macaws and apartments (help please)

[cryingrealhard]

i've heard macaws before, at pet stores, at the zoo, at a friends house. i heard them do the loud high pitch quick call. i thought thats what people meant when they say macaws are loud. it is loud, but i didnt think it was too bad. aparantly macaws have another sound with is a low piched EAR DRUM BLOWING. had never heard this one before. i'm expecting a 30 day notice within the next 48 hours. i have no idea why he is screaming like that. he does it when im paying attention to him, when i'm not, wether he's hungry or not, and he seems ok on toys and he has a good diet which includes alot of fruits and veggies a small amount of shelled almonds and walnuts and those expensive biscuit pellet things. why is he screaming he does it at all hours of the day. what should i do?
if anyone googles macaw/apartment and you're reading this, don't get a macaw if you live in apartment it doesnt seem doableat all. ive had him a week and i know for sure im going to get kicked out of here any second. that scream/yell is louder than anything i have ever heard in my whole intire life and the sheer pitch of it is mind shattering

 

[Safira]

Macaws are loud. There can be many reasons for him screaming. You could be reinforcing it without even knowing it.

Macaws and Cockatoos ARE NOT FOR APARTMENTS. Period, end of story, NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVEVER. Unless you have had your bird for YEARS and know it never makes any loud (and I mean loud) noise. If you have a bird like this in close quarters, expect to get complaints.

I would need to know more on your bird. The birds diet, its routine.. When you give it attention and what you do when he screams, in order to help you. The good thing about birds is they usually scream during the day, so you don't have to worry about midnight screeching, but you can train your bird to do a different contact call (SOME OF THE TIME) instead of its scream.

so... 1) When does he scream? 2) What do you do when he does? 3) How often is he out?) 4) What is his diet? 5) what does his cage look like?

Expect a macaw to scream a few times a day at the least.. Even just their regular protest sound is loud.

 

[Safira]

and it sounds like you're talking about their loud whistle that just makes your ears bleed. I am soooo glad my Macaw hasn't learned this YET. I know she will eventually.

 

[MikeyTN]

Those postings and what I said before was not a joke. They can be very loud!!!! Most of the time he's rather quiet but when he get the kick he'll scream like no tomorrow...

 

[Enjru]

Read my posts on Chilli. Yeah, macaws are L---O---U---D !! How long does your macaw scream for, before taking a break that lasts longer than 5 seconds? At her worst, Chilli used to keep going for 2 hours!!

If you want to keep your macaw, you really need to own your own house with full double-brick, concrete or stone wall construction, in a low density housing neighbourhood. Rural land acreage would be even better.

 

[luvmytooo]

i've heard macaws before, at pet stores, at the zoo, at a friends house. i heard them do the loud high pitch quick call. i thought thats what people meant when they say macaws are loud. it is loud, but i didnt think it was too bad. aparantly macaws have another sound with is a low piched EAR DRUM BLOWING. had never heard this one before. i'm expecting a 30 day notice within the next 48 hours. i have no idea why he is screaming like that. he does it when im paying attention to him, when i'm not, wether he's hungry or not, and he seems ok on toys and he has a good diet which includes alot of fruits and veggies a small amount of shelled almonds and walnuts and those expensive biscuit pellet things. why is he screaming he does it at all hours of the day. what should i do?
if anyone googles macaw/apartment and you're reading this, don't get a macaw if you live in apartment it doesnt seem doableat all. ive had him a week and i know for sure im going to get kicked out of here any second. that scream/yell is louder than anything i have ever heard in my whole intire life and the sheer pitch of it is mind shattering

I think you should start looking for a place that will accept your macaw. It will be inevitable you will be evicted , so why wait and have to rehome your bird. That would be very sad for the both of you.
Good luck.

 

[roxynoodle]

In the country, if it is flat like here, sound carries. I can hear my conure at some of my neighbor's houses. But, I can be in my driveway, changing oil or something quiet and hear my neighbor's (1/4 mile away) conversations as if they were standing 10 feet behind me if it's not windy out, lol! Even here in a rural area, I know you would hear a macaw.

Let's just say I know some things about them that they likely didn't intend for me to know!

 

[Mike]

Don't know the layout of your apartment, but here's a few things to try:
1. Let your bird spend most of its daylight hours outside the cage, either climbing around on the cage, or on a separate playground.
2. At night cover your bird's cage and don't uncover it for 12 hours. Best if the cage can be in a room you don't use during the evenings. Not critical that the room be completely unused, though. I watch television during the evening in my bird's cage room.
3. When your bird starts screaming, stand up, leave the room, and close the door. Do not respond in any way to the screaming.
4. When there is a break of, let's say 30 seconds, in the screaming, immediately re-enter the room and reward your bird by speaking softly and giving the bird a favorite treat.
5. Begin training your bird to say something. Pick something you won't mind hearing a hundred times a day. For my GW the word is "Hello." There are plenty of videos and web sites to show you how to train simple behavior.
6. That word or phrase will become your bird's contact call. You must always respond to that word and never respond to the screaming. The bird will gradually replace the screaming with that contact call. I return my bird's contact call from wherever I am in the house when I hear her say it.
7. Study the location of your bird's cage. Could there be something scaring the bird--something like the flash of lights from a passing car, children or animals playing outside the window, sudden loud noises. You might have to put up a translucent window covering to fog the outside image.
8. Oh, and yes, do start looking for a rental property where you do not have neighbors a 2X4 and two sheets of drywall away.

 

[roxynoodle]

I retrained my conure's contact call to "Hey hey!" And yes, I always answer it so she doesn't scream. So 100x a day we might be calling that back and forth, but it's much nicer to hear. Not saying that's the right one for you, but it was for her. I heard her saying "Hey" and it actually sounded something like her call. But, she can't say it anywhere near as loudly, and it sounds pleasant in comparison.

 

[cryingrealhard]

nah, its a yell/scream almost like a human yelling at the very top of the lungs but much much louder

and it sounds like you're talking about their loud whistle that just makes your ears bleed. I am soooo glad my Macaw hasn't learned this YET. I know she will eventually.

 

[cryingrealhard]

i let him out after having him 4 days for the first time, and he walked around and tried to eat everything including my dishwasher so i put him back in his cage. i think he just wants out. i need to get him a play stand asap. hopefully that will calm him down.
he was previously abused so i don't know if he's doing it because of that or not.
i cover him when he does it because he stops when i do. but then he does it again within 10-20 min so i cover him again for 5 min i spend all day covering and uncovering him. my boyfriend says he doesnt do it when im not here but i dont want to hold him if thats what he wants because all of this screaming and hollaring from him has got me horrified of him. i have a few thousand dollars in the bank im saving as a down payment for a house but i wont have enough and my credit wont be in the right shape until march next year. how long will it take them to get me kicked out? if i rent another house the same thing will happen. i have to buy a house with not so near neighbors. this is insane. out of all my bird knowledge i should have f*****ing knew better

 

[suebee]

if i rent another house the same thing will happen. i have to buy a house with not so near neighbors. this is insane. out of all my bird knowledge i should have f*****ing knew better
lmao sorry i know this is not funny, but i am the one looking in, and hand on heart i can say i have done things, even training an knowledge aside, thought wtf?? am i doing, gonna do now

for now you need to go an make peace with your neighbours, and with some luck they'd have been at work etc an i hate other ppls noise, but if its during normal daytime hours i am alot more forgiving, and if one was to come up an say sorry for my noise etc i'd be happy with that,
(unless it was after 11pm and before 7am lol)

either way good luck, and may i take this oppertunity to boost (i can't spell) but my nut is a fairly quiet bird, her only good thing lol

 

[Mayden]

I agree with Suebee, go around and try and speak to them and apologize for the noise and let them know that you're trying to resolve it asap.

It's one of those "I told you so" kinda scenarios, if anyone gets a macaw/cockatoo they should research and almost immediately a red light should come up saying they are not for the fainthearted or apartment dwellers. I put off getting a b+g because I was living in a terraced house and knew it wouldn't be fair on my neighbors. But I guess you've learnt your lesson and now it'll be a case of working with what you've got.

Is there not the option of moving away to somewhere that is rented, but doesn't join with another house? Here in england we can rent detached houses and don't need to buy them, they are more expensive usually though.

Good luck with it all, I'd hate for you to have to rehome him, but especially if you're not confident handling him. He needs time out to be socialized etc, otherwise he is going to scream the house down. If he goes to chew something you don't want him chewing, distract him with a toy.

 

[roxynoodle]

Yes, I think you have to tell him, "Don't!" when he does something inappropriate, but give him something that is appropriate. Macaws need to chew A LOT. Dishwashers are fair game in their minds. As are furniture, TVs, computers, etc. You don't have to spend a lot on stuff for them to chew, 2x4s will do, but know you will have a pile of wood shavings to clean up afterward. I do from my Grey and amazon and they don't chew anywhere near as much as macaws do.

The more stuff he has to entertain him though, the quieter he will probably be.

Yes, you might look to rent a rural house.

 

[JJones1719]

I have a 3 year old GW Macaw and he is very quiet, I have never received a complaint from my neighbors. You find out why they feel the need to scream and make the changes. Covering the Macaw at 5 min for when they scream seems to stop the screaming, when you remove the cover and your macaw say what a good boy or girl they are and reward them for being quiet. You also may want to try whispering to your macaw, My Macaw know to whisper when I leave the room instead of yelling for me, i always come to him when he whispers. Best of luck Joe

 

[Enjru]

I haven't read any of your previous posts, but it looks like you have 2 other parrots, right? Just be aware that it will be very likely, that those 2 other parrots will eventually pick up this macaw's screaming as well. Then, it is very likely that all 3 of them will set each other off. So, even if the macaw suddenly decided to shut up, one or both of the other parrots might go, "SQUAWK! SQUAWK! SQUAWK!", until the macaw gets screaming again.

So, if you are going to re-home this macaw, do it ASAP before your other parrots pick up the screaming habit.

Otherwise, there ARE strategies to help reduce the screaming, but it is going to take a LOT of effort and work.

Nevertheless, it CAN be done. Chilli's screaming is now down to maybe 5 minutes or less, and sometimes she even forgets to scream, if I remember to use ALL the behavioral techniques at my disposal to prevent the screaming. Your macaw has different issues to Chilli, but you should have hope that it CAN be done.

If you really want to persist with keeping this macaw, you can PM me and we'll get serious about working out some applied behavioral science strategies. Otherwise, you might want to join Susan Friedman's PBAS group while on the waiting list for her LLP course.

 

[mandolynn]

We had a Severe in an apartment, but my dad was the manager, and she is super super loud, but large macaws are worse. I know the yell you are talking about, ive worked around up 5 macaws doing it for hours. Is he an adoption? This is learner behavior but can bemostly trained away. Bit, no matter how much you train them, macaws still can be loud. I know now you understand you should have done more research and made sure your apartment would allow any bird, let alone a macaw, but its situations like yours that cause pets to be homeless or passed around their whole lives. Getting any pet is a big decision which should be researched and thought about seriously before even deciding.

 

[luvmytooo]

I am sorry for the trouble you are going through hon. If you can make peace with all your other tenants , that would be great. Let them knowyou are working on training him and hopefully will have the situation under control. But lets face it , its going to take some time for this and you may get on the wrong side of some people who arent willing to wait. That is why I said in the beginning to find another place.
I cant understand why you would have to buy a place when you can rent one that is hopefully with added space. No one can throw you out if you are paying rent timely and otherwise a good neighbor. I doubt people who live in the town will complain ,they may wonder , but I doubt complain. Yes , they will hear your macaw , but I can also hear neighbors dogs and they can hear mine , but no one complains.
I have a kennel with over 8 acres , and I back up to a block of homes. No one complains and I have the two Cockatoos as well. If you find a place to rent with a little space in between the nest home , and the landlord gives you his blessing to have the macaw , so be it . I wouldnt worry about every Tom Dick and Harry down the road. You think they do that when they drunk fests with motorcycles or cars revving their engines at all times of the night ( my lfirst home ).
You can hear some kids screaming all day , no one worries about the neighbors....
Just my two cents...

 

[roxynoodle]

I have one that blows off dynamite all the time. It scares the crap out of me, the birds and the horses. So I don't think anyone can complain about anything I do.

 

[Molcan2]

That is all really good advice from everyone and would most definitely try all of that (except when I apologized in advanced to one of my neighbors his response was 'oh like we don't already have enough noise coming from the birds over there' he was referring to two budgies :11:, I don't even consider that to be noise).

Does he scream when he is out of his cage as well? He may just be bored and looking for something to do, if he is getting into stuff hes not supposed too when hes out then he needs appropriate destructive toys. These bigger parrots need to have something to to do to keep them busy. I like to equate them to a two year old child, always busy and never wanting to sit still (and always in need of constant supervision). Also it takes some parrots longer to adjust than others and you haven't had him for very long, I always expect the first year to be like that with a re-home (he just had a major life change, even if his last home wasn't a good one it was one that he knew what to expect in, with some comfort).

One thing that makes me nervous is that you said that you are already intimidated by him. You CANNOT start your new relationship with him this way. He will be able to sense that you are uneasy around him - this will lead to some major problems (yes there is worse than screaming). I'm not saying to give up on him (I hate to see anyone give up on a bird) but if you do keep him I would consult a behaviorist ASAP. Otherwise if your intimidated by him then I would consider re-homing him to someone with more experience with this type of bird.