Broken bird! (Or insecurity?)

[Tahoma]

Hello!

I have Black Headed Caique named Jake who I've had for 7 months now.

The problem: It's not screaming--it's a high pitched persistent "beep" that he has picked up in the last couple weeks. I suspect that its a stranger danger or insecurity thing as now he is very wary (to the point of aggression or domination) of my neighbor who watched him while I was on vacation. This is where I think the behavior escalated.

The background information:

He was a rescue from the vet hospital I volunteer at and I know very little about his past except that he was surrendered because 1. he almost died for unknown reasons (literally one day he was knocking on death's door and the next he was normal and affectionate and a clown as per Caique nature) and 2. he bit them a lot... (which is strange to me--apparently he was the dominant one with them because he has never drawn blood on me). I don't know his age but suspect anywhere from 2-5 based on the information I got from his file--I'm currently waiting on a band trace. He has some odd quirks such as an abhorence to hats/caps/towels/anything covering the head. It elicits the above described beep and bite response. That I discovered the hard way...

Now. The first day we brought him home from the ward he was fine. Adjusted quickly to the move and was amazing. When we moved apartments he adjusted quickly and even adjusted nicely when we moved him into a larger cage, finally. The occasional flock scream--but nothing persistent or abnormal.

I left for 10 days and asked my neighbor--who had previously been introduced to and played with Jake on several occasions--to watch him while I was gone. She moved his cage into her apartment and I guess that's when everything went to pot. He was attacking legs, beeping persistently, generally displaying what I can only recognize as insecure and/or dominance behaviors. I realize that her and her roommate are not the most dominant bird owners (as they have a Pionus who is way more docile than my high maintenance clown) and feel like I understand why he reacted to them the way he did.

So for the last 2 weeks he's been beeping persistently while he's in his cage and anytime someone aside from me or my boyfriend walks into the room (even our roommate is scary and intimidating now...or someone worth attempting to dominate?). Especially my neighbor. Even with the cover on at night. He'll calm down but as soon as someone shuffles or a door opens or something wakes him up he starts the beeping again.

I apologize for the long-winded explanation but I want to make sure I'm being thorough in analyzing his behavior.

Has anyone had this happen before and did you recognize it to be a dominance issue, an insecurity issue, or both? What did you do to alter the behavior and is there any "bird language" I could use to assure him that he will be okay without reinforcing the behavior? (I watched him fall asleep and start beeping today--it is almost subconscious...). He really is an amazing little guy and I'd hate to have him feel insecure if I have to go out of town. He readily accepts everyone usually, isn't cage aggressive, loves to play, isn't that loud or messy, hates the grape shaped zupreem and harrisons, knows his biting boundaries with me and my boyfriend, follows us around the apartment like a dog, and is a generally wonderful first bird for us.

Thanks for any suggestions or help!

 

[Auggie's Dad]

I only have a moment to comment, but I suspect you will not get anywhere unless you get rid of these ideas of dominance and dominating your bird.

The bottom line is he is making a sound you don't like, and he has become aggressive towards some people after being shuffled between a dozen homes in the past year. Work on stabilizing his environment and building a routine while ignoring annoying sounds and rewarding pleasant ones.

 

[Tahoma]

I appreciate the advice. Yet I think that the way I was trying to make my point came off wrong. I do not focus or actively obsess over ideas of dominance or dominating. I suppose the better words I should have used are that my neighbor is more novice of a bird owner than I am--and I am still pretty novice at it. I apologize for coming across otherwise.

As for the beeping, unfortunately since my neighbors were complaining I had to take a bit more drastic action than just trying to reward the other noises and ignore the beeping--so we don't get evicted. I do appreciate the advice however and it seemed that we were getting somewhere and still are despite the upset of trying to move him between the exotics ward and home.

Now. If we can keep this pattern pretty stable I think we'll get somewhere--as it seems we already are. I think he's more of an attention bird than a food motivated bird and I'm purchasing and making a few foraging toys to keep him occupied throughout the day--to make him actively search for his food. Perhaps that will suffice for active play in my absence and then when I get home some not-so-roughhousing will help wear him out more.

Again I appreciate the advice and I apologize again for not being clear about the point I was trying to make.

 

[TexDot33]

High pitched "beep" ... you have a smoke detector that needs a battery replaced, or, does it sound more like your microwave?

I agree with AD ... reward other noises and ignore the bad ones ... there is a whole theory on "memory extinction" that I could get into, but it's mid-night, and I am typing in the dark, and don't have my glasses or contacts in ... it wouldn't be coherent if I tried.

 

[Tahoma]

I'm interested in this memory extinction theory... If you have time I would like to pick both of your brains regarding it if possible.

The beep is not our microwave--that's an entirely different sound that he experimented with so that every time we walk toward it or if it goes off he can mimic perfectly. That one is acceptable. It's lower pitched and much quieter than his "beeping". Much more like a smoke detector most of the time but our smoke detectors have not had battery problems--and my neighbor said hers was fine while we were gone.

I will agree--rewarding the good is working. It is a slow process like I expected. :0) But it's working--the improvement is so slight but it's improvement and I'll take it.

:0)

Thank you both for your help it is very much appreciated. :0)