Green Conure screaming

[JKFnotJFK]

Three weeks ago, I brought home Freya, an 8-month old Green Cheek Conure. I've previously owned and trained cockatiels. Freya is socializing pretty well so far. She is still learning to step up on command, but loves to cuddle, eat from my hand and have her head scratched.

That said, two weeks ago my husband lost his job and has been home most of the day. He reports that she screams all day -- anytime he leaves the room, opens a squeaky closet door (bought some wd40) or clicks the mouse too quickly on the computer. The volume is beyond talking, chirping and trilling. My husband is amenable to having a bird and likes scratching her, too, but Freya is my responsibility and her primary flockmate. Outside of a couple cockatiels I briefly rescued two years, this is his first experience with a bird. When I return home, she is a little noisy at first (screams when I leave the room), but tends to calm the longer I'm home. Taking her out to play seems to decrease the frequency of screams, too, but that might just be because I cannot do that until I've settled in after work (changed and fixed dinner, usually an hour). I usually spend two to three hours in direct contact with her every night and I leave her cage door open whenever I'm home (except for when I'm cooking and the morning mad dash to work). I expect to spend more time in direct contact with her as trust builds.

My husband is at wit's end and has asked me to consider rehoming her if I can't resolve the screaming. Understandably, this is a tough time to have a bird in training. I've tried to give him pointers and explainers on bird behavior (birds do not respond to negative reinforcement like dogs, covering the cage is only a temporary solution that can feed bad habits that are difficult to untrain, etc.). The louder she gets, the less interested he becomes in playing with her at all. I'm going to try waking up early each morning to play with her for an hour before work to see if that helps. I'm not a morning person at all and she has not had any sunrise noises -- just abandonment fears.

Any other suggestions and pointers are greatly appreciated.

 

[ShellyBorg]

If he is the one home, he needs to deal with it. You can not do anything when you're not there. Is he willing to set up a playpen near where he is working? There is a good chance she is lonely and feels like she is not part of the flock if he is home and does not pay any attention to her. Or even just bring her cage into the room where he is sitting may help.

 

[Kalidasa]

Since he's home have you thought of just leaving the bird out? He'll definately find more to do, and would probably rather happily follow him around.

 

[MissTaz]

I have the same situation at my house so I understand. Rory is a perfect little quite chatter box when I am home. But when my Hubby is home and I'm not. He deals with the same thing. He will not take Rory out of his cage when I'm not there so Rory is super loud and talks and makes a lot of noise and does a half scream. I told him if he takes me out he will quite down but he wont, fortunately my hubby would never mention re-homing him because he knows that would just cause a divorce. Pets are a life long commitment to me and I would leave him before I would abandon any of them and he know that.(lol) Have you tried turning on a TV or radio in the room he is in so he can focus on that noise and not everything else, I have heard that helps in some cases. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[faeryphoebe1]

^ I'm in the same boat as MissTaz. My GCC and Sun sometimes scream when I'm at work because when my husband is home; he & the kids won't take them out. And, of course, the birds like to come out for several hours daily.
Sometimes it drives him crazy because he will be trying to watch tv and Trixie will do "crow" calls for a couple of hours while Sunny screeches. The birds also "call out" when they hear my car pull up the driveway at 3am, after work.

But he knows that there is no re-homing. If hubby were to bring that up, then he would be the one being re-homed, lol. He knows that I adore these silly birds and that they're family.

 

[JKFnotJFK]

Thanks everyone. It's good to know I'm not alone in this challenge (or maybe that sucks that there are so many of us). I love my husband, too, so I'm praying these two can learn to live together.

For now, he's not willing to let her out of the cage and I respect that since she's still in training and it takes extreme patience at times. She's clipped (the pet store went too far), so she cannot fly (more like whirring hops), which complicates letting her out.

I'll recommend the radio/background noise suggestion, but it probably won't help with what he describes as the key issue: leaving the room. Her cage is centrally located so she can see everything in our apartment except the kitchen (behind her cage/wall), bedroom closet and kitchen.

Tips on calming methods? Particularly interesting toys? Timing of treats to reward quiet and appropriate chirps that I can recommend to him?

Thanks again!

 

[JKFnotJFK]

Good news! Freya's back to her well mannered self! When I cleaned her cage, I noticed A LOT of pellets in the tray. I had switched her off a just seed mix diet because she would only eat a couple things. Well, she was throwing her new pellet food out if the dish and not eating! No wonder she was grumpy. I gave her some seed mix and she devoured it (even ones she used to hate). Her behavior is 1000x better.

 

[SoCalWendy]

Good news! Freya's back to her well mannered self! When I cleaned her cage, I noticed A LOT of pellets in the tray. I had switched her off a just seed mix diet because she would only eat a couple things. Well, she was throwing her new pellet food out if the dish and not eating! No wonder she was grumpy. I gave her some seed mix and she devoured it (even ones she used to hate). Her behavior is 1000x better.

That's good to hear. My Sennie is very vocal on some days and others she isn't. But when I leave the room, she always calls out to me. And she will say "what are you doing?" Of course I always answer her. lol

Do you ever feed her fruits and vegetables along with her pellets and seeds?

 

[Echo]

Good news! Freya's back to her well mannered self! When I cleaned her cage, I noticed A LOT of pellets in the tray. I had switched her off a just seed mix diet because she would only eat a couple things. Well, she was throwing her new pellet food out if the dish and not eating! No wonder she was grumpy. I gave her some seed mix and she devoured it (even ones she used to hate). Her behavior is 1000x better.

Starving birds are not happy campers. They can also take a turn for the worse really fast with no steady food. When switching food, it is very important to make sure they are eating, hence keeping feeding food you know they like along with the new food...

I'm glad you figured the problem out!

 

[Echo]

^ I'm in the same boat as MissTaz. My GCC and Sun sometimes scream when I'm at work because when my husband is home; he & the kids won't take them out. And, of course, the birds like to come out for several hours daily.

When my babies go home to their new family, I stress the fact that the bird has to learn that you or anyone being home doesn't mean that the bird is coming out of the cage. The thing is, most people will have their bird out every time they are home, the longer the better. While you do want to have the bird out to socialize and play, it should be on your terms to prevent them from feeling cheated when they can see you and HELLO??? they are still locked in the cage!
I recommend to let them out, then give a treat in the cage with door closed, then out again, then back in while you go to another room for a bit then in and out again.....

I do that still with mine when I'm home. So if I need them in their cage because of company visiting, or I'm cooking, or whatever, they are just fine in their cage. I can also be in another room and not have them having a meltdown...

 

[Birdman666]

Conures tend to be "line of sight" screamers. i.e. if you are outside my line of sight I will call to you to maintain contact with my flock mates.

If there is something that makes me nervous, I will WARN YOU of the danger... (i.e. the mouse.) Show him the scary thing, and get him used to it, and he won't be afraid of it anymore, therefore, he won't scream at it...

So, I think that is some of the dynamic here. This bird is young, and alone, and still adjusting to his new surroundings.