see ya later". So it follows that when we reappear at the house, of course she will be greeting us. We are her world and she is ours.

 

[Iago]

I wholeheartedly agree with what Danny said.....

This confused me at first. I was like "how did you know my name?" haha. I thought about doing this but I wasn't sure if it would just encourage the screaming.

 

[LoryLover]

I wholeheartedly agree with what Danny said.....

This confused me at first. I was like "how did you know my name?" haha. I thought about doing this but I wasn't sure if it would just encourage the screaming.

Haha, what a coincidence your name is Danny too. I think it would make Iago very happy to be greeted by you. I guess “screaming” is his method of expressing himself right now… but you can change that just by talking to him when you greet him… be as animated as you can be… parrots respond very much to passion… If you want, you can try saying to him in a calm voice “no screaming” and then go on to say other greetings and affectionate things to him. He’ll get the hang of it soon. It takes LOTS of patience, but it will pay off in the end. You want to create a parrot buddy who knows you love him.

 

[Grenage]

Aizen used to make a lot of noise when we weren't in the room, but he could hear us in some way. Over the month this has died down, and his scream has been mostly replaced by a calling whistle that I have used.

Key phrases have also helped. I say "Good bye" when I am going to work, "I'll be right back" when I'm only leaving for a minute or two, and "Good night" when it's bed time.

I'm not sure he really gets the connection, but he has stopped screaming; to be honest, he's probably just settled in.

 

[LoryLover]

Aizen used to make a lot of noise when we weren't in the room, but he could hear us in some way. Over the month this has died down, and his scream has been mostly replaced by a calling whistle that I have used.

Key phrases have also helped. I say "Good bye" when I am going to work, "I'll be right back" when I'm only leaving for a minute or two, and "Good night" when it's bed time.

I'm not sure he really gets the connection, but he has stopped screaming; to be honest, he's probably just settled in.

I am convinced these little birdies do understand us! I've been owned by my lory now for 15 years and she has shown me over and over again, how much she understands. I too will tell her "I'll be right back" and she is quiet when I'm gone, but if I just walk out of the room, she starts getting noisy.

 

[DannyA93]

Just keep telling them whats going on and they will definately learn what they mean Danny is an awesome name! lol i think thats three of us on the forum with that name except mines "danny" on my birth certificate not "daniel" like most are

 

[Grenage]

I am convinced these little birdies do understand us! I've been owned by my lory now for 15 years and she has shown me over and over again, how much she understands. I too will tell her "I'll be right back" and she is quiet when I'm gone, but if I just walk out of the room, she starts getting noisy.

I do hope that's the case, although I think my teaching methods are a bit off. When he gets nippy, he says "no biting" while savaging something, rather than associating the saying with not biting.

I once used the phrase when talking to someone else in the room; aizen repeated it, and then nipped my finger.

 

[DannyA93]

I am convinced these little birdies do understand us! I've been owned by my lory now for 15 years and she has shown me over and over again, how much she understands. I too will tell her "I'll be right back" and she is quiet when I'm gone, but if I just walk out of the room, she starts getting noisy.

I do hope that's the case, although I think my teaching methods are a bit off. When he gets nippy, he says "no biting" while savaging something, rather than associating the saying with not biting.

I once used the phrase when talking to someone else in the room; aizen repeated it, and then nipped my finger.

Hmm sounds to me like he bites, you say no bite, and tada! thats the end. what i do is when my conure bites i say No biting! and on the floor he goes now he knows if he doesn't stop when i say "no biting" he'll end up on the floor, you know what i mean?? try something of that nature

 

[Iago]

So another general question about this topic. Would it be better to just go in the room right away and just not let him out until he stops screaming or starts making acceptable noises?

 

[Grenage]

Hmm sounds to me like he bites, you say no bite, and tada! thats the end. what i do is when my conure bites i say No biting! and on the floor he goes now he knows if he doesn't stop when i say "no biting" he'll end up on the floor, you know what i mean?? try something of that nature

He's not clipped, and if nippy I generally just get a toy out for him to savage. He'll usually pound away on it (while saying "no biting"), then it's out of his system.

So another general question about this topic. Would it be better to just go in the room right away and just not let him out until he stops screaming or starts making acceptable noises?

Generally you ignore any actions you do not desire; by ignore, you generally avoid eye contact. and don't look in their direction. I'd personally stay in the room, because you want to avoid the screaming while you are present; you can then tackle screaming when you leave if it is still a problem.

I have only ever had one bird, so take that with the pinch of salt it deserves.

 

[SandyBee]

I personally come home, say hi to everyone and immediately let the birds out.
I get greeted with Hi MOM as soon as they hear the door. They even know what time I am usually home at LOL.

I figure if I had a dog it would run to the door and greet me, so I give them a few minutes of my attention and ask them how their day was, then they play happily on their perch as I settle in.

When I first got them I tried the ignore method, they screamed, they were not happy and I was unhappy because I don't like making them sad. They were just excited to see me, it's wonderful coming home to a warm greeting so its now part of our routine and works well for us.

 

[LoryLover]

Sandy, I like your style!

 

[LoryLover]

So another general question about this topic. Would it be better to just go in the room right away and just not let him out until he stops screaming or starts making acceptable noises?

As soon as you enter the house, you should call out to Iago with your greeting... even if he's still screaming. (Parrots can hear very well, even while they are screaming/vocalizing.)

Then as soon as you can, go to him and give him some attention. He will sense your emotions, and if he senses irritation, then that will just feed his own irritation. Talk to him happily and just like you were talking to your best friend. This will have a huge payoff for you down the road.

My first lory always screamed to be let out of his cage, and believe me, his screaming could go on forever. If I was home and he wanted out of his cage, he would start up with the screaming. He would not stop until I let him out of his cage. The longer I left him in his cage as he was screaming to be let out, the madder he got.

 

[LoryLover]

I am convinced these little birdies do understand us! I've been owned by my lory now for 15 years and she has shown me over and over again, how much she understands. I too will tell her "I'll be right back" and she is quiet when I'm gone, but if I just walk out of the room, she starts getting noisy.

I do hope that's the case, although I think my teaching methods are a bit off. When he gets nippy, he says "no biting" while savaging something, rather than associating the saying with not biting.

I once used the phrase when talking to someone else in the room; aizen repeated it, and then nipped my finger.

Your Aizen is a character! Sounds like he's a little bit of a rebel

My lory also says "no biting", but she doesn't bite when she says it, she's just expressing that she's feeling like biting, lol. She'll also say "stop that" when she wants something to stop.

And sometimes, she'll say "I'm sorry" when she bites.