Spoiled birb due to working at home...

[Alehner529]

Hi yall. I have a 4 year old sun conure, who I absolutely adore. That being said, I have been working at home more and more often due to covid. As a result she is getting very used to being out with me more and more often. But the days where I am gone, or if we go somehwere on the weekend, when she is out sometimes she is a screaming terror. If we ignore the screaming, she will scream louder and louder until you can't hear other people talking (or hear yourself think). We give her time outs in her cage when this happens, which helps sometimes. Sometimes she just screams through the cage so i can't let her out again until she is quiet. Any suggestions? I know ignoring is best solution but sometimes that is really difficult....

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[noodles123]

You have to ignore...no shortcuts. The other thing is to tell her where you are going etc (talk to her BEFORE she talks to you)...This can preempt some screaming. Invest in earplugs...NOT the foam kind! Macke's silicone are pretty good. When screaming starts, start counting in your head (1 Mississippi, 2 etc). Decide ahead of time whether your threshold will be 10 or 15 seconds of silence...If the squawking resumes, you go back to 1. DO NOT look at, talk to or acknowledge the bird at all until 10-15 seconds of silence (again-- DO NOT even look at the bird, and DO NOT talk about him/her). The second your count is successful, come in and praise etc (say, "thanks for getting quiet" using a quiet voice yourself.. It is imperative that you remove your phone, keys etc from the screaming room AHEAD OF TIME (because if you have to come back in to get something, that will be seen as an acknowledgement).

EVERYONE MUST BE ON-BOARD OR THIS WILL NOT WORK. It takes one person to slip up, and you have become a behavioral slot machine. It will get louder before it gets better, but if you stick with it, it will work.

 

[SailBoat]

There are two very different approaches to solving this dilemma. And, there are more than one underling issue here...

The vast majority of Parrots enjoy consistency in their life. When Humans change their schedule, problems with their Parrots quickly show-up. With a very large number of people home because of this monster virus, as they return to a more normal workday having to 'go to work' problems develop as our parrots have become use to us being home near all the time.

Building in daily schedule by leaving the home at near the time you historically leave to go to work and/or out and about. All the normal goodbyes, I'll be back at, bye for now, etc.. Now go somewhere, like a walk, etc... Arrive home and greet your Parrot with your normal arrival words. Hi, I'm home, missed you, love you, etc, etc... Develop a separate weekend schedule. Your Parrot will pick-up on the change and build it into the weeks schedule.

Contact Calls: The vast majority of problems occur because we Humans are so very poor at keeping in touch during the day when we are home... Parrots keep in touch with each other all day long! So, start talking to your Parrot when you get up in the morning, where you are, where you are going and what you are doing. And if you are going out when you will be back.

Remember: It is never the fault of the Parrot! It is always the fault of the Human. When you change to this vantage point, you will more quickly be able to see what you are doing wrong, change it and find that life with a Parrot is much easier.