screeching

[cazy62]

Hi there

We have had our african grey (holly) for 7yrs now, have taught her a few tricks. But she does screech a lot, does anyone possibly know of a way to calm her down of this. She gets lots of attention from all the family, and lets most people stroke her. But the screeching goes right through your ears lol.

[judygram]

Hello Cazy62 and welcome to the family, so glad you could join us and we look forward to hearing more about you and Holly.

 

Is this screeching something she has been doing for a while now or did she just start this behavior? It will help to know a little more about you and Holly so we can get a grasp on how or why she is doing this.

 

But I can tell you if she is getting attention when she does this no matter what the reaction is from you she will continue to do this for the reactions she gets from it.

 

You will need to ignore her when she gets to screeching, I know that will be very hard to do but it is the only way to teach her that it serves no purpose if she gets no reaction from it, then she should do it less and less.

 

We have some members here who will have more ideas and suggestions for you as some of them have had their greys for many years and are very knowledgeable in their behaviors and actions.

 

We do have a lot of useful information in our many threads so do read thru them at your leisure and do not hesitate to ask any and all questions you may have and we will help you in any way we can.

 

I assume that is a pic of Holly in your avatar, but if you have any other pics you would like to share with us we would be more than happy to see them.

[danmcq]

Welcome cazy62!!

 

Judy gave good advice in advising you to ignore the behaviour. You probably already know this, after having Holly for 7 years. The key is NOT to reward bad behaviour by giving them what they want, namely attention.

 

Use Positive reinforcement when the screaming stops right after it stopped. Give a treat or go and retrieve from the cage etc. The positive reinforcement treat or attention entirely depends upon what the screaming is for.

 

It's GreYt having you here and looking forward to hearing more. :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/12/29 16:54

[mattpatresi]

I feel for you - know exacttly what you mean and have same problem, although our Grey is with us since a couple months only. I wrote a post titled "screams when I leave room", actually now it screams when I'm around too and it really riles me. Anyway I got a lot of good aDVICE you can read it if you look on that post. good luck!

 

ps

What seems to work is putting him back in cage and closing a door between me and him, by that I mean closing his cage in a different room. He then seems to enter his own world and quietens down.

[Luvparrots]

Hi cazy62 glad you decided to be part of the family. I haven't been a grey owner long enough to not find everything my Ana Grey does as great. But when I leave a room she calls after me. I just call back and she quiets down. It's like she just wants to know I'm around. Ana likes foot toys so I always make sure she has oodles around. Some are just plastic bottle caps and empty paper rolls, she just keeps herself busy with them. If you have anymore pictures of Holly, we would love to see them. Welcome to the family.

[MazyAK]

Funny how my kids and my birds require the exact same discipline and structure to insure order. Ignore their bad behavior and they will find the positive behavior is better and you should acknowledge and reward this. Just don't give your bird the car keys when they are good. I get that part mixed up sometimes with the 3 teenagers here.