Excessive Screaming in My Eclectus Parrot

[Amna]

Hello everyone,
I’m concerned about something with Rudi, my female Eclectus parrot, who is three months old. I’m not sure if this behavior is normal or not, so I wanted to ask for your advice. She flies freely, plays, eats on her own, and I also hand-feed her formula along with vegetables, fruits, pellets, and other foods.

The issue is that she screams a lot. By a lot, I mean she screams whether she’s in or out of her cage, hungry or not, even while eating or playing. She isn’t like this every day, but most days of the week, she screams excessively.

I can’t figure out what’s wrong. She’s not hungry, sleepy, or bored. She spends most of her time with us, flying and playing outside her cage. Even in her cage, she has a spacious environment with plenty of wooden toys that she enjoys destroying.

Why does she scream? Her health is fine, and her diet is balanced. Is this behavior normal? And is there a way to help her reduce the screaming?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I'd love to hear a recording. Ive never had an eclectus so I have no specific answers- just curious, but I suspect she's normal and screaming because that's what parrots do, even happy ones. You should probably ignore it and that's hard, so I'd get some ear plugs for when it gets to be too much.

 

[saxguy64]

I don't have experience with baby birds, but I'm thinking it's likely a developmental thing, and she's trying to get attention. Happy, sad, hungry, whatever. Attention is most likely the goal. Perhaps try your best to ignore the screaming, and praise/treat for being quiet or making appropriate pleasant sounds. In the meantime, I feel your pain. Of my three, my ekkie is by far the loudest when he screams. It's shrill and ear splitting, and in his case, ALWAYS about attention. I have to stop and acknowledge him every single time I walk by his cage. If I forget or I'm in a rush and don't stop, SCREAM! Without fail. I then have to wait it out and go see him once he's quiet. Can't reward the screaming or it gets worse. Has anyone mentioned about parrots being perpetual toddlers? The struggle is real!

 

[chris-md]

How long have you had her? at three months, I’d put money on it being weaning related, probably weaning regression. 11 weeks is the high end of weaning age, but some can take up to 6 months to fully wean.

Effectively, she’s screaming because she’s craving comfort formula feeding. She’ll eat regular food, but at her age it’s not a hunger thing, it’s a comfort thing, like a security blanket…it’s developmental, and how they build self confidence as chicks.

This is quite common! Get her checked out to be safe, but this is almost certainly some variation of she’s not 100% weaned yet.

 

[Amna]

How long have you had her? at three months, I’d put money on it being weaning related, probably weaning regression. 11 weeks is the high end of weaning age, but some can take up to 6 months to fully wean.

Effectively, she’s screaming because she’s craving comfort formula feeding. She’ll eat regular food, but at her age it’s not a hunger thing, it’s a comfort thing, like a security blanket…it’s developmental, and how they build self confidence as chicks.

This is quite common! Get her checked out to be safe, but this is almost certainly some variation of she’s not 100% weaned yet.

I got Rudi when she was about a month old, so I’ve had her for two months now. As for the formula, I give it to her twice a day—morning and evening—but she usually only eats her morning meal and refuses the evening one. She’ll take just a little, around 2–3 ml, so she’s not very interested in the formula at night. Your explanation makes a lot of sense, especially since she’s at the age where she’s growing and discovering new things every day. This sometimes makes her feel a bit nervous or unsure. Thank you so much for your reply—it really reassured me!

 

[Amna]

I don't have experience with baby birds, but I'm thinking it's likely a developmental thing, and she's trying to get attention. Happy, sad, hungry, whatever. Attention is most likely the goal. Perhaps try your best to ignore the screaming, and praise/treat for being quiet or making appropriate pleasant sounds. In the meantime, I feel your pain. Of my three, my ekkie is by far the loudest when he screams. It's shrill and ear splitting, and in his case, ALWAYS about attention. I have to stop and acknowledge him every single time I walk by his cage. If I forget or I'm in a rush and don't stop, SCREAM! Without fail. I then have to wait it out and go see him once he's quiet. Can't reward the screaming or it gets worse. Has anyone mentioned about parrots being perpetual toddlers? The struggle is real!

Thank you for sharing your experience! It does seem like attention-seeking behavior might be part of it, especially since she’s still young and at that developmental stage. I’ll definitely try to ignore the screaming and reward calm, pleasant sounds.

The challenge for me is that she screams even when she’s on my hand or playing with me—how much more attention could she possibly want? It’s definitely like having a perpetual toddler .