I need help please....

[Nikegirl]

I am a owner of a Sun Conure. She is 9 years old now.I adopted her about a year ago. I know I should have done a little more research before I adopted her. Here is the problem. She is always squawking and screaming for attention. The only time she is happy is when she is being held.I cannot be holding her all the time. We have perches set up all over the house just for her so she can be in the same room as us and she still screams and squawks.She hears any kind of noises throughout the house and she does the same. She never keeps herself entertained. We have tried everything other than having her on our shoulder at all times. We have tried everything and I mean everything to keep her happy and quiet. About to the last resort of adopting her out. What can I do?

 

[Flboy]

welcome! I was there and I basically taught my bird to scream without read realizing it! It is a very slow process to untrained, because you have to on train yourself and put up with some really hard stuff no different than a toddler throwing a tantrum! They can be a horribly loud bird, I know where you're at. I really have no solutions for you at the moment but I know a lot of folks have gone through what you have gone through and it worked out well for them!

 

[wrench13]

You have several tough jobs in front of you. You have to train your bird to play with toys and 2 be quiet and only Squack for certain things. Teaching parrots play with things is easy. For your bird lots of paper towel rolls, newspaper and other things to tear up in their cage should help. If she sees you doing the same she may trying it too. For the noise only reward her when she is quiet. Rewards have to be immediate and you have to be 100% consistent. Make set play time, time for training.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Adding to the good advice given. I have a Lesser Patagonian Conure come stay with me throughout the year and he can be loud too. One thing I have found works is if I reassure him verbally with something like "hi ya", "I'm still here", "it's OK" and not go to him. He keeps asking "awright"? I answer yes I am alright, he will do this maybe six times and then will go play for a bit. Along with loads of toys and things to do hopefully he will not feel the need to constantly call you, his flock all of the time? Do you say bye bye when you go out and come say hello as soon as you come back? By doing this the will associate bye bye with a quiet home, maybe call to check for a bit but little by little will learn and hopefully be more assured and content to just be. I would introduce a routine of cage time, out time, cuddle time and bed time also.

PS Research what toys will appeal to your bird best for example the LPC loves things that make a noise or he can be rough with, so they need to be fairly substantial toys to take rough play.

 

[ZephyrFly]

Conures are very vocal social birds, and sun's are on the noisier side of the family.
The advice you've been given should help you counter this, you can also hide treats in or around his toys. He's likely calling out to know your there, occasionally calling back is good for him but if I were you I'd only call back when he's using a better lower volume.

 

[lplummer52]

I think the routine suggestion is the best one. He doesn't scream at night, right? Have you tried covering his cage dung the day? Is his cage near a window? Sometimes bright light all day is over stimulating for a bird.

I named my bird Screech because I knew there would be a lot of screeching going on. She sounds off mostly in the morning when she can hear my voice but not see me yet. Once she sees me, she paces back and forth at the cage door until I let her out. She has to wait until the dogs have had their breakfast and she seems to know that. I try never to let her out when she's screeching. She seems content as long as she can see me. If I,put her in her cage, she knows I'm leaving the house and screeches when she hears the garage door opener and knows I'm coming back. When I come in, I say, okay, okay, I hear you! Whatcha doin? which is one of the things she says. But I never let her out while she's screaming. Sometimes she just screeches when she's happy, riding around on my shoulder. Two quick screeches and then she'll start mumbling.

 

[Nikegirl]

Thanks everyone for the great advice.I really do appreciate it.I have tried the toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls and even tried to let her play with the paper towels and shred them.She was not interested. I even tried playing with them with her so many time and letting her see me play with these things and she was not interested. When I am with her at the table all she wants to do is try to get on my shoulder. She is only ever happy is when she is on my shoulder. I have so many toys in her cage and she is not interested in none of them.
As for what you guys said to where I have her in my house. Well I have had her cage in the living room and could not get her to hush when sitting and watching t.v.. We moved her to our computer room where we spend a lot of our time as well. That did not work out either. I had her cage right next to my computer so she could be right next to me and all she would do is squawk. Would not stop. So now she is in our bedroom and the only way to get her to stop is shutting the bedroom door and staying really quiet in the rest of the house so she can not hear me.
I love her so much but I am at a point to where I cannot take it anymore. As I said I am not even able to make noise in my own house without paying a price for it. I do not want to give her up and wish I could do something to get this to stop. I got her from a bird Vet and she goes there and gets her nails,beak and wings done.I have talked to her about this and she has given me some of the same advice as you guys and nothing has helped. I really do not know what to do and I am very sad too.