yellow naped amazon parrots - How do I stop loud squawking when my bird wants attention?

Question

My yellow nape is 13 years old and very spoiled. I have had her since she was a baby. She is now exhibiting loud yelling when I am not in the room. I have hit the rope with a paper to try and stop her and she squawks again soon as I start to walk away. I can't leave the room without this happening. She also sits up on her rope and moves her wings as she does it. She has ample toys and is out all day on her perches and her rope and bells near the ceiling. We have a routine evry morning. I get her out of the cage and love her and talk to her, then we go to the kitchen where she watches me fix her piece of toast and her half an apple. Then I love her some more and put her on top of the cage for breakfast. This never varies. I sit near and read the paper and she is fine. Then when I go up stairs to dress or clean my bedroom she starts the squawking!! It is getting worse and I am frustrated with her. HELP!!!!

Answer 1

Amazons are demanding. She thinks that you are there to serve her needs. You need to reassert yourself as the boss. Don't always give into what she wants and encourage good behavior. Make sure to go our of your way when she is being good to praise her. When she is squawking, first try giving her an evil glare and then turn your back to her. If she continues, leave the room until she quits. If that does not work, when she is out of her cage and screams immediately grab her and put her back into the cage. It is important that you grab her and put her in, not allow her to get up on your arm. Otherwise, she will see her trip back into the cage as her choice and not your choice. If she is extremely loud or doesn't quit when you put her in the cage, put a blanket or sheet over the cage and she will quiet down. A lot of so-called "experts" will tell you that negative reinforcement doesn't work because they don't understand cause and effect. Obviously, that is false, because if they didn't understand cause and effect, then positive reinforcement would not work either. It is true that it is better to encourage good behavior than it is to discourage bad behavior, but in some cases like this you have to use both. The key is consistency and immediacy. Just like she figures out that saying "Hello" gets her praise, she'll figure out that "Sqqquawk!!" gets her put back in her cage as long as you make the consequence immediate. If you let time pass, she will forget what she is being praised or punished for. It is also important to note, that you will never make a bird stop squawking for good. Just like a dog is going to sometimes bark, a bird is going to sometimes squawk. The key is to not allow the squawking to be a cry for attention.

Another important note. If her environment is very loud, none of this will work. Her volume will always increase to meet the environment. So, if she's screaming because your playing the stereo loud, you pretty much have to live with it.

Answer 2

Yellow Naped Amazon Parrot

Answer 3

My yellow nape just turned 17 in May. Years ago she stayed with a friend of mine while I was on vacation. My friend had 2 teenage daughter - 17 and 18 years old. My parrot, Monica, picked up yelling "MOM" - sometimes I think she yells because it feels good. She does it whether she can see me or not - it's driving me insane because I'm in an apartment and she's so loud. I've tried everything - yelling back, talking softly, calling from the other room, covering the cage - you name it! She has a lot of freedom - she's out of the cage whenever I'm home and she climbs down from her cage and walks all around the apartment - a lot of the time she's hunting me down. If anyone has any suggestions, please, please let me know!

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

I've been there. You are rewarding her screaming by staying. It will be hard, but completely ignore the behavior. When she quiets down, then go back in and tell her how good she is being and give her a treat.

It will take a while, but as long as you are consistant, you will break her of this bad habit.

Here is a great article from Bird Talk Magazine about it:

Training A Bird Not To Scream
Stop The Squawk
Discover the 11 Dos (and a few Don’ts) of training parrots not to scream
By Elise Kaplan


Do: Expect a fair amount of noise on a regular basis. Certain species are definitely louder than others. Amazons, cockatoos and Aratinga conures, such as suns or jendays, are known to blast eardrums just to express the sheer joy of being alive. Budgies chatter and cockatiels whistle. Even my Pionus, Ariel, is capable of quite respectable volume.

Do: Make sure that your pet bird is safe and well. If you hear a call that sounds different — that sounds like an alarm call — it’s better to be safe than sorry and make sure your bird is OK. Of course, some birds have a way of making that alarm call if, for example, “somebody” has loaded their water dish with soggy pellets or eaten the last grape. By being observant and noting the types of calls your bird makes on different occasions, you will know when your bird really needs you.

Do: Make sure your bird knows how to play on its own. It seems odd, but many birds are not born knowing how to play with toys. They can learn on their own, in time, or by watching other birds play. You also can let your bird watch you enjoy a toy to give it an idea of how much fun it can be. If your pet has a variety of entertaining toys that you rotate frequently, it will have less time to fret about missing you.

Do: Greet your bird when you come home. Chances are, it has been waiting for you while you were out and is eager to see you. If you wander off to read your mail or start preparing dinner without taking a moment to say “hello,” your bird is likely to react with righteous indignation. Establish a routine of greeting your bird, even briefly, soon after you walk in the door.

Do: Take your bird with you when you can. It might not always be practical or safe to have your bird with you; for example, a kitchen with a lit stove isn’t the safest place for your bird to spend its time. On the other hand, you can avoid a lot of problem screaming by keeping a perch for your bird to use in other rooms, even if you are just folding laundry or reading a book. After all, isn’t it flattering that your bird demands your company so enthusiastically?

Do: Call to your bird frequently when you are around the house. If you can get in the habit of calling to your bird before it thinks to call you, you can nip in the bud a lot of problem screaming.

Do: Establish an acceptable contact call. If your bird talks, you can encourage it to call “Hello” or “Whatcha doin’” rather than shake the windows with a scream. Birds that aren’t big talkers also can be taught to use more acceptable sounds to communicate. For example, Ariel is fond of a certain lip-smacking kiss sound, and many birds can produce a good wolf whistle. Call to your bird frequently with the preferred contact call, and it is likely to start using it as well.

Do: Reward use of the contact call. Respond to the more acceptable contact call by returning the call, answering in your own words or poking your head briefly into the bird’s room if you can. Be consistent and generous in your response if you would like your bird to learn quickly that this contact call, rather than a scream, is going to produce the best results.

Do: Use a cue when you leave the room for a short time. If you are consistent about saying “Be right back!” each time you briefly leave the room, your bird will quickly learn that you will reappear soon and not to worry. Use a different cue such as “Be a good bird today!” when you head off to work.

Do: Expect a negative habit to take as much time to undo then it did to become established in the first place. If you have spent the last six months effectively teaching your bird that you will appear when it screams, your parrot will not immediately stop the screaming in response to your efforts. Unfortunately, your bird is likely to spend a period of time screaming louder and more often than before.

Don’ts: Don’t yell or punish. Responding angrily, banging on the cage bars and other negative responses will not only fail to correct a screaming problem, they also will damage the trust your bird has in you and in other members of the human race.

Don’ts: Don’t respond in a way your bird won’t understand. If you put your bird in a timeout or cover its cage, it won’t be likely to associate this action as a consequence to screaming, although it might actually be momentarily gratified each time you reappear to move it or cover it up.

Don’ts: Don’t reward screams. Whenever you call or reappear in response to a scream, you are teaching your bird that screaming gets the results it wants.

Don’ts: Don’t give up. If you think the screaming will get worse (and it will, for a period of time) and decide to go back to rewarding screaming as you did before, the screaming habit will be more firmly entrenched than ever. Stay focused on the goal in order to get through this difficult period, and ultimately both you and your pet bird will be happier for it.

Answer 6

Hard habit to break
Mine will stop when i speak to her in a stern voice.
have you tried a water bottle with a spray? squirt her every time she does it.
Mine is a little devil,she barks to annoy the dogs and when dogs go near her cage she hells "oh help help help" to get the dogs in trouble.
Amazons love music,try putting the radio on when you are not in the room.
And you must chastise her when she is bad,i was told a light tap on the side is whats needed
good luck and love your bird!

Answer 7

Typical male behavior. No, not the bird, you! Play with her awhile and then expect her to sit on a perch while you run off and do your thing. You guys are all alike. When you don't get the attention you need, squawk. Typical female behavior.

Answer 8

you might try to change the normal routine and leave her in the cage when you leave the room and cover it for a while she will think it is quite time

Answer 9

completely cover the cage with a dark blanket . . .