I recently took in a tropical bird called a conure. She screams a lot & I'm trying to break her. Any ideas?

Question

The girl who gave her up used to be home all the time & I think she's become spoiled by this. After the girl went to work the screaming started. I don't want too give her up but i don't want to be disturbing my neighbors either. The only thing that stops her is if I cover her & I won't do that all the time I have 4 other birds & when i'm home the cages are always left open, I don't believe in caging animals of any kind. I close them when I'm away for their own safety. Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated! I've tried everything I know how & she's just not giving in much. Thank You for all suggestions!!

Answer 1

I will add to this later today, but first, she needs to learn her limits. She is definetly spoiled :) I have an IRN that is the same way.

Go to Bird Talk Magazine online. They have some great articles on how to stop a screamer. Of course it won't stop completely, it will just get better.

Edit:

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 2

Keep in mind that conures are very vocal birds, especially the aratinga species (suns, jendays, nandays, blue crowns, etc). My sun conures rival my quakers and cockatoos for squawk volume!

Make sure you don't pay any attention to the bird when it's screaming. Very difficult, I know, but usually works in the long run, IF YOU ARE CONSISTENT. Parrot behaviour can take a long time to change; they are more persistent than dogs and cats. I would not recommend squirting the bird for screaming; they should enjoy being misted, and they may come to resent you.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

You should not respond to her screaming because she will figure out that it is causing an effect on you. When she quiets down, come over and give her a treat or say something like "good job", and quietly go on with your work. Trust me, i had 2 cockatiels that were always screaming because we took them out so much. They couldn't even stay quiet for 10 min.! this method worked effectively on them!

Answer 4

Try a squirt bottle. Every time she squalls she is squirted. Worked for me. I also give her a warning like I would say to the bird this is first warning then second time I would squirt her and say why I did the squirting. Also she is probably bored and missing her first owner. Do you leave a radio or a T.V. on for the birds? I was told by the guy I bought my bird from to do this, so far he does not squall that much. The water does not hurt them but it does get there attention.

Answer 5

She seems bored...get her some toys and things to do during the day