Me VS Screamer

[Marrie]

My bird has developed a habit lately... he is turning a year old and I am afraid going through a hormonal phase. He bites the male members of the house (hiss, attack) and has picked up a habit of SCREAMING for no reason. He screams if I pick him up, screams if I put him down, screams if I feed him, screams if I put him on his play area, screams if I leave the room, screams if I enter a room.

He still wants to play and cuddle and kiss, he just wants to scream about it.

No, he isn't hurt and he still has a clean bill of health. He has all his water, toys, food, I make 100% sure he has no REASON to scream. He is out of his cage about 12 hours a day, has constant attention.

So... I searched a few books for anti-scream training lol

Round 1 (day 1) ) - Brought him out, he started screaming after about 10 minutes. He had his breakfast, his toys, he was near me as usual. So, I put him in his cage and moved him to the room where he won't bug the neighbors for a training session. The good bird guide says if you walk out of a room, stay out of sight until they are quiet then tell them how good they are when they are quiet or make the proper noises, they'll learn. So, I stand outside the room and when he is quiet, walk in tell him he is a good bird, when he screams I walk out. Quiet interval - 10s

Round 2 - Bird begins to scream, so I put him in his training room. He starts to sing for my attention now about every 5th time instead of screaming. Quiet interval - 20s

Round 3 - Bird is still screaming. Training session time and ... quiet interval 36s.

[petra2424]

that sounds funny, i think you are doing great, what about round 4? keep us informed please.. ; )

[boomer girl]

I always thought tiels were sweet mellow birds, yours sounds more like my lovie was. Make sure your not giving him too long of timeouts, I would give boomer maybe 5 minutes before I went back and talked sweet to him. I dont know if this will work but it somewhat worked for us and trust me it is a silly thing but hey it worked here. Boomer would sit in his cage and just really get cheeping like a crazy bird and nothing shut him up except if we got right near his cage and calmly told him, inside cheeps boomer and we would go say "cheep cheep". At first he sat there and looked at us like we were crazy but believe it or not after just a few days it worked. If he started going off scream cheeping we would say "cheep cheep" and that little bird would quietly cheep "cheep cheep" not say it but give us these 2 really cute quiet cheeps to us. Just like our daughter we had to teach him his inside cheep cheep voice, and it was lots better hearing the 2 quick quiet cheeps then his super loud cheeps.

I know its crazy but then sometimes so our our birds.

[AJR]

I'm not laughing at your expense I just loved how you phrased all of this. "He just wants to scream about it", that gave me a good laugh

[Marrie]

Hehe sorry, he's been keeping me busy most the day!

I let him sit in time out until he is A) Quiet for 10-20 seconds or B) Makes an acceptable noise. When one of those conditions is met, I go in and tell him he's a good bird. If he screams again, I walk out. Rinse repeat. Usually it is a workout for me... since every minute or so I have to run in the room and tell him he's a good bird. lol

Round 4) He screamed for about 2 hours, at the end he did his turkey dance (turkey, turkey, turkey while bobbing his head up and down, which is really cute). He got to come out and was good most the evening, though he still is making his "I am mad" squawk cause he's moody/molting.

Round 5) He only got time out for about 30 minutes. He got to come out cause he did the turkey dance, which seems to be his preferred noise now.

Round 6) He is being good and has not had to be put in time out yet. I am making lunch and he is NOT screaming for my attention just because I am out of the room.

I think in another few days he'll cut out the screaming for attention completely. He's already gets that "I'm not doing anything" look when he starts lol

[AJR]

That's great! He's learning!

[aiiyaaaah]

Hi Marrie,

I had the SAME problem with my tiel (who is turning 1 years old in 2 weeks). He no longer screams anymore and here's how I did it:
I gave him a treat everytime he chirpped. At first he chirped then screamed and chriped. But after 2-3 days of treating, he almost never screamed. I treated him EVERYTIME he chirped for about 4 days. Everytime i treated, I whistled back at him too. Now I don't have to treat him everytime, I can just whistle back and he will be content. Ever since I taught him this, his screams are SO MUCH quieter as well.

I tried the walking out method with my bird but that did not work with my tiel. He didn't understand me leaving the room is punishment. He just screams more.

Also, another thing I taught my tiel is that whenever I leave the room, I say "bye bye" consistently. He caught on pretty fast. Now he will start to scream but stop himself in the middle.

I hope this helps!

[donafran]

We are wondering about this too -- Chrissy has suddenly (started in FEB) become a screamer when we are out of sight. We tried the leave the room until he's quiet, but as soon as he sees our shadow or hears us take one step towards the room, he gets very excited and So squawks more. So there isn't enough time to tell him he's good, etc... cause he gets excited if he thinks we're coming in to see him !

[Marrie]

dona, stand outside the door and be very quiet. Count to 10 - if he squawks reset your timer , if he's quiet... open the door and say "good bird" - if he squawks cause he sees you (mine did lol) walk out and close the door. Don't go to him unless he stays quiet, just open the door and let him see you...

Mine now sings when I walk in, instead of squawking. He also flock calls instead of screaming when I walk away - or will sing to try to get me to come back.

If he stays quiet, or makes a nice noise when you walk in, go to him and tell him how good he is, give him a treat and let him come play.