Screaming Sun Conure Getting Worse

[BoomBoom]

Help! Our almost 4 month old sun conure Boomer seems to be getting noisier and noisier. We must be doing something wrong because his screech fests would happen longer and more often.

He is a sweet bird, I would say very pampered. Varied toys, food, baths, air filter, full spec light, bird music, visits to the park, lots of attention and out of the cage all the time when we are home. Problem is, his screeching habit is getting worse. He screeches when:

1. I uncover his cage in the morning. Just a little. He quiets down after i feed him fruits. This is fine.

2. When we come home from work. I ignore him till he is quiet but as soon as I take him out, he screams again. Sometimes for 5 mins or longer. I know he does it because he is happy, so this is fine too.

3. When something upsets him, like the vacuum cleaner. We take him to the other room when we vacuum. This is fine I guess.

4. When he gets startled by something. A sudden movement, an outside noise, a shadow cast by a bird. This is fine.

5. When we leave the room and he knows were in the apartment. This is not fine because it sets him off on a screech fest. It also becomes hard for us to go about our normal routine.

He used to screech a lot when we leave the apartment but he no longer does because he knows there's nothing he can do to get us back. So this tells me that 1. This is a power trip thing and 2. This habit can be improved. Right now, the only thing that can quiet him down or make him forget about things is corn on the cob. But this is a band aid to the underlying problem.

We love Boomer and will keep on working to improve this but I don't know if we're doing something wrong. We try to ignore him when he screeches but maybe were not consistent? Would appreciate some advice.


Ps. I wrote this on my phone so I apologize for any typos...

 

[dishgal1]

You didn't mention whether or not he stays in the cage most of the time. He probably wants to be with you, like make contact. Riding on your shoulder, sitting on the chair with you, etc. He is probably telling you he wants to be with his flock (you). Conures love to be near their loved ones. If he does spend a lot of time in the cage and screeches when he gets out, he is so happy that he probably gets over stimulated. Try spending more cage free time with him. Correct me if I misunderstood.

 

[ZoeS]

Ugh, my birds do the same thing. I must have went wrong somewhere when I was raising them when they were little, because they will not tolerate being in their cage if they know we are home. Well, the GCC starts it, and the rose-crown joins in.

I don't have any answers for you as I have not been able to fix it. I have not tried that hard because they are out with us 99% of the time when they are home so it is not often an issue. If I need them in their cage for whatever reason (I want to sleep another hour, or I'm boiling something on the stove or something), I give them a bowl of seed (they usually get pellets so seeds are treats) and that will keep them occupied until the seed runs out.

If I were to set out to try to fix it, I would probably bring the cage into the living room, stock it with new, fun toys, and put her in there for 20 minutes at a time, while keeping her involved, then give treats / rubs / praise when she's not screaming, and slowly move the cage to another room and make the "in-the-cage" time longer (while also making the "out-of-cage" time longer so she isn't there half the day).

I'm interested in what other people say! I really should work on it...

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks for responding. He is in the cage when we're at work (10 hours) and when it's time for his bed time. All other times he is on top of his cage, play gym or with us on our shoulder. Yesterday, I was with him all day from 7:30am to 7:30pn and he did one of his worst screech feats yet

 

[ZoeS]

Thanks for responding. He is in the cage when we're at work (10 hours) and when it's time for his bed time. All other times he is on top of his cage, play gym or with us on our shoulder. Yesterday, I was with him all day from 7:30am to 7:30pn and he did one of his worst screech feats yet

It is good that you are identifying the different reasons he is screaming, and which ones are acceptable. First, I would try spending more time with him.

Have you tried teaching him a contact call? If he can learn that, you can give him the command when he's yelling and when he makes the contact call you teach him, give him praise and treats. It may not curb it entirely but it might help.

 

[BoomBoom]

Zoe, we are also trying to get him to stay in his cage while we're home just so he is used to that idea. But it's not so much the being in the cage bit, it's the fact that he has to see us at all times or he starts doing the call. Except the calls continue even after we return in the room (we would wait till he is quiet but he goes off when he hears us coming).

I will consider a contact call. Right now we try to say hello but he might be too young to learn words.

 

[ZoeS]

Zoe, we are also trying to get him to stay in his cage while we're home just so he is used to that idea. But it's not so much the being in the cage bit, it's the fact that he has to see us at all times or he starts doing the call. Except the calls continue even after we return in the room (we would wait till he is quiet but he goes off when he hears us coming).

I will consider a contact call. Right now we try to say hello but he might be too young to learn words.

Yeah, that's like my guys. If they can't see us, it's freak out time. He's not too young to start learning. Libby started saying what I could discern as her name at 5-6 months, and she was surely starting to toy with it before I noticed. I find it helps to choose a word or phrase that has 3-4 syllables that are said with different inflections. You will hear the syllables and inflections well before you hear the words. Libby picked up her nickname and it was easy to hear "Libby-lou" with "lou" being said in a lower, slower tone than "Libby" which was said in a faster, higher tone. Now we say it back and forth to each other. Unfortunately, Toby has also picked up the same phrase, so now his call is "Libby-lou, To-beeeee!"

Whenever he goes off in any context, say the call or his name when he's quieting down, then when he's totally quiet, give him treats and praise. He'll figure it out eventually and will start doing it on his own to get your attention which is great.

 

[ZoeS]

I like this guide: Stop The Squawk

 

[dishgal1]

While he is on top of his cage try going over and talking to him very sweetly.....tell him what a good boy he is. Invite him to step up and go with you to the next room. I think he needs you to be more verbal with him and praise him and talk really sweet to him. He needs to FEEL your love. I think isolating him makes it much worse. He needs your companionship. My little conure loves to be talked to. He will just stare into your eyes and listen.

 

[Spiritbird]

Conures do not like to be in their cage very much. They want to be out with you playing and getting all of your attention. Point to remember is that sunnies have a rep. for being the loudest conure. I would not be concerned that you are doing anything wrong.
Conures are also very social birds. Try taking him to meet other people and places, get him out in the sunshine in a smaller cage. When you feel he is screaming too much try taking him into a different, unfamiliar room.

Make sure he is eating enough food and getting a good 10 or more hours of sleep. If not you can use that cage for outdoors for a sleep cage too. Most important of all have you taken him for a wellness exam by an avian vet?

 

[dishgal1]

If he is in the cage 10 hours a day he needs and deserves to be free when you are home. I can totally understand why he screeches if he is in there that long deprived of your companionship.

 

[ZoeS]

If he is in the cage 10 hours a day he needs and deserves to be free when you are home. I can totally understand why he screeches if he is in there that long deprived of your companionship.

I'm glad you said that... 10 hrs is a really long time, but I know a lot of people who work full time have a single bird and they seem to do OK, so I wasn't sure if it was truly an issue. I felt bad about my bird being alone 8-9 hours a day during the week and I ended up getting her a pal. They were in separate cages for some time, but she had someone to talk to and see during the day. They are together now. They still screech for us but at least I know they have companionship during the day.

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks for the responses. I leave our place at 7:30am and return 5:30pm. Unfortunately work makes it impossible to be there all the time. When we're home, we give him LOTTS of attention. When we can, we take him out to the park to be under a real sun. Also, in case I wasn't too clear about it, he is out of the cage the whole time we are at home (except sleep time).

I think where we go wrong is in enforcing the screeching behaviour. I don't know how long we're supposed to ignore the screeching bouts. We don't ignore him for too long or we are not consistently ignoring the screeches.

I will check out that link later, Zoe thanks. Maybe a companion is something to consider at this point because 10 hours alone can be affecting more than other birds. I'm at a loss really. I don't think we can devote more time and space for another conure...

 

[Safira]

Did you say his name was Boomer? Like.. Sonic Boom? Haha.. Sorry <.< i found that funny in a very cute, lulz way.. It's like naming an accident-prone horse "Crash" BOOM!

I work 8 sometimes 9 hours a day so I can understand not being able to be home. I try to give my birds a few hours of outside cage time though when I come home. I agree with trying to teach a contact call. Its going to take a LOT of work.. there are several posts and articles about parrots screaming and diverting their sound to something more tolerable... I just am too lazy to look them upr ight now.
Seriously though, I love that name >.< its adorable

 

[BoomBoom]

Safira, thank you! We never thought Boomer would live up to his name >.<. We chose the name because it was neutral and it was one of characters we liked from this good tv show we watched for a while, Battlestar Galactica.

I just wanted to update this thread for those interested. We've started to actively enforce training him not to screech so much. This means ignoring or leaving him alone whem he does it non stop. Granted we exPect him to be loud since he is a sun but not go on a chain when we leave the room or we come home.

It's been 3 days with no sign of improvements. If anything he screeches more because he isnt getting attention when he does it.The various guides we read said it could take weeks or months. We've introduced a contact call that we hope he'd pick up. A two tone whistle that might be easy to pick up.

Were also considering another bird, a budgie so he is not so alone during the day. The budgie will be cared for and given attention equally.

We hope all this would improve all our lives a little more. Wish us luck!

 

[dishgal1]

I guess I am trying to understand how you thing ignoring him will make him better. With you being gone and him in the cage for 10 hours and you ignore him in the few hours you are home, how much time could he possibly be getting from you one on one? There aren't that many hours left before he goes to bed. I think personally he is starved for attention. A friend for him sounds like the best option since he isn't getting much attention from people. He sounds so alone and desperate.

 

[dishgal1]

Try talking to him more....so he knows his flock is listening to him. He thinks of you as his flock and he has been deprived of his flock all day long. Try talking gently to him and praising him. My conure is very quiet not loud at all but if he were in the cage all day alone I shudder to think how loud he might be when I came home. He just wants your interaction and companionship and to know he is not isolated and alone with no one to love him.

 

[dishgal1]

One other thing.........I assume you are letting him out of the cage when you get home. If not, that is definitely why he is screaming. He wants out to be with you.

 

[BoomBoom]

Dishgal: I assume you have read my original post and various responses. Yes he gets a lot of out of cage time when were at home. Yes, he gets a ton of attention from us. He is not 'unloved.' So far doting on him constantly has turned him from a quiet bird to one that screeches if we so much turn our backs on him. So we have to resort to training him to flock call. Flock call training is in a lot of guides. A companion is something were considering until we know what is the best bird to get.

It is all in my original post and all my lengthy threads before that.

 

[dishgal1]

Zoe, we are also trying to get him to stay in his cage while we're home just so he is used to that idea. But it's not so much the being in the cage bit, it's the fact that he has to see us at all times or he starts doing the call. Except the calls continue even after we return in the room (we would wait till he is quiet but he goes off when he hears us coming).

I will consider a contact call. Right now we try to say hello but he might be too young to learn words.

I was actually referring to this post. It seems there are so few hours for him before bedtime to spend with you and to have to get "used to the idea of being in the cage" when you are home could be contributing to his desperation for your attention and freedom.