Seeking advice for a very noisy young female Eclectus

[jurgenballsman]

Hey guys!

We're having some trouble with a very noisy Eclectus and we're looking for some advice.

We got her a little over a month ago. She was born in mid-January so she's coming up to five months old. She very quickly bonded with my partner and wants to her spend all of her time with her.

That's fine and she's not noisy usually. The issue is if my partner has to leave during the day for a few hours at all, when she comes back, our Eclectus will start screaming non-stop and will not let up at all until she goes to bed. If she's getting attention, she screams. If she's eating, she still screams. It's relentless, she will scream every few seconds for hours on end.

My partner is trying to not reinforce the behaviour by not giving her attention when she's screaming and we'd planned to encourage her by giving her attention when she stops screaming, but we can't reinforce the good behaviour because she just does not stop. She has tried diverting the behaviour to training and it hasn't worked. She's very good with target clicker training if my partner has been all day but if she goes out and comes back, she'll ignore it completely. We are assuming it's baby behaviour because she's young and she's shown signs of seeing my partner as mother, eg. slow head bobbing aimed at my partners mouth and baby bird feeding motions when given seeds by hand

So, coming to you guys to ask for some advice on what we can do?

Thanks!

 

[Keatz]

There are members on here who can probably give you better advice for me, but I've lived with a noisy eclectus, Oscar, for almost nine years now. He seems to have settled down in the past six months, but he can still be noisy when his favourite people are around. It's not that he's loud; rather, he never shuts up, and a lot of noises he makes are shrill and high pitched. His contact call is startling, and he will make it when his favourite people are around. He will even make it if his favourite person gets out of their chair to leave the room.
It could be that your eclectus likes your partner more and the noise is a way of seizing her attention.
Recently, I started making Oscar sleep in a dark room with blackout curtains, for ten to twelve hours a night. I mention this because often, parrot trainers insist that the key to a quieter, well-behaved parrot is proper nutrition and plenty of sleep. Does yours sleep in an area where her sleep is likely to be interrupted?
Other than that, with clicker training and positive reinforcement, you already seem to be on the right track.
Sometimes, I think it comes down to the personality of the individual parrot. Some are noisier than others.

 

[jurgenballsman]

There are members on here who can probably give you better advice for me, but I've lived with a noisy eclectus, Oscar, for almost nine years now. He seems to have settled down in the past six months, but he can still be noisy when his favourite people are around. It's not that he's loud; rather, he never shuts up, and a lot of noises he makes are shrill and high pitched. His contact call is startling, and he will make it when his favourite people are around. He will even make it if his favourite person gets out of their chair to leave the room.
It could be that your eclectus likes your partner more and the noise is a way of seizing her attention.
Recently, I started making Oscar sleep in a dark room with blackout curtains, for ten to twelve hours a night. I mention this because often, parrot trainers insist that the key to a quieter, well-behaved parrot is proper nutrition and plenty of sleep. Does yours sleep in an area where her sleep is likely to be interrupted?
Other than that, with clicker training and positive reinforcement, you already seem to be on the right track.
Sometimes, I think it comes down to the personality of the individual parrot. Some are noisier than others.

Thanks for the reply, Oscar sounds very much like our electus, Pepper. If my partner moves toward the door, immediately contact call and constantly screaming for attention when she's in the room. Does Oscar continue to scream even when his favourite people are giving him attention, or does he stop? Pepper will continue regardless.

Yep, she sleeps in a dark room also. We're confident that we've got all of the essentials down: dark room for sleep, plenty of toys for enrichment and the like. It was a very sudden change, she loved spending time with us (quietly!) and then one day woke up and decided to be very noisy, so it's very confusing.

 

[Keatz]

He continues to scr

Thanks for the reply, Oscar sounds very much like our electus, Pepper. If my partner moves toward the door, immediately contact call and constantly screaming for attention when she's in the room. Does Oscar continue to scream even when his favourite people are giving him attention, or does he stop? Pepper will continue regardless.

Yep, she sleeps in a dark room also. We're confident that we've got all of the essentials down: dark room for sleep, plenty of toys for enrichment and the like. It was a very sudden change, she loved spending time with us (quietly!) and then one day woke up and decided to be very noisy, so it's very confusin

He continues to scream when his favourite person is around; that's when he's at his noisiest. As well as his contact call, he makes a cacophony of noises like a little child showing off.
As I write this, his favourite person is here now, and he's making his contact call. He's at his quietest when his favourite person isn't around.
I'm sure professional bird trainers will give you better advice. It might also be useful to have a vet check in case an underlying condition or illness is the cause. But because I had a hard time dealing with Oscar's noise in the past, I contacted a few local breeders and did some research, and I think noise is a common issue with eclectus. One article I read said that some people can't keep them because they cannot handle their distinct noises.
I also have an Amazon parrot, Basil. He is a lot louder than Oscar, but he's not nearly as noisy. I can handle his squawk because he doesn't do it much and even though it's louder, it's of a lower frequency. It's not high pitched like Oscar's.
Of course, this is based on my own experience. What's true for me might not be for you. Your girl could just be going through a phase and might grow out of it.
As a consolation, having had a cockatoo and having an Amazon parrot, I can say, from my experience, that eclectus are one of the best natured parrots you could have. Oscar has a really sweet personality; he loves people and has never bitten anyone. My cockatoo had a hard bite, and sometimes Basil can be aggressive and will attack me. When he bites, he draws blood. It really hurts, but Oscar has never displayed any aggression, and I'm grateful for that.
PS Oscar's favourite person went out as I was writing this and now he's as quiet as a mouse.

 

[Keatz]

I hope I didn't sound too negative. Female eclectus are supposed to be quieter than males. It's also possible that your girl has weaning issues. They can manifest themselves in all types of ways, including noise. If it is, it will pass.

 

[jurgenballsman]

I hope I didn't sound too negative. Female eclectus are supposed to be quieter than males. It's also possible that your girl has weaning issues. They can manifest themselves in all types of ways, including noise. If it is, it will pass.

Not at all, I appreciate the perspective! Our Eclectus is also very sweet natured with everyone... except me, but that's another issue we're trying to work through. Though that aggression is only usually when her favourite person is not around and in that case, it's only ever me that's around to look after her so we're wondering if there's some separation anxiety at play there.

She has actually been a little bit better since I made the post, definitely still noisy but there have been breaks in the screams at least. Some advice that we've received is that she was sold to us extremely young for an Eclectus (~3 1/2 months) and it should've been held off a little to prevent weening issues. She loves to do the whole baby bird head bobbing thing with her favourite person, so it wouldn't surprise me if there's some weening issue at play. We're being optimistic as it seems to be getting slightly better over time but if it doesn't, we signed up for it when getting her.

Thanks for your insight!

 

[azflcowboy]

Hey guys!

We're having some trouble with a very noisy Eclectus and we're looking for some advice.

We got her a little over a month ago. She was born in mid-January so she's coming up to five months old. She very quickly bonded with my partner and wants to her spend all of her time with her.

That's fine and she's not noisy usually. The issue is if my partner has to leave during the day for a few hours at all, when she comes back, our Eclectus will start screaming non-stop and will not let up at all until she goes to bed. If she's getting attention, she screams. If she's eating, she still screams. It's relentless, she will scream every few seconds for hours on end.

My partner is trying to not reinforce the behaviour by not giving her attention when she's screaming and we'd planned to encourage her by giving her attention when she stops screaming, but we can't reinforce the good behaviour because she just does not stop. She has tried diverting the behaviour to training and it hasn't worked. She's very good with target clicker training if my partner has been all day but if she goes out and comes back, she'll ignore it completely. We are assuming it's baby behaviour because she's young and she's shown signs of seeing my partner as mother, eg. slow head bobbing aimed at my partners mouth and baby bird feeding motions when given seeds by hand

So, coming to you guys to ask for some advice on what we can do?

Thanks!

Hello
I noticed that Moses started to "screech" for the first time in the past 6 months. When he turned 2 he flew away looking for a red bird to mate with, when he could not find even a red chicken he flew home and does not show any interest in going outside anymore (he did get caught in a hot summer Florida thunderstorm the night he flew away and was gone for 24 hours but he came home Happy an Unharmed (there are many falcons, eagles, and hawks in our area back to the screeching - i noticed he does not seem to like loud noises (if my wife should shout to get my attention (i do have a hearing loss from Vietnam ) he will start screeching very loud buy the way then the dog (Duchess who has cancer starts barking then they both take turns screeching and barking ) they stop after about 4 or 5 time when I say "aus tau" Lithuanian for quiet or i will give it to you))) Yes Moses also speaks Lithuanian so i think that is also used by parrots to warn you of possible danger Moses will screch if he sees someone come to the front door and especialy if they ring the (Ring Doorbell) which says someone at your front door)) once a stranger or freind comes in the house and I welcome them he senses all is OK and starts talking to them first Hi then "whats you doing so again i believe it is normal and I jusr close my ears also at night when he is in his sleep cage andthe cover is over the cage if he hears a strange noise or if you bump the cage he will let out a short "Screech" but normally he laughs with the comedy tv sho if we watch tv in bed oh he and Duchess our dog must sleep in the smae room as our bedroom (luckily we have a very large bedroom

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

What is her diet like? Eclectus parrots are know to have allergies to certain foods that seem to bring on wing flapping, toe tapping, and screaming. They could have all three symptoms or only one. Spirulina is in some pellets which seems to be a huge problem for this species. Soy is another issue for some. Excessive sugar is another one and remember fruit has sugar. I feed mine a low amount of fruit for that reason.