# How to stop the screaming?



## ~SarahJayne~ (Oct 14, 2012)

Marshmallow is driving me crazy at the moment. I'm on leave at the moment, so have been hearing what she gets up to during the day. Put simply, she screams. Not a normal cockatiel call, but an "I've go my toe stuck/someone's trying to murder me" scream. We call it the death tweet, as it sounds like she's been mortally wounded. It's got that blood-curdling, rolling quality to it. So, not a pleasant sound. 

We have the radio or tv on during the day as Munchkin calls out when it's silent, so it's not a lack of background noise. I sometimes think she's trying to sing along to the music, and is as tone deaf as a strangled cat. Previously she'd only do it when you left the room and she could hear you elsewhere, but this last week she's been doing it while I've been sitting less than a metre away from her, so not from separation. Have tried leaving the music off, but then Munchkin hears things going on outside the room and starts tweeting, which sets Marshmallow off. She does it when both inside and out of the cage, so it's not a "let me out" scream. I really think it's just for fun. She's currently doing it in between crunching down sunflower seeds, so it's not boredom either.

My best bet is it's joining in with other noise, as the vacuum cleaner is the loudest noise in the house, and she always "sings" along with it. I wouldn't mind if it won't such an awful noise! I've never heard anything like it. Any ideas?


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

We used to have this problem with Elvis and we were honestly concerned our landlord might evict us after our neighbors started complaining about the loud bird in our apartment. So, trust me, I feel your pain! 

I've been involved in pet rescue and companionship for several non-bird species before, and the thing that has helped the most when they are getting difficult is to take a deep breath and ask "why?" Sometimes focusing on why they're doing what they're doing rather than instantly jumping to finding a solution can make a huge difference. Something that you'll likely learn about Marshmallow, which I learned about Georgia and Elvis, is that not all her screams are for the same reason.

The reasons I've pinpointed so far...

-- they want their cage to be covered so they can go to bed
-- they are flock calling (which is what your bird does when you leave the room, it sounds like)
-- something outside is making them scream in response (we have this problem in the summer when Elvis likes to have noisy arguments with a local raven)
-- they want to be moved (they are clipped, and clipped birds will scream for their humans to move them to offer them a change of scenery)
-- they want fresh food
-- they are bored

How long are Marshmallow's "nights" -- e.g. how long is her cage covered at night? Keeping her covered for longer may make her quieter.

Does she have toys? Is she bored with them? She might want new ones!

Gosh they're high-maintenance little beasties


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## ~SarahJayne~ (Oct 14, 2012)

Haha, that they are.

There's a very clear difference between this sound and all her other noises. This one has the same quality as if you roll your 'r's, while all her others use clear, solid notes. I know the difference between her flock call, her grumpy noise, her chattering, when she's startled, and when she wants attention. They all sound very different as she's a very vocal bird. Munchkin only has a few noises, but they vary in pitch and intensity based on their meaning. That's what drives me nuts about this noise. I can understand the purpose behind all the noises they both make except this one. It's not linked to anything in particular. They both flock call as I leave the room, and it's a very different sound. 

The screaming happens at random intervals. She'll be quiet for several hours, then suddenly decide it's time to make some noise. Sometimes it lasts 5 mins or so, other times she'll go on for almost an hour. It's less frequent in the evening. Seems to be most common before/after lunch, and after she wakes up from her afternoon nap. The timing is what makes me think she's trying to sing, and just getting it all wrong! She's always relaxed while doing it, Munchkin is always the first to respond to random noises outside the room, so as long as she's quiet, it isn't that. It starts out quiet, almost like when she chatters to herself, then increases in volume over the next 20 seconds or so.

She's not clipped, gets 11 hours of sleep, lots of outside time, naps wherever/whenever she chooses with no problems, and tends to do what she likes. I have pinched a few of the less liked toys for Waffle while she's in quarantine, but Marshmallow has always preferred shredding things to playing with actual toys (the bark on the drawbridge platform is her current favourite) unless Munchkin is playing with something. She always wants to play with what Munchkin is playing with.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Hmmm. Tough to interpret this one. Do they calm down eventually if you go over to their cage? Are there wild birds outside that might be triggering them?

I think sometimes birds just scream for the heck of it... a few people here say their birds need to shriek while flying at top speed for 15 minutes every morning. I don't think I could deal with that!!!


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## joec (Dec 15, 2013)

My cockatiel screamed in this manners only when they are new to our home, maybe they miss their previous neighbourhood but after 1 week they stop and starts to whistle normal tunes. note that I keep them busy with new toys , I dedicate a moment for them out of cage , I have 4 so they entertain themselves when i'm out, I keep music and tv for them even if i'm out of home and I cover them well at night, I think they screem out of boredom, or if they are afraid of something, or if they are calling their flock (in case of 1 single bird)


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## joec (Dec 15, 2013)

Note also that a cockatiel of a friend of mine screemed al lot because it was sick, she had to give her antibiotic , so sometimes if they are feeling sickness pain they screem also


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## ~SarahJayne~ (Oct 14, 2012)

caterpillar said:


> Hmmm. Tough to interpret this one. Do they calm down eventually if you go over to their cage? Are there wild birds outside that might be triggering them?
> 
> I think sometimes birds just scream for the heck of it... a few people here say their birds need to shriek while flying at top speed for 15 minutes every morning. I don't think I could deal with that!!!


They both do their "morning crazies" of several laps around the room while making their " I want attention! " sound, then hissing and flapping on the spot, but that only lasts about 30 sec when they first come out of a morning. It's more funny than anything else.

Munchkin is the perfectly behaved bird. Only makes noise when she can hear something, or someone is leaving the room. Marshmallow just seems to like to make noise. Wild birds and other outside noises are always responded to with a flock call, so it's not that. If she's doing the death tweet while I'm out of the room, when she hears me walking back towards the room it will turn into a flock call. If I'm already in the room, a distraction will cause her to stop temporarily, but she'll be back to it after that. I honestly think she does it for fun, which is why I have no clue how to stop it.

Mind you, the fiancé calls her Darth Marshmallow for a reason. She's also a biter with no apparent cause. (Neither of the other girls even knows how to bite) She must always have all the attention. Lands in your food, if giving Munchkin scritches she'll land on the finger giving them and try to pluck munchkin's biggest crest feather, will fly right back to you like a boomerang when sent to her cage 20 times in a row, will fly to you and walk right up to your face then bite your nose if you don't give her scritches. She's a terror. She wants constant attention, which is the only other reason I can think of for this horrible noise. Mind you, she's the only one of the girls who came from a pet shop, and she spent 6 months there before we took pity on her, so I reckon she has a lot of bad habits from there.

I'll have to try and record the sound today. You will not believe it. I've had people from upstairs looking through the window while we're out because it sounds like she's stuck somewhere and in pain.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

~SarahJayne~ said:


> They both do their "morning crazies" of several laps around the room while making their " I want attention! " sound, then hissing and flapping on the spot, but that only lasts about 30 sec when they first come out of a morning. It's more funny than anything else.
> 
> Munchkin is the perfectly behaved bird. Only makes noise when she can hear something, or someone is leaving the room. Marshmallow just seems to like to make noise. Wild birds and other outside noises are always responded to with a flock call, so it's not that. If she's doing the death tweet while I'm out of the room, when she hears me walking back towards the room it will turn into a flock call. If I'm already in the room, a distraction will cause her to stop temporarily, but she'll be back to it after that. I honestly think she does it for fun, which is why I have no clue how to stop it.
> 
> ...


I bet that's the same sound that Georgia made once when the neighbors' cat tried to attack her. We had them caged outside to get some sunshine, and the neighbors' indoor-outdoor cat showed up out of nowhere and took a swipe at the bars of the cage that she was climbing on. I think she's used to our benign Kitty and was caught totally off guard -- we had never heard that particular scream before and have never heard it since. Thankfully, the offending cat is now totally indoor-bound because he brought home a live snake once and scared his human :wacko:

I wonder if Marshmallow's just insane like our Elvis is. He dislikes people enough to not be super in-your-face attention-grabbing (thank goodness he doesn't fly over to us and beg for food or anything like that) but sometimes he just starts screaming and screaming and screaming. I think it's a way that he asserts himself as an obnoxious male bird, but I think it's also out of boredom.


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## ~SarahJayne~ (Oct 14, 2012)

Could be. She is a crazy little one. She's currently sitting on top of my ipad and trying to bite my fingers as I type. Correction. Just jumped onto my chest and is trying to stick her head in my mouth, sigh. Apparantly my bottom front teeth need to be chewed on for some reason.

Yeah, I'll try and get a video of the sound sometime today. I think it might be the same sound Georgia made. If it is, imagine that at top volume several times a day for extended periods. I feel sorry for Munchkin having to listen to it all day!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

It could be hormones...are they on the long nights treatment or anything to reduce their hormones? Each bird handles it differently.


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## ~SarahJayne~ (Oct 14, 2012)

It's worth a try. Neither of them have ever displayed any typical hormonal behaviour, so they're on 11hrs sleep. That will unfortunately look to decrease by an hour or 2 in Feb when we both leave just after 7:30am for work. I can probably increase it by an hour or so until then to see if it makes a difference. The problem is, we have one main room which functions as our living room and bedroom, so they can't really get to sleep until we go to bed. There's a small study off the kitchen, but Waffle is currently in quarantine there, so there's nowhere else to move them to increase this time.


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