# 3 Cockatiel problem



## TKD225 (Nov 6, 2016)

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am a new member on this forum but in desperate need of your knowledge/help.
I have 3 Cockatiels 2 females 1 is 7 and one is about 4 years old and 1 male who is around 7 years old, the problem that i have PTSD and the birds will not stop screaming this is the first year we have not allowed them to have babies, i have tried everything from rearranging their cage keeping them away from dark areas, controlled the amount of food they intake but one of the females keeps on laying eggs and the male keeps on mating with the females we stop him when we can from mating as we do not want any more babies..... 

this is my last resort on consulting with the forum as i am at the end of the rope and if i can not find a solution then i will have to give them away to someone who can accomodate breeding birds. So any suggestions on what i could possibly do to stop the screaming from these birds? thank you for your help/advice in advance (it is 5:11pm and they been screaming since 7:00AM)


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## mohum (Sep 5, 2014)

Hi, unfortunately birds can be noisy whether breeding or not. As a last resort you could cover the cage for time out but this is not a long term solution. It does seem like you may have to at least reduce the number of birds you have. Sitting on dummy eggs may help for a while.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

What are their sleeping hours? Cockatiels can be noisy, how much time out of the cage do they get a day? What kind of toys do they have? Toys that encourage foraging and chewing could definitely help distract them.


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## TKD225 (Nov 6, 2016)

Hey Roxy 
They are getting 6PM-7AM we have lots of toys in their cage from ones with bells, and just ones that have little blocks on them and hoops and such, but we are getting a few new toys tomorrow what sort of toys would you recommend? as they chew just about anything they have chewed through their perch, and they are out of the cage from 7AM-6PM but it is very odd because some days they only scream up until 12pm and then they stop and have a sleep for the rest of the afternoon. Thank you for your reply and thank you Mohum as well for your response.


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

I would suggest wood toys and grape vine wreaths. Something they love to destroy. I've had luck with cheerios on a shoestring. They mostly just destroy the cheerios rather than eat it, LOL. But they have fun. 

You can also put shredded paper in a bowl and put treats inside the bowl. There's a lot of home made foraging toys you can make. A paper towel roll with treats on the inside is another idea. Or a paper towel roll with a thin layer of peanut butter on it and rolled in seed. I've heard that's a huge success with some member's birds. 

Good luck to you


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Anything chewable. When out of the cage, are they with you in the same room or in a room alone? Tiels are flock animals and enjoy being with their people. When they start calling, do you call back?


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## TKD225 (Nov 6, 2016)

vampiric_conure Thank you for your response,
i will be looking into that ASAP as they have been chewing a hole through one of their perches, so i will try out those other methods you suggested and will let you know how i go. The male alone loves destroying everything in his path so he might look forward to what you suggested haha.


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## TKD225 (Nov 6, 2016)

Hey roxy culver,
I am upstairs as i just had a knee operation so i am unable to go down stairs as much as they want me to, when i talk to my mum downstairs they scream and carry on the male loves me and always carries on and shows off when i am paying him attention, but the female is in love with me literally she will make mating sounds when on my shoulder and thinks i am a bird.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

And there's no way your mom can bring them upstairs to you? Like maybe while you're laid up leave them in your room instead of downstairs? It sounds like at least two of them have some separation anxiety and don't like to be away from you, which can be a big contributor to the screaming.


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## TKD225 (Nov 6, 2016)

Hey Roxy you are probably spot on with that with the birds as the male cannot wait for me to get him on me (he has a wing that got hurt and never healed so he cannot fly) so basically we are always helping him out and kisses me nose and chirps lightly at me as he does it, also the female one was screaming while i was upstairs non stop i went downstairs and she got on me and started settling down and making these silent love noises when she was sitting on me and wanting me to scratch her head and cleaning and no more chirping, is it possible that she has mistaken me for a mate? and that me rubbing her head is a bad thing? i am slowly losing my mind but i will try and see what we can organise with them coming upstairs i am buying a house soon hopefully so it will be one story, i want to really thank you for your help so far from you and the other members.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Scratching her head is fine, scratching her back would be a no no. It does sound like at least two of them are very attached to you and that's where your screaming issues are coming in. They want to be with you and they're going to let you know it.


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