Still screaming :/

[jessdecutie18]

Yes, it's still happening... and we are trying so hard. Hopefully you read my post a little while ago about Yoshi being loud and screaming? Well she does it constantly, over and over, if she is alone for even a second. She doesn't even have to be alone, sometimes she will yell as soon as your back is turned.... inches away from her. I talk to her... tell her as I'm leaving the room that I will be right back. I've even tried walking outside the room and still talking to her so she knows I'm not far away... the yelling just doesn't stop. It's driving my husband nuts now... I'm just not sure what else to do. She is good mostly, especially for me, but this yelling is rediculous. We will bring her out of her cage to be with us, say when I get home for lunch, and prepare food, but as soon as we are any distance away preparing it she yells. My husband and I say NO sternly... barely turn around and she yells again. Soon as my husband turns back around now Yoshi KNOWS she is in trouble... she starts shreiking and flapping as my husband takes her back upstairs, puts her in her cage for a timeout, and says NO again. Often she keeps yelling for a while, then quiets down and we go get her again.... sometimes I just ignore it, sometimes I put her in time out too...

 

It makes me sad because I don't want her not with us, but when she is shrieking its so annoying. This morning it was constant... unless she is actually on me or eating she is not happy. So this morning I decide I will have to get help from the forum again. I go home for lunch today and Yoshi is as good as gold, all happy and contentedly chattering... no screaming... and she got some treats.... so good! Figures! I just don't know, she is confusing us...

 

I keep hoping this is a passing phase... as I said before she gets attention and she is a happy bird but this shrieking is like a baby bird calling for its mother over and over again... she wont stop. When I am giving her my full attention, scratching and talking to her and having fun with her, she never shrieks. But if we are just in the same room... she shrieks so much more than she even plays with her toys anymore.

 

This comes and goes... like how at lunch she was so good... and last night she had a short bad spell but after two timeouts stopped the screaming again. It just seems she is screaming so much... also right after I get home... I used to be able to say hello, maybe give her a cuddle, and then said I'll be back and she would be fine. Now, I get home and the minute I go to get out of my uniform she is screaming... and she can still see me. It gives my husband and I headaches all the time.

 

I know this sounds bad... I love my Yoshi to death and am very patient with her... I'm willing to try something else? My husband and I are just exasperated that what we have been doing doesn't seem to be helping. Unless nothing will help until she decides to move away from it on her own... I just hope it's soon or my husband is going to strangle her while I am at work lol He jokes about it already!

[Elvenking]

This is very curious indeed. Can you possibly catch this on video. Your bird is trying to tell you something. Try to notice what happens that makes Yoshi stop. You say she stops when she is on you. What other things is she doing when she is not screaming? The loudest Issac ever gets is when he knows I am about to feed him. (You can actually see a video of this on my Issac Week 21 Thread...lol). But once he is fed, it's over. So I am okay with it, but if he ever did it full time...I know I would not like it very much.

 

I take it that Yoshi cannot fly, otherwise she would just solve the problem herself and come to you. This is a tough one. Somehow she has to learn to entertain herself. And, you have to make sure to do nothing when she does this noise, then as soon as she does something favorable, reward it. That is all i can think of right now. And you have probably already heard this.

[chelseaB]

I'm sorry to hear you are having this problem with Yoshi. I personally don't have much experience to share, but the May issue of Bird Talk has some articles about noise & other problem issues that can come up with parrots. I haven't read it all yet, but general jist was ignoring unwanted behavior & big time positive reinforcement for the right stuff. Not to get into a drama contest by yelling back at them or making a big scene because in a way they are getting reinforced for unwanted behavior by getting your attention. If you can read the articles, hope they help & hope you get some more replys from the more experienced members.

[Dave007]

• Problematic screaming can be extremely annoying for the bird owner. A bird who is constantly screaming is telling you that he/she is either unhappy or is in need of excessive attention that he/she has gotten used to. Unfortunately, excessive attention sometimes does one major thing. The bird may become spoiled. The bird owner didn't do it on purpose but being too nice and giving in to a bird's whims can do it. At one point a person needs to set up some personal rules. Many different things happen to parrots as they get older but many people aren't aware of the full scope of those changes. If your bird is constantly screaming than you need to investigate why your bird is acting out in this manner.
  Just as parrots can be taught to do many things, they can also be trained to vocalize within acceptable limits. Be sure not to reinforce unacceptable screaming by giving your bird attention during unreasonable screaming episodes. Totally ignore the screaming and reward desired behaviors with treats, attention, praise, scratches, and time out of the cage. Never give or do any of things because of a certain good thing the bird has just done. In your situation, doing the above when the bird is quiet is sometimes a good thing. You must be consistent in ignoring the screaming. That's the hard part for people because they don't wanna accept the fact that the bird has to be ignored for a while even if the screaming has stopped. Any negative or positive reaction on your part to your bird is just that--Reaction, be it positive or negative, that's what it is- REACTION and it serves it's purpose. The bird looks for reaction. It gets the owner's attention. Other methods of training your bird not to scream are time outs in the cage for longer periods than you've been doing, Totally eliminating screaming should not be your goal. Some amount of screaming has to be tolerated and should be accepted. It is natural for parrots to scream and they should be allowed to scream certain times of the day. You need to accept the fact that all parrots scream, chatter, and screech for short periods of time during the day.
   
  This whole thing isn't easy for people to do because people don't realize that controling or changing this habit is gonna take a while. It can't be curbed in just a few weeks. The longer the problem has been going on, the longer it's gonna take to go away. Basically, a person is suffering because they have to put up with something that's totally unnatural and it causes extreme anxiety. The reason it causes this is because of the length of time a person has to put up with it plus the length of time that a person has to do something that they're not used to doing.
  

• You'll need patience and understand that you're being taken advantage of by your little darling.
  

Edited April 14, 2010 by Dave007

[pearllyn]

Sorry to hear you are still having this trouble Jess. If this is persisting, you need to be absolutely sure there is nothing physical going on that is causing it. Have you had her checked lately?

 

my husband takes her back upstairs, puts her in her cage for a timeout, and says NO again. Often she keeps yelling for a while, then quiets down and we go get her again.... sometimes I just ignore it, sometimes I put her in time out too...!

 

Assuming there is nothing physical, you need to be consistant with your reactions. Timeouts worked for me, but whatever you do, you need to do it every time.

As Dave says,, every parrot screams to some extent. I know I've said it before, but earplugs aren't as silly as they sound. Or headphones with your favourite music. If this is a passing phase, this may help you get through it with your sanity intact!

Good luck with her.

 

[Lambert58]

always #1: hit the vet to rule out any physical problems.

 

Then I have to piggyback on what dave said: don't "scold" your fid. They don't work that way. You can't discipline them. Doing that: yelling "NO" will only reinforce bad behavior.

 

I could write a thesis on how you should behave to get your fid to behave the way you want, but I'd have to charge you, and you can do the research yourself. I'll give you a hint: start treating your fid as an equal. and to clarify: a dog isn't your equal. Your 9-year old son isn't your equal. Don't treat your fid that way. You really have to change your thinking to be an effective manipulator (heh) of your feathered buddy.

 

Took me a year to START to handle this concept and I'm still failing miserably. You have to realize you don't control the dynamic.... yet. This topic is at the heart of why I see 20 fids a month, less than 3 years old, on Craig's list because their owners "don't have the time to take care of them."

 

When in fact, they never did spend the time to understand how a parrot thinks. Doomed from the word go. It's so sad.

[jessdecutie18]

Thanks guys... I can always count on you for some support and very helpful opinions I will have to take some time rereading these responses and the ones to my last post on this matter.

 

I think Yoshi might be like Spock, perusing the forums while alone, as since I've been home NO screaming at all! I don't wanna get too excited as Im sure it isn't over or anything but this is the first full afternoon for a while with no screaming so that's nice!

 

Also I do know that parrots scream at times and that has always been fine... It is how much she is screaming that is the problem. Yes she is clipped unfortunately, we are currently waiting for her new flight feathers to come in...

 

I hadn't thought much about her getting too much attention... I will continue the timeouts every time she does her screaming... Luckily it looks like she has chosen not to scream tonight, no idea why.

 

Also I actually am planning on taking Yoshi for a checkup this weekend with the vet I will let you know how that goes!

[jessdecutie18]

always #1: hit the vet to rule out any physical problems.

 

Then I have to piggyback on what dave said: don't "scold" your fid. They don't work that way. You can't discipline them. Doing that: yelling "NO" will only reinforce bad behavior.

 

I could write a thesis on how you should behave to get your fid to behave the way you want, but I'd have to charge you, and you can do the research yourself. I'll give you a hint: start treating your fid as an equal. and to clarify: a dog isn't your equal. Your 9-year old son isn't your equal. Don't treat your fid that way. You really have to change your thinking to be an effective manipulator (heh) of your feathered buddy.

 

Took me a year to START to handle this concept and I'm still failing miserably. You have to realize you don't control the dynamic.... yet. This topic is at the heart of why I see 20 fids a month, less than 3 years old, on Craig's list because their owners "don't have the time to take care of them."

 

When in fact, they never did spend the time to understand how a parrot thinks. Doomed from the word go. It's so sad.

 

We say NO so she understands what she is doing is not good... We say no and then put her in her cage so she knows that yelling doesn't bring us closer to her. Whether timeouts or ignoring is the best option is debatable... Perhaps different fids accept each differently and react better to one or the other. Right now we are trying the time not method.

 

I promise you Im not a newbie to bird behavior and I don't think you meant to be offensive but your post upsets me a little... I don't want a thesis I just want the helpful advice of those I know on here. I always treat Yoshi very much as an equal, I love and respect her in every way. I always want what's best for her. Teaching her NO and that certain things are off limits or not allowed in my opinion is very important. she is not anything like a dog obviously but she does look to me at this young stage of life for guidance and love.

 

I understand the problems on Craigslist... All the poor birds with owners that don't take the time to understand them better... And it breaks my heart. The reason I am asking advice on this forum I love so much is because I do care about Yoshi more than I've ever cared about any other animal. I guess I just don't like Yoshi's case being compared to that of cruel people on craigslist with doomed parrots

[Talon]

Jess, just a suggestion......but maybe a distraction for her.......playing the Bird Sitter dvd while you are out, may change her mood and feel closer to a flock while you are gone. Perhaps she'll scream at them and get it out of her system, or just be happy and content having a flock of her own. Thus welcoming you when you do come home.

Another thought, is she getting enough sleep at night? Perhaps she needs more sleepy time?

[jessdecutie18]

You know Talon for the last month and a half we haven't been playing movies in Yoshi's room while we are away. We had a problem with the media center we had hooked up for Yoshi and since then have kind of forgotten about it. I wonder if you are right and that is something that made her feel happier and now it's gone. We used to have something playing like every time we went out. I will make getting our media center fixed a top priority again so she can have that again. What an interesting thought.

 

Yoshi gets lots of sleep... About 8 hours during the night and naps in the early afternoon when my husband is working on college homework...

[Xtreme575]

Jess, I think you have been offered excellent advice by many experienced parrot owners. I understand your reasoning for saying "No" to Yoshi, but I can't help but think that Yoshi isn't going to understand it, and will instead focus on the attention/reaction of the "No" more than the time-out. Besides, as her vocal skills expand, I'm sure you won't want to hear a harsh "No" coming from her all the time. I've been reading your posts for some time now, and it is clear that you are very dedicated, and a loving parrot owner, I think that if you started hearing the "No" you'd regret it.

 

My biggest problem with Paco is his nipping. I've noticed over the past couple of months that it has been increasing a bit. What I've been doing is simply asking him to step up from my lap and simply putting him on his cage. I'm giving no reaction at all, nor am I rushing back to get him even if he starts being cute. I just carry on with what I'm doing. I've noticed two changes, the first being that the nips have decreased a bit, the other, he runs to me from his play-top to "step-up" when I get back to him.

 

Good luck, and I feel for you. The screaming grates me. I was napping last week on the couch and he was happily playing when he went into attack mode and let out the jungle screech that nearly brings down the roof! I jumped off the couch from a sound sleep thinking the world was coming to an end... He was happily attacking a ball on a chain while hanging upside down, I was nearly in cardiac arrest.

[Talon]

My birds LOVE the dvd the bird sitter, it plays continuously........Parrots need a minimum of 10-12 hours sleep each night. I know if my birds are up later and don't get their 12 hours, they misbehave the next day. Their sleep coincides with daylight hours. They are up early even though they are covered, so I have to put them to bed a bit earlier.

[jessdecutie18]

Jess, I think you have been offered excellent advice by many experienced parrot owners. I understand your reasoning for saying "No" to Yoshi, but I can't help but think that Yoshi isn't going to understand it, and will instead focus on the attention/reaction of the "No" more than the time-out. Besides, as her vocal skills expand, I'm sure you won't want to hear a harsh "No" coming from her all the time. I've been reading your posts for some time now, and it is clear that you are very dedicated, and a loving parrot owner, I think that if you started hearing the "No" you'd regret it.

 

My biggest problem with Paco is his nipping. I've noticed over the past couple of months that it has been increasing a bit. What I've been doing is simply asking him to step up from my lap and simply putting him on his cage. I'm giving no reaction at all, nor am I rushing back to get him even if he starts being cute. I just carry on with what I'm doing. I've noticed two changes, the first being that the nips have decreased a bit, the other, he runs to me from his play-top to "step-up" when I get back to him.

 

Good luck, and I feel for you. The screaming grates me. I was napping last week on the couch and he was happily playing when he went into attack mode and let out the jungle screech that nearly brings down the roof! I jumped off the couch from a sound sleep thinking the world was coming to an end... He was happily attacking a ball on a chain while hanging upside down, I was nearly in cardiac arrest.

 

Perhaps I will stop saying no then and just quietly put her in her cage... It's something for me to think about for sure... Lol about being startled awake. luckily Yoshi never yells until she sees me up and moving in the morning, so I have never been woken up super early or anything. They do get loud when fighting a toy sometimes lol it's funny to watch

[pearllyn]

Talon is right about the hours of sleep Jess, even with naps during the day, 8 hours of solid sleep at night isn't enough for a grey. Also you mentioned feathers - is she or has she been moulting lately? I think Alfie's first real moult may have had something to do with her screaming - it has to be a bit ouchy for them.

Hopefully, you'll have a good vet visit and know that whatever it is can be sorted by changing a few things in her routine.

[Jane08]

I hate to say it but it could be months before the screaming stops. It was months before our Kea stopped screaming. She started to scream for attention after a few weeks of bringing her home. I was also at my wits end and was ready to strangle her. I kept telling myself it's only a few months you can do it, she will be with us for the rest of our life so overall the screaming is a very very short period of time. Patience is really the key it will get better but with alot of time.

[pearllyn]

Actually, Alfie is moulting at the minute and come to think of it, she is being a little louder than usual!

[Lambert58]

We say NO so she understands what she is doing is not good... We say no and then put her in her cage so she knows that yelling doesn't bring us closer to her. Whether timeouts or ignoring is the best option is debatable... Perhaps different fids accept each differently and react better to one or the other. Right now we are trying the time not method.

 

I promise you Im not a newbie to bird behavior and I don't think you meant to be offensive but your post upsets me a little... I don't want a thesis I just want the helpful advice of those I know on here. I always treat Yoshi very much as an equal, I love and respect her in every way. I always want what's best for her. Teaching her NO and that certain things are off limits or not allowed in my opinion is very important. she is not anything like a dog obviously but she does look to me at this young stage of life for guidance and love.

 

I understand the problems on Craigslist... All the poor birds with owners that don't take the time to understand them better... And it breaks my heart. The reason I am asking advice on this forum I love so much is because I do care about Yoshi more than I've ever cared about any other animal. I guess I just don't like Yoshi's case being compared to that of cruel people on craigslist with doomed parrots

 

Well, I guess you don't know me and my advice wasn't helpful. Good luck

[jessdecutie18]

Yoshi has been a bit quieter the last couple days! Thanks for all the advice guys

[reggieroo]

Was wondering how it's going with Yoshi & her screaming issue? Any better, what has worked & what hasn't?