Help/Rehome/Solutions

[LittleBee]

I have an African Grey I dearly love and have had him for over 15 years. He is loving most of the time but does occasionally decide to reverse his loviness for biting. He can be fickle. He is happy, healthy and of course very loud when he wants to be. His favorite thing to do is imitate the microwave in a beeping fashion to the loudest degree possible. He will talk very rarely, beeping is his thing. Unfortunately, my son is a two time cancer survivor and after having massive doses of chemo and radiation it has left him hard of hearing. He needs to wear his hearing aids but cannot due to the shrill sound of the parrot. I have looked into glass or acrylic cages in the hopes that might dampen the noise but I'm worried about proper ventilation and his disposition once I change his cage out. Lucah DOES NOT like new things, barely accepts new toys. I'm at odds whether to rehome him. As much as I would dislike to part with him my son needs to come first and is now constantly yelling at the bird to be quiet. Its a tough situation. Any advice would be helpful.
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[Scott]

Welcome to you and Lucah, glad your son continues to survive cancer.

Greys can be temperamentally stubborn and you'll find transition to a clear cage problematic. I had one for an Ekkie years ago - difficult to keep clean, poor air circulation, though they can mitigate noise. Teaching a bird to maintain an "inside voice" next to impossible. You might place Lucah inside a sound-proofed room, but his quality of life and familial bond might suffer.

Perhaps creative brainstorming will yield a solution short of re-homing? If not, this is sadly the most understandable of cases for parting ways. The best and final honor you can grant Lucah is working diligently to find a superb, loving new home.

 

[1oldparroter]

First Hi and sorry to hear your multiple problem. Secondly you are aware of people types who will agree to re-home your bird but turn right around and sell it. There seem's to be a preference (by some here) of a steep re-homing fee for your side of things. The main thing is the bird AND childs' health and welfare. "IF" you become serious about the re-home part, consider how much and what all it will include. Mention your location (by city and state) and to be contacted a person would have to send a request thru a Moderator, as you haven't posted at least 20 times yet. Talk to the person on the phone and in person, if possible. Don't be bullied or conned; after you give the bird up, its done. The people on this forum certainly don't mind typing their responses to you and we would all hope you could work this out, without a loss. jh Moderators names are in blueish purple letters, there are different levels and they will pass on a "proper request". jh

 

[Laurasea]

Welcome to the forum.
When you have health issues , or some medication, can very much make you more sensitive to disturbance. When yiu are low and yucky there is only So much you can tolerate.

Now for your parrot. There is probably room for improvement?
I say this because when I hear afraid of new stuff and loud issues......it usually means spending to much time in the cage, not enough social time.
and need teaching of foraging, and easy to shred stuff. Probably need more veggies and variety.

My advice is always a whole parrot and environment and food approach.

This has worked for me with several parrots I've taken on who has excessive noise, including medical foster parrots who came to me with behavioral issues as well.

Increasing time out of cage, Increasing interactions, teaching foraging, and providing tons of different veggies , sprouts, legume, quinoa, , basically everything on the parrot safe food list. And securing tge cage and rolling it outside in shade snd stay with the bird, all of that drops screaming and behavioral issues by 90% it can work right away or take a couple of months.

There is great teaching your burd to forage on Burd Tricks youtube videos, tgey also have some on target training.

Pattering to music, rituals, praise when quiet, teaching more desirable sounds or phrases, and breaking the habit make up the rest. This is a nice article
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

The information above and more i can provide can help guide you to a better place with your parrot. A big part of that is not writing off your bird as the way things are they will always be. They can really learn to enjoy new things, have their curiosity about their environment re awoken , increased interactions with environment. Take time to do honest reflection and observations.

I also fully support find a new home, if that's what you decide is best. Many times it can be the best thing for the bird and you.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome! I have no suggestions, but wish you strength in your journey!
Unfortunately, the frequency response curve of the hearing aids really do make the noises unbearable! Whenever our father-in-law came to visit, he had to remove his aids!
Anyone who is on a zoom call, just watch the faces of everybody when your fid stretches his volume!

 

[noodles123]

I haven't read this whole thing, but "yelling at " your bird to get quiet is VERY bad. That is a reaction...so 99.9% in bonded, screaming parrots, you will make this behavior worse by reinforcing it with attention (as your bird is clearly bonded with you after so many years). My younger sister also has serious cancer and it is common in my family,but you are likely a major contributor in this behavior. I do not envy what you are dealing with now and I am sorry you are basically going through a living hell while trying to manage kids, parrots etc. That having been said, try to keep in mind that they didn't choose captivity.

 

[HeatherG]

Wow. Sounds familiar. When I found I had lots of hearing loss and got hearing aids, i was amazed to find that “Lucy really IS loud.”

My solution was that I don’t wear the hearing aids at home much. Jasper’s whistles about kill me whenever I have a migraine anyhow.

I have no idea if that would be an option. I have high frequency hearing loss and live with my birds. The hearing aids wouldn’t be very helpful unless I’m out and about anyhow.