My Bird Will Not Shut Up!

[meme]

My husband loves birds and we have about 5. He has one parakeet ( I think thats what it is) It is very attached to him. He is the only one who can pet/touch her. She gets really sucky when he does and coos and says her name over and over (Jaja is her name). She was living at his mom's house but she started to pull out all her feathers until she basically was bald on her front. So we moved her to our house. She will not stop screeching!! She wakes us up every morning and if my husband is around her but not paying attention to her she does it, if he leaves, she does it and generally she is just constanly screeching. If we lived in the West I am sure the neighbors would have called the police by now with a noise complaint. He is Thai so the noise really doesn't phase him but it is slowly driving me insane! She is very attached to him and her feathers are growing back now that she is living here and I dont want to send her back to his moms. Does anyone have any idea how to make her stop??

[Mighty Mouse]

You mentioned that there are other birds in your household. The parakeet is probably jealous of the other birds and is screaming for attention.

The feather pulling is a sign of boredom. Buy a larger cage and/or give it some toys to occupy some time. Maybe a mirror too.

If possible, let it out of the cage on regular occasions.

[meme]

You mentioned that there are other birds in your household. The parakeet is probably jealous of the other birds and is screaming for attention.

The feather pulling is a sign of boredom. Buy a larger cage and/or give it some toys to occupy some time. Maybe a mirror too.

If possible, let it out of the cage on regular occasions.

Hi thanks!

So we did get her a mirror and she does seem to like it..if smacking it with her beak all the time means she likes it...

We also got her a really big cage, I think as big as they get.

When she lived with his mom and brother there were about 15 birds around and his mom said she only screetched when he came to the house, although who knows how well she was monitoring it. So maybe we should try putting her in a room alone.

Thanks again

[Pink Mist]

you could try getting a cover for the cage, place on the cage when it squarks, it may work.

[meme]

you could try getting a cover for the cage, place on the cage when it squarks, it may work.

[/quote

I actully mentioned that to hubby this morning, bright and early when she woke us up. He said she just bites it but I am going to give it a try anyway.

Cheers

[Nienke]

You could PM p1p, one of the super-mod's. He is quite knowledgeable about parrots, cackatoos, parakiets etc.

I'm clearly not, don't even know how to write these names

Nienke

[bina]

what breed exactly?

what sex?

feather pulling also occurs when birds have mites so try some mite spray ( for avians ) or a solution of parrafin to ivomac drops on its breast area.

most parakeets dont speak. maybe a connure or a lori? they speak though not distinctly. they are also very possesive according to sex of person and bird.

some behavior modification needed and try giving food stuff that keeps her busy (climb to reach it, play with it, tuck some seeds inside a piece of fruit...

some birds just dont take to changes of place, schedule, and PARTNER....

good luck, sometimes it just doesnt work out. we received a rather crazy rainbow lori that had been neglected. it took three weeks to work out a schedule for him and then he became attatched only to me, and seems in general to have problems with males. he wasnt suitable for our petting zoo so placed him in a therapeutic petting zoo for pediatric psychiatric ward near here... here, he was going beserk. there, he responds to the kids, and they, surprisingly, respond to him so his screeching reduced itself, and he reinforces good behavior patterns among some of the kids.

[meme]

what breed exactly?

what sex?

feather pulling also occurs when birds have mites so try some mite spray ( for avians ) or a solution of parrafin to ivomac drops on its breast area.

most parakeets dont speak. maybe a connure or a lori? they speak though not distinctly. they are also very possesive according to sex of person and bird.

some behavior modification needed and try giving food stuff that keeps her busy (climb to reach it, play with it, tuck some seeds inside a piece of fruit...

some birds just dont take to changes of place, schedule, and PARTNER....

good luck, sometimes it just doesnt work out. we received a rather crazy rainbow lori that had been neglected. it took three weeks to work out a schedule for him and then he became attatched only to me, and seems in general to have problems with males. he wasnt suitable for our petting zoo so placed him in a therapeutic petting zoo for pediatric psychiatric ward near here... here, he was going beserk. there, he responds to the kids, and they, surprisingly, respond to him so his screeching reduced itself, and he reinforces good behavior patterns among some of the kids.

Great Bina thanks. I googled the other two kinds of birds and really she could be either. She can say her name but you are right, not distinctly. She is very possesive of Job (husband) and hates me. Will try the behavior modification. It is very possible she has mites. Will look into the spray. Do you think the cover over her cage is a good idea??

[bina]

well, try to figure out which bird it is....depending on which, u have to handle them slightly differently:

conures are very smart, i think they are supposedly smarter then loris. loris are funny birds but have very definate personalities with very definate hates. our lori actually belonged to my co worker but hated his guts..and loved me and i really dont like birds...

covering her cage at night is standard; we also used to leave the radio on when we went home and the lori stayed in his cage. during the day, i hung the cage outside for extra stimulus. we couldnt release him since he would jump on me and bite anyone else. i also didnt have much time to train him to return to his cage when I wanted, not when he wanted. a very demanding species, the lori... but real clowns.

conures are supposedly more trainable but never had one as a pet, just as an exhibit bird. behavior mod means giving small pieces of fruit or seeds (loris should not be getting seeds, only fruit and lori juice, conures get seeds and things so u really should try to see what this bird is. might not be either of those) when quiet or when singing nicely. screeching should just be ignored. when bird is not screeching try talking, whistling, singing or just being near the cage.

give it twigs, leaves, flowers (habiscus is a great food play item and safe and healthy for all birds and reptiles , and human too), things to keep it busy, things to shred that are safe for a bird, things to climb on or into... put up a pic maybe someone can give u more breed specific info.... birds arent my thing...

the possessiveness is difficult to change, i had to babysit a good friend's cockatiel while he (the friend)was in reserve duty, she bit me very badly several times while i had to feed her (couldnt put hand in or near cage. )

bina

Edited November 25, 2007 by bina

[Mosha]

Many years ago we had a budgie that used to pull his feathers to the point sometimes he had to walk to where he wanted to go. He only did this when alone. So we tried once to leave the radio on. It worked, maybe the noise made him believe the house was still occupied. He was a brilliant talker, usually picking up stuff you ween't trying to teach him quicker. His favourite seemed to be "Stupid bird" followed by a sound we believed was his laugh.

I have been told that some parrot species do get fixated on one individual in the family, even to the point of "defending" that family member.

[Naam]

If possible, let it out of the cage on regular occasions.

and open all doors and windows

[meme]

well, try to figure out which bird it is....depending on which, u have to handle them slightly differently:

conures are very smart, i think they are supposedly smarter then loris. loris are funny birds but have very definate personalities with very definate hates. our lori actually belonged to my co worker but hated his guts..and loved me and i really dont like birds...

covering her cage at night is standard; we also used to leave the radio on when we went home and the lori stayed in his cage. during the day, i hung the cage outside for extra stimulus. we couldnt release him since he would jump on me and bite anyone else. i also didnt have much time to train him to return to his cage when I wanted, not when he wanted. a very demanding species, the lori... but real clowns.

conures are supposedly more trainable but never had one as a pet, just as an exhibit bird. behavior mod means giving small pieces of fruit or seeds (loris should not be getting seeds, only fruit and lori juice, conures get seeds and things so u really should try to see what this bird is. might not be either of those) when quiet or when singing nicely. screeching should just be ignored. when bird is not screeching try talking, whistling, singing or just being near the cage.

give it twigs, leaves, flowers (habiscus is a great food play item and safe and healthy for all birds and reptiles , and human too), things to keep it busy, things to shred that are safe for a bird, things to climb on or into... put up a pic maybe someone can give u more breed specific info.... birds arent my thing...

the possessiveness is difficult to change, i had to babysit a good friend's cockatiel while he (the friend)was in reserve duty, she bit me very badly several times while i had to feed her (couldnt put hand in or near cage. )

bina

Well I guess I should fine out which she is b/c we give her both seeds and fruit. The thing about being alone is that when she lived at Job's mom's house there are a million people around and that is when the feather pulling started. It is much more quiet at our place. I have noticed that as soon as one of us wakes up is when she starts screeching, she stops when we go to bed so I think she is a big attention seeker. If I play music loud she also starts in. I think she does need more things to keep her busy. Really I think that my darling husband needs to pay more attention to her, I don't think he understands how attached she is to him as all his other birds are doves or the "fighting" birds. So they dont have the same display of attachment and need that Jaja has. I wass pass all this info along to him.

cheers.

[Boksida]

Whenever the bird misbehaves, get a frozen chicken out of the fridge and put it in their cage for a few minutes. Some birds are quite intelligent and can make the connection between action and consequence.

[bina]

feather pulling among smaller birds happens; among the more 'intelligent' (amazon grey parrots, connures,loris, arras) feather pulling is more prevalant.

its not 'defending' the person they are attached to; it is often a sexual mating thing and a territorial thing. loris for instance are very territorial.

parakeets we never had a problem with since they are in a volaire with dozens of others together. love birds become attached to others, same sex or different sex (hard to sex them to male/female unlike budgies), and can also screech and pull feathers from stress.

post the pic....

[agudbuk]

Whenever the bird misbehaves, get a frozen chicken out of the fridge and put it in their cage for a few minutes. Some birds are quite intelligent and can make the connection between action and consequence.

A bowl of stuffing and a quick demonstration on how its used emphasises the consequences.

When you see a tear in the birds eye you know the message has been rammed home

Edited November 26, 2007 by agudbuk

[Kaojai]

My husband loves birds and we have about 5. He has one parakeet ( I think thats what it is)

Read through the thread quickly, but I don't think anyone mentioned Lovebirds. They have a very metallic screech that they use throughout the day and can really get on your nerves.

They need twelve hours of sleep, so a quiet location and a cover over the cage at night is helpful. Not enough sleep = cranky birdie.

They need to be where there is light during the day, but not in direct sunlight.

While they don't need to be in pairs, I think it works out better in terms of keeping them occupied and entertained. Two birds need to bond and stay together and they will not react well to other birds.

They need to chew on things, mainly wood. I buy both those disposable food skewers (cut off the sharp end) and disposable chop sticks. Use them and shoe laces to "construct" ladders and swings or just a bunch hanging from the top of the cage, which they expend a lot of energy each day happily destroying. The wood is soft and they can easily turn it into splinters and wood chips.

Mine also get some stalks of Chinese celery standing in some water for a mini forest in the corner of the cage, as well as those baby corn cobs and chopped up snow peas, toast and bean sprouts. They eat about 5% of all that and reduce the rest to vegetable saw dust.

They are intelligent birds and easily bored. If they're kept entertained, they are less noisy, but sometimes they just feel like screeching the place down for the fun of it.

They also moult about once a year. Feather plucking can be from boredom or because of parasites or it could just be the moulting. One of mine looks like a plucked chicken when he moults, but his girlfriend seems to manage it very discreetly.

Edited December 2, 2007 by Kaojai

[bina]

kaojai

good suggestions,

actually i didnt think of lovebirds or personatas (the ones with the white ring around the eye)simply cause she said that it spoke words indistinctly... even our had raised ones never spoke

but good advice for all of them

bina

[Kaojai]

actually i didnt think of lovebirds or personatas (the ones with the white ring around the eye)simply cause she said that it spoke words indistinctly... even our had raised ones never spoke

bina

Yeah, neither of mine mimic anything aside from something that sounds like finger nails across a blackboard or rusty machinery, but I thought some might manage "Jaja." I think single birds are more likely to bond to a human and possibly make the effort to vocalize words.

As long as the occasional machine gun screeching doesn't get to you. they can be quite entertaining, but they can be very demanding about getting your undivided attention when they feel like it.