Manny's anxiety screaming is getting too much.

[Thingamagigs]

I would love any information or advice people can share on ending a birds anxiety based screaming & begging. My brain will thank you... it would be great to go a whole day without a headache

Info...

From the moment he knows we are awake, he begins loud long distance contact calls regardless of our proximity. Especially ear piercing when you are only a couple meters away or worse, if he is on your shoulder.

He climbs around his cage as fast as he can without regard for his safety, clambering along the front of the cage while screaming or begging... not too unusual for a bird except for the fact this behaviour NEVER stops and he ends up panting and looking obviously distressed.

His screaming intensifies if someone is walking around the house, or talking.

The only thing that stops the contact calls, is if he starts begging. He starts begging when we get close enough. The longer he begs for, the more worked up he gets to the point he starts to bite. (he is not begging for food, BTW).

Sometimes he will become distracted by a toy or food enough to cease completely for a short period, 5 - 10 minutes.

After about 5pm his screaming and begging decreases as he becomes sleepy and he begins to chat pleasantly (he is already speaking rather well). If he is woken late at night he will talk, no bird noises at all, no screaming, no begging.

He spends most of his day out of his cage on one of his play gyms, occasionally on someones shoulder or on his play mat. The entire room is bird proof.

He has a bowl of budgie seed in his cage all the time, we tried pellets but he refused them and considering his condition we will reattempt pellets at a later date. He gets fresh sprouted seed, peas, corn, carrot, brocolli, cauliflower, apple, potato three times a day. He gets scrambled eggs once a week. He gets corn on the cob, almonds or berries as a treat. He refuses anything more interesting than what I have listed lol As it is he treats apple with suspicion.

I've owned galahs before, I'm familiar with their normal behaviour. We would love to get Manny feeling more at ease and happy to just... be.

 

[Mare Miller]

It sounds like, to me, that maybe, your bird has not relaxed in it's environment. So sad to hear of his distress. How long have you had him? I know it takes time and patience, on our part, for them to acclimate.

 

[MikeyTN]

Sounds like what Java does....it can get to ya! Ever since we've moved him into the bird room and just plain ignored his screaming, he's doing A LOT better now. Still does it a bit cause he constantly wants to be the center of attention. We give him toys that he loves to play with in his cage. He is NOT trust worthy to be left out on his cage, he refuse to stay on the play stand. He's already chewed up the curtains he got ahold of and try to eat the brand new door and wood work in the room, but I stop him in his tracks. But when we're trying to do work around the house or have visitors, I have no choice but to close the door and he actually quit screaming. The door is open all day, only close it when he is out of order. As soon as we close it, he quits. At the beginning he didn't, but over time he learned that he will not get to see what we're doing and he won't get any attention if he's screaming. It's rare that I close the door, mainly when I'm on the phone he screams....

 

[Thingamagigs]

Mare, he loves his cage and his toys (especially his foraging toys and destructible vines) and isn't afraid or uncomfortable in our home. When we leave, he stops screaming completely and goes to playing quietly in his cage!! I thought he would scream his lungs out when we were gone, but as soon as he knows we are out of range, he is fine! It blew me away! He is fine in the evening as well... but absolutely beside himself in the morning and most of the day.

He is 4months old and had a traumatic beginning unfortunately. He was 'weaned' at 8 weeks and sent to a pet shop. At 10 weeks he was put on a plane in a crate with three other birds for a 5 - 10hour trip from one side of the country to the other to be resold by a lady who allowed her 2yo and 4yo children to handle the birds when they liked, all were kept in a small cage with a makeshift wire bottom, one perch and no toys. They were covered in faeces and very thin. One had bumblefoot and Manny has a sprained wing. We are waiting for his PBFD test results to come back.

Mikey, I wish we could put him in a bird room so when he is noisy we can close the door to let him know its not on. Otherwise he just keeps watching and screaming. Best we can do is put his cover over him but it has limited power because he can still hear us. I would need to buy him a smaller cage or dismantle this one to be able to fit it through the door LOL Maybe I should dismantle it and put it in the other room. Hmmm...
We are ignoring his behaviour as much as possible but there has been no improvement after three weeks. Love to know if there is anything else we can try.

 

[MikeyTN]

Before when Java was in a common area, the screaming drove me to hiding in a different part of the house cause it just does not stop. The moment we remodeled the extra bedroom into a bird room, he went in there right away. I have to dismantle the cage to move in and out of the room too, but it was well worth it now he's calming down A LOT! He is nothing like our other Cockatoo who rarely screams and she stays with us in the living room, but not Java as he stays in the bird room but he's not alone as he's got company plus we keep the radio playing for them all day.

 

[Thingamagigs]

I guess its time to dismantle his cage and make a bird room! lol
He spends most of his time on the play gym anyway, so I guess if this way he does something undesirable he can go in the bird room to make it easier to ignore.