Screeching too much - Help!

[Scotty T]

I hope someone can help me....

My baby is now 5 months old sun conure, he's really discovered his voice.

I work from home so I let him out of his cage. He's flighted and has a good time, he comes to me, goes to his cage. So there's no lack of attention.

He screeches all the time now. Even quite a bit out of the cage. It's like he's ADHD. My ear is ringing right now because he flys on my shoulder and screeches in it.

I understand some of this but it's now getting 24x7 unless it's pitch black and we are all sleeping. Before I can take the cover off his cage in the morning he's screeching because he can hear us in the back bedrooms.

I've resorted to putting his cage in the back room because it's just too much.

I've been a bird owner and lover for well over 30 years and have never heard this much screeching in all my life. Sometimes you can hear his voice go hoarse cause you can tell he's trying to up the level noise.

What should I do?

 

[IcyWolf]

I know this isn't very helpful but, sun conures are loud, VERY loud. Every sun I have every known was super noisey all of the time, I'm not even sure that you can get them to be quiet

 

[andrea.faerie]

Once again, not very helpful but... Welcome to the wonderful world of conure parronthood! perhaps do what my boyfriend does, point the remote at it and press mute... it actually worked on Lucy today lol Just encourage an "inside" voice talk quietly around the bird, no loud music or tv and ignore (meaning walk away) from the screeching. when he quiets down, then reward for good behavior

 

[Customcasket]

My sun is extremely loud too. If he gets too bad and I can't tolerate it anymore I walk away and close the door to the bedroom. He eventually quiets down and the next time I come in he is better behaved and is slowly learning that screaming does not equal attention. Momma doesn't play that game!

 

[Remy]

I give Puck time-outs in his covered travel cage when he's driving me crazy with his noise. I put him in the cage, and cover it until he's quiet. He's also pretty loud when he needs to be fed.

I also tell him "sssshhhhhh" when he's being loud, and he'll often do his own version of "ssssshhhhhh".

Good luck!

 

[brighteyes]

Omg ,
Wishing l had not read this post ! Only had my baby a few weeks sounds like they are all loud , looks like l may get devoiced .
Does any think two of the same sex may help ?
Well come what may lol.
cheers.

 

[Amber]

I have a Jenday (Sun/Jenday are subspecies of the same species), and believe me, I know the noise you mean!

Alex has been taught from an early age that excess noise is a no. Occasional screeching is ok, I expect it. During the middle of the day I let him go hog wild for an hour or so when it's only me home. I'd rather he gets it out of his system then then later when people are trying to study! I live in a dorm/house and share with 4 others so we have to be courteous to them.

When Alex is overly loud for too long at inappropriate times (Im aware we have some mixed messages happening, sometimes he can screech, sometimes he can't, but he seems to realise that only certain times are appropriate so hopefully he is not too confised) I will clap once loudly. It startles him (but doesn't scare him) and stops him. He associates it with and knows it means "You are being too loud, stop". I use the same signal when he is chewing on things he shouldn't! It is our non verbal no.

If he continues after the signal, I know he is too wound up to listen and that I need to calm him down. To do this I half cover his cage. The semi dark seems to help him to control himself and reduce his excitement to a manageable level. My boy tends to scream when he gets so excited he can no longer contain himself, and it's no use yelling or screaming or doing such things to a parrot. He needs an opportunity to calm himself, some quiet and a little dark, much like an overexcited child does. And once he is calm he needs to be "praised" (and not in a way that will over excite him again!) So he knows he has done well. I say "good boy" and give him a food treat, not a toy treat as he may still be a bit worked up and you can see how his excitement at the toy could take us back to square one. After he is calm I usually spend some quiet time with him, reading or working while playing with him.

Don't punish an overexcited bird by locking them away in the dark, sure it may help shut them up, but it doesn't give them the opportunity to learn how to calm themselves and to control their vocalisations, so it will keep happening. It only benefits you temporarily. Teaching the bird ways to manage it's behaviour benefits you both over your entire lives together. Think of them as overloud children! You wouldn't lock a loud child away, you would give them an opportunity to calm down and (try) to teach them to use an indoor voice first, before punishing them with a time out.

Your bird probably doesn't make the association between loud = time out anyway as the cause and effect have to be pretty much instant for a bird to realise their is a correlation. By the time you move them to the quiet room, they've already moved their birdy minds onto something else and don't realise that the previous noise is WHY they are being moved. In fact, if your little guy reaches out to play or something just as you put him in the room, he is much more likely to think that is the reason he was left there alone. It's really sad.

Try the half dark cage idea, see if you can teach him how to quiet himself. make sure he learns that being quiet is good and means he gets LOTS of play time and nice foods. Bribe him with some sunflower if you really need to!

 

[Amber]

Also make sure not to reward screeching. If you even walk to the cage when he screeches, he's getting the attention he wants, even it your only going to him to move him or tell him to shut up!

 

[sabrecat666]

With Guido I have gotten to the point where when he starts screeching I just have to ignore him, usually by just not looking at him or looking at the floor and he quiets quickly. There are times however when I just let it go. When I get home from work, or when my daughter brings her 'tiels up from her room. I think he is just saying hello. In any case he quiets quickly w/o any intervention from me when those situations arise.

I may be lucky though in that the 'tiels are REALLY tame and quiet. Guido doesnt say anythign yet, but I have heard him imitating the 'tiels. If he did that on a regular basis ( chirp hello at me rather then screech it ) I would be an ecstatically happy conure owner