IS YOUR PARROT A LITTLE EXTRA NOISY LATELY?

When you just can’t stand it anymore!

It’s Spring time and our birds are really vocalizing their exuberance. Some days it is hard to function with their decibel levels reaching into our brains and turning them into mush.  Remember that “this too shall pass.” Some days are worse than others and if you can just keep in mind that this phase won’t last forever, you’ll get through it. The main thing to remember is not to create a worse problem by responding to the screaming, calling, or squawking in a way that reinforces the behavior.  There IS such a thing as a drama reward!

Do NOT run over to the bird and yell back! Do NOT grab his favorite foods and stuff his face with goodies. Imagine the message this sends? Do NOT spray him with a squirt bottle. Any attention, even what you might consider negative attention, is better than no attention. During the Springtime, parrots tend to get loud and rambunctious as a instinctive precursor to nesting, mating, and raising young. The foods are plentiful, the rains are refreshing, and the hormones are raging. It never sounds quite as noisy out there in the wild. Well, at least you realize out there why they are so loud. The foliage is so dense and the distances are so vast that being loud helps others find you. A parrot in the wild is heard long before it is seen, and a parrot in our home is ear piercing!

Some things to try:

Try to anticipate when your parrot is going to rev up and get things going. BEFORE he gets to that point,  divert the situation.

Make it a practice to devote some time giving him instructional interaction. Ten minutes of teaching him a behavior or trick can make him aware of your position in the flock as teacher or parent. The animated praise that you lavish on him will make him feel good and may make him behave better.  Our days get busy and that ten minutes is extremely important to an intelligent and inquisitive parrot.

How about a few aerobics to tire him out? Bring him out for some flapping and flying. Hold his feet and swoop him up and down to get him to flap his wings. Or, get some exercise yourself by running through the house with him flapping his wings in joy! A tired bird is a quieter bird.

Have an enrichment box or basket available to change the daily makeup of his cage. Strips of cardboard or paper to weave in the cage bars or boxes to tear up can keep him challenged and quiet for a while. Figure out what his favorite pastime is and have the necessary items at the ready for distraction purposes.

A good drenching shower is one of the easiest methods to divert a noisy day. If you know that you will want some relative quiet, give him a shower and a few minutes of one on one attention. He will spend some time preening and getting himself together afterwards.  Avoid showering your parrot late in the day because he shouldn’t go to sleep wet.

Placing a bowl of warm cooked foods up where he normally roosts is also a classic way to distract and deter noisy behavior. This works best with “food motivated” parrots but most parrots are food motivated.  

If certain people in your home activate the noise mechanism in your bird, get them to spend a few minutes a day sitting next to the cage and talking quietly to the bird. If there is an antagonistic feeling from the person or the bird, those vibes are very strong. The bird KNOWS who is bothered by the noise and the person cannot easily hide the fact that the bird is pushing the buttons.

If the preferred person (in the bird’s opinion) comes to the rescue to quiet the bird, you’ve got trouble my friend. Everyone in the entire family has to agree on how to best resolve a noise issue. If some think they can just complain and use quick fixes (covering the bird, moving the bird, etc) they will insure that the bird gets rehomed. Those that aren’t “into the bird” only have to spend ten minutes a day (five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the afternoon or evening) to build a relationship that will help the situation for the whole family.

Noise manipulation is common. Why? Because it’s so easy to accidentally do the wrong thing and create a pattern of screaming to get the wrong kind of attention. The other reason that noise becomes a problem behavior is that people tend to have unrealistic expectations with regard to their parrot. Parrots are noisy. It takes hard work and understanding to accept a parrot and all of his wildness.

If having a second cage in another part of the house is possible, then do it. A time out cage or sleeping cage is a great way to keep a parrot in the home. Isolation can cause some separation anxiety so try not to banish the bird at the first squawk! But if you’re trying to study or you have guests...a quiet time cage is essential. After all, the goal is to keep the parrot in your home.

This second cage is perfect for giving your parrot a good night’s sleep. Having a routine of saying good night and covering the cage with a dark sheet is welcomed by most parrots. They are usually happy to go to bed at sunset and awaken at sunrise. (The cover will keep them from waking prior to your being ready for them!) A good night’s sleep, undisturbed, is a major factor in quieting a noisy bird.

Other things that have worked well in calming a noisy bird is playing some soft music. I love the CD from the Baby Genius Series called Nature’s Experience. It’s instrumental and has natural sounds such as crickets, songbirds, rain showers, etc. My flock seems to take comfort in it and I play it whenever there is something stressful going on. 

Stress can come from family members that are fed up with a parrot. Or, the changing weather, since they can feel the pressure changing when a storm moves in. Or, vibrations from minor earthquakes or construction activity in the neighborhood. Or, seeing something scary outside or on TV! Making your parrot relax and feel secure and loved will go a long way in combating noisy outbursts.

 

Return to top of Page