Quieting down my noisy bird?

Question

I have a Green Quaker Parrot, and they are known for screeching. It tends to be annoying and stressful, and hard to ignore. Is there anyway I can quiet him down? I've tried using a spray bottle filled with water, but he seems to enjoy it. I go over and tell him to be quiet, but as soon as I walk away, he continues screaming. It's loud too, I can hear it from my neighbor's yard sometimes. Is there anything I can do?

Answer 1

First of all I commend you for trying to find a solution rather than just putting the bird away in some room and forgetting about him or giving him away to someone else that won't know what to do.

Listening to Quakers scream can be annoying and stressful for our human ears, but screaming at someone who doesn't understand is annoying for the Quaker too. The solution is to figure out what the bird wants or needs and try to supply that before the screaming begins.

There is no way anyone can help you do that without being there. But if you will put on your investigator's cap and keep a pad and pen handy, you will eventually be able to figure these things out.

Even though is sounds like the same scream every time, it probably means different things in different circumstances. My Green Cheeked Conure screams when anyone goes in the kitchen and stays there for more than a few moments.

We figured this out by closely observing the bird for a day, but not paying any more attention to him than normal. There is an article at the website sited below that gives detailed instructions that will really shed some light on the situation.

If he is screaming and you walk over to spray him, you may be giving him the attention he wants and so he may keep screaming because it works! And you are especially encouraging his screaming if he enjoys being sprayed.

Going over and telling him to be quiet is the same as spraying him. He is getting attention, but he is not getting whatever he is trying to communicate to you he wants or needs. That is why he starts up again when you walk away.

Some birds benefit from being encouraged to scream in the morning and in the evening when the sun is going down. This is built into them anyway, and somehow having times that they are allowed to do it without negative vibes coming from the rest of the flock seems to satisfy them.

This is long enough already, so I will leave you to the Parrot Training Article at the site below called Screaming Birds #1.

Answer 2

Another question that I answer frequently at the shop. Had my own Quaker too. Provide lots of interesting toys. They don't have to come from the store either, as long as the bird has fun. Quakers love paper bags and boxes to hide in and chew up. Use imagination, the list is limitless.
Pet stores sell bird tents. The tent is triangular shaped and hangs in the cage. The bird crawls in when it is stressed. Quakers like a sunny location and don't seem to adjust as well to changes with less light available. Has something happened like a new job, move to new home etc?
The bird is seeking attention. Doesn't matter as long as it gets it. Every time you spray with water, the bird is getting reinforcement to do the same behavior. If you want the bird to quieter. gently place a large towel or blanket over the cage when it squawks until the squawking stops. Leave the area and do something else. The bird will gradually learn to stop squawking on its own.
Spend time petting and stroking the bird every day. Quakers love a shower and like to preen things including the owner.

Answer 3

Bird are birds, we cannot make them conform to the way we live. This is why proper research should be done before hand, and do not say you did research because this would have been at the top of the list of concerns.

Its a bird and bird scream. My Quaker and sun conure yell all day. They yell in intervals, one yells the other calls back, etc.

We take these animals into our homes, expecting them to change thier natural instincts. He is calling for you because you are bonded. It is natural for him to want to be with his "mate" all the time. As impossible as it may be for you, you really should have thought about this before, not after.

How you react to the screaming is going to affect how much he screams. Try ignoring it, not a peep from you while he is yelling, no eye contact, no interaction. In turn, while he is quiet praise and reward him. If you go out of the room and he does not yell come back it and take him from the cage. Put him back and leave the room again, do not enter while he yells only while quiet.

Training a bird not to yell is like expecting a two year old not to ramble on and on. It's not fair to expect the bird to fit into your expectation, try fitting into him.

Punishing him for doing what is natural is wrong. Telling him to be quiet is not going to do anything, he is a bird.

Believe me I know how annoying it is, try writing a dissertation with a screaming Quaker and sun conure yelling in the same room. It something your going to have to get used to, for the next 25-30 years

Answer 4

There's nothing you can do about that. Parrots are loud, and they will always be that way. If this is unbearable for you, I would advise you to give it to someone or sell it to someone else. Otherwise, you'll have to live with it.

I've found that with my yellow collared macaw, the more attention I give him, the less noisy he is. It's possible that your bird simply wants attention and if you give him/her more attention, he/she will be a bit content more often. But birds are loud, no matter what you do. You may be able to decrease how often the bird screeches, but you cannot eliminate it. And some birds also have routines, such as making loud noises first thing in the morning (my parrot does this) like screeching or whistling or yelling, etc.

Answer 5

birds will react to you coming over when they are screaming in a very positive way. If i scream, i'll get attention!!!! therby seeing it as a reward. yippee!!! make sure you wait a while, and feed him during a quiet spell. It sounds like he has really gotten you trained! Make sure he gets plenty of attention, and exercise outside of the cage. With a stimulating environment, he should be better behaved. Also consider getting another one. Most parrots are not solitary, and i think that it is cruel to keep one by itself.

Answer 6

I have the same problem with my Blue Fronted Amazon. It's like having a three year old that's not getting his way. They do it for the attention. I try not to run to him everytime he screams, that helps some. When it gets realy bad, I'll cover him for a little while to calm him down. Sometime's he just wants to be where we are. I have a perch in the kitchen for him. (If you take him in the kitchen, remember not to use teflon while he's in there with you.) Also, I take him outside with me during the warm weather. The fresh air seems to relax him. It's really trial and error. As you get to know him better you'll figure him out. Good Luck!

Answer 7

your bird wants your attention !! did you ever try to hold your bird ?? i have a Senegal parrot,and she screams a lot. but i would cover her cage,if she got to loud !! and she would be quiet, birds are NOISY !! but they do need you, to show them a bit of affection !! i hold my bird whenever i have time to do so. and she is quite friendly , and i would NEVER SPRAY my bird with water !!

Answer 8

If you are responding to the screams in any way, you are encouraging him to continue. Birds can train us!

Try these tips:

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 9

Put a Dark Sheet over your bird's cage!! it works when my birds won't be Quiet

Answer 10

What you can do is put a sheet or a blanket over the cage and it will make your bird chill out.