# at my wits end!!



## kitti (Feb 28, 2009)

Percy, my 2 year old bird has gone made.


He screams if you leave him in the cage, he screams when you take him out, he screams when peter budgie goes near him, he screams for the sake off screaming.

I cover him over he screams,. i uncover him, he screams, i move him to another room, he screams, i bring him out HE SCREAMS.


Someone walks by the window, he screams, someone gets out off the car, he screams.....HE SCREAMS AND SCREAMS AND HE WONT STOP.


He wont go into his cage, i end up chasing him round the room and now peter budgies....COPIES HIM...peter even takes the **** out off his screaming by SCREAMING HIMSELF!!!

Just picture this, bedtime. chasing two birds round the room looking like a mad women!!


He flies on the floor and bites feet and when you pick him up he SCREAMS and BITES!!!


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## Spongebob (Feb 16, 2010)

my tiel used to do this when she was feeling hormonal... and yes it does drive you CRAZY...maybe he needs a ladyfriend?


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## kitti (Feb 28, 2009)

Lady friend....hes attached to my partner who cant even go to the loo and its like the theme from the birds.....he flies at his face, bites his ear and then when i go to get him away he bites me so hard.

Please tell me i wont have to put up with this FOREVER.

I thought they only get hormonal once or twice a year...hes like it once or twice a month!!

Is there anything i can put in his water to calm him down ( and no, im not joking)?

He shouldnt be like this, he has had the best off everything, hes like a spoilt child, he hasnt been roughly handled...SO WHY IS HE LIKE THIS?


It cant be normal this behaviour, even pulling the toilet chain he screams where he hears it.

WHAT CAN I DO....its getting me and everyone else down.


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

I think the first thing to do would be to clip his wings, This will obiously stop flying and make it easier to capture him and could stop him attacking your OH.
How much stimulation does he recieve? Like, one on one time and toys and such? The screaming could be because he is bored (similar to when a dog barks excessively, its a bark for something to do) He has also lernt that screaming will get him attention, it may be negative but it is attention none the less.
Im not so sure about hormones and such, but getting him a lady friend most likly wont solve the problem, you will just have ANOTHER bird that screames as it will copy your boy you have now.
Maybe someone can be of better help, but its obiously its growing into a form of mental issue (like the birds you find in a rehabilitation facility).


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## Spongebob (Feb 16, 2010)

Funny the sound of the toilet flushing always used to set our tiel off for some reason. We treated her like a baby and she got too bonded with us. She used to scream nearly all the time although she never got aggressive though??

Whenever our tiel got REALLY noisy we would put her in a very dark room with a cover over her, this would always shut her up. Once she stopped yelling we would get her out and make a fuss of her while she was quiet. this normally worked.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi, it does sound like attention, and if this is the case like Ezzie said, you will need to try and break the cycle, maybe let him out as soon as you wake up, but try and do something before the screaming starts, another thing respect your birds personal space, don’t chase him around the cage to get him out, open the door let him come out on his own terms, once out see if he will step up on his own to your hand, if he does reward him he obviously wants attention so give him some scritches, you could try once he is out the cage taking him into a completely different room he is not so confident in and try giving him attention in there, also what are the noise levels like in your house? is he competing with the TV or Kids, lol.

Last of all but not to be ignored, have you checked his cage just in case there is something he is frightened of inside it (you said he didn’t want to go in it could there be a reason), sometimes they scream if they are frightened, you haven’t suddenly hung a painting in the house he is frightened of, just have a think of anything new you may have bought into the room which could be triggering it, even a new toy.

Just some of the things I can think of

Good luck with solving the problem.

Jenny


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## kitti (Feb 28, 2009)

Hes out most off the day, he screams to come out, if he hears a noise in the other room he screams.

I refrain from pulling the chain lol in the morning and its got so bad i tip toe so as not to make any noise (that cant be right)


He wont go into his cage because he doesnt want to, he likes being out, he wants his own way, as i say, he is spoilt, he wants to run the house, hes the boss, and thats that.


Its like..'im not going in, i will go in when I WANT TO GO IN and NOT BEFORE'.

It doesnt help with peter budgie annoying him all the time, i thought it would be company but its WAR i can tell you.

I cant see how percy cockateil can be happy at the moment with all the screeching and yelling he is doing, i know im not.

Is this normal behaviour as the screaming has got worse since peter budgie has arrived 6 months ago, surely he has to learn to live together with other birds, doesnt he.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

It sounds like the cause could be Peter from what you have just said, maybe he is jealous of Peter having any attention at all, even if it is cleaning his cage out. 

Did the screaming begin roughly after Peter, or was he already screaming, even so if Peter imitates the screaming that probably isn’t helping.

I don’t know how you feel about this, but is it possible to move Peter to another room for at least a few days (give them a chance to settle down) and see if that makes a difference?

I do feel for you, mine screeches first thing in the morning when she hears the crows but if I close the windows she normally quietens down, and sometimes starts around 9 or 10 at night for some reason, not always mind, I just turn most the lights out if watching TV and she settles pretty quickly then, I am mindful that I don’t want her to get in a habit of screeching and suffer like you are, I think it would drive me nuts if she screeched all day long.:censor:

Jenny


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## Mythara (Apr 9, 2009)

If he hates the budgie, it's very possible that they will never learn to live together. Have you tried moving the budgie to another room and seeing what happens? I've had my cockatiels for a year and a half now. When I got them I already had two budgies. They have never got along. The cockatiels are afraid of the budgies and will run away from them when the budgies come too close. Although they're less scared now than they were a year and a half ago, they're never going to lose the fear enough to be friends with them. If Percy hates or is scared of Peter to the point he feels he needs to scream constantly to tell you about it, you might have to always keep them in different rooms. Or it could be that Percy sees that room as his territory and doesn't like Peter being in there. Keep them in separate rooms for a week and see if that helps. Then let them be together again in a neutral room - ie, one that neither of them has a cage in, or spends a lot of time in just now - and see how they react to each other.

Next, is the room Percy is in bird proofed? With nothing he can chew on or fall behind or get hurt on? If not, it's very important that you teach him to enjoy his cage, and stop hiding behind the excuse that "he's spoilt". You've taught him that his bad behaviour gets him what he wants, so he behaves badly. Now you need to teach him that he has to be good, to get what he wants, and if he's bad, he gets ignored.

Firstly, the cage. How big is it? How many toys and perches does he have in there? What are the perches made from? How are they positioned (maybe a picture would help)? Does he play with his toys and enjoy them? What are the toys made of? Have you done any foraging with him?

The size of the cage will have an effect on how willing he is to go in there. Birds are always more comfortable in bigger cages with more room to move. The minimum cage size for a 'tiel is 24" x 24". The size of your cage will effect the number of perches you'll have, but it's important to have a variety of textures and sizes to keep their feet active and comfortable. Dowel perches (the ones that come with the cages) aren't good for their feet, especially if they're the only perch in the cage. Our dowel perch is the lowest perch in the cage, because Kami sometimes likes to sit on it, and it stretches across the length of the cage, so they can hop from the bottom, to the dowel, and then to a more comfortable perch. We also have three different natural perches, two rope perches (don't give them to birds that chew on them), mineral perches and Smart perches so they have a whole variety of perches and they can choose what they feel like at that time.

Toys are very important. It can be tricky sometimes to find toys that your 'tiel will play with, but as a general rule, 'tiels like things that they can shred, especially natural things, like bark, vine, palm leaves, paper, coconut fibre, balsa wood and so on. My two don't like hard woods like pine, and aren't interested in anything shiny, noisy or plastic. You need to learn about what he enjoys to find the best toys for him. If he doesn't play with toys, it's also possible that you'll need to teach him to play.

Foraging is a great way to keep Percy too busy to scream. It gives him something constructive to do with his day. I don't want to make this post too long (not that it's not massive already, lol) so here's a link to a post I've made about toys, teaching birds to play and foraging: http://www.talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=12393 the Captive Foraging thread here on the forums: http://www.talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=11399 and my blog with foraging toys and homemade toys, specifically designed with 'tiels and budgies in mind: http://www.feathersandforage.co.uk/

Next he needs rules and a routine. The parrots we keep at home are essentially wild animals still, even if they've been bred captively. Their genetic make up is practically identical to those flying wild in Australia. They haven't been domesticated like cats and dogs. If he was in the wild in a flock, he would learn the flock's rules and routines and obey them. In your home he needs the same routine. I'll tell you our routine.

Monday to Friday evening - They get uncovered at about 8 o'clock as I'm putting my shoes on to leave for work, and they say hello to me. Shortly after, my bf will change the paper, feed them and sort out their foraging cups and treat cups. As he is a student, and his lectures vary from day to day, he doesn't take them out during the day. I get home around five. The 'tiels make a lot of noise whenever we get home to greet us, and they're allowed to for five minutes, but then they have to be quiet or they get ignored. Once they're quiet, they come out for a few hours. They go back in their cage at tea time, and eat with us (their cage is next to the dinner table). If there's time they'll come out again. Nine thirty they go back in their cage to eat and settle down, and ten is bed time. They have a nightlight behind the cage, and the top, front, and sides are covered. The nightlight helps to prevent nightlights, and they're covered because then they won't call in the morning when they hear me get up for work (not all 'tiels will do this, some call as soon as they hear noise even if their covered).

The weekend - On Friday night, we don't cover them. Our two are well behaved, and although they'll wake up earlier on Saturday/Sunday morning, they won't call until they hear us moving around upstairs. They get ten minutes screaming to say good morning when we go down, then they have to be quiet. Once they're quiet, they come out for a few hours until we get hungry. Then they spend a few hours in the cage, and come out again before bed time.

As long as we more or less stick to the routine, our birds are happy and quiet. If we stray away from the routine, they'll call for us. Here's another post about screaming and routines: http://www.talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=12564

Lastly, hormones and diet. Birds aren't like mammals that have cycles for when they come into breeding season. Birds are triggered by environmental factors a lot more. This means we can actually control their hormones to a greater or lesser degree. Some birds are also naturally more hormonal that others - for example, we have two females. Kami get's hormonal quite easily and has laid an egg a once this year, and two eggs last year, although she never reached the point of making a nest or trying to sit on them. Lofty on the other hand, is treated exactly the same way, in the same conditions, and has never got broody enough to lay eggs.

Spring is the time that 'tiels will go to nest, so we don't want to simulate that in our homes. So instead of lengthening daylight, we need to keep the amount of daylight our birds get even. Try to give him 10 - 12 hours dark and quiet for sleep every night. 'Tiels nest in hollows in dead trees, so don't let him into any small dark spaces that could simulate that - Kami's "nest" was crawling under the newspaper in her cage, so now she can only have newspaper under the grate where she can't reach it.

Food is obviously very important for feeding the babies, so you don't want them to feel there is a lot of food around. Feed only what he'll eat for that day, plus a little extra. You don't want him going hungry or being starved, but you don't want there to be lots of left over food in his dish everyday either. Leafy greens should be cut back on. Fatty foods can also stimulate breeding. Our birds are normally on a mostly pellets/fresh food diet, with a little seed. If they get more seed than normal, that also triggers Kami to breed.

You are not his mate. Sometimes parrots can come to believe that their owners are their mates. He needs to understand that you aren't his mate, although you are a flock member. Keep all your interactions with him non-sexual. Only scratch his head. Don't stroke his stomach or back. Don't let him near your mouth either, as this can stimulate reguritation. Don't hand feed him anything like formula, as that also simulates reguritation.

For more extreme cases, sleep cages can also help to control hormones.

I think that probably covers everything, lol. Good luck.


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