[2birdmom]

Hi everyone!

Glad to be a new member.

I need a bit of advice please.

Charlie is just under a year old. We have recently gotten another bird.
Ever since the new one arrived he's been sqwaking for hours on end. Not a flock call, it's different. Typically between 10 am and 3pm.

He never did it before. He started when we brought the new one home and he heard him while in quarantine.
Now, they have been introduced and he still does this. Any tips on how to encourage him to stop?

It's constant. 😕

Can you add a Video onto a message? I have video of him doing it.

 

[Kamu]

Hi!

I’m sorry to hear that you are coping with a frustrating problem. I have been struggling with a screaming problem, too. I have understood that this kind of undesirable behavior can be difficult to get rid of, but the situation is not hopeless. It may require careful analysis of the complex situation – especially of what reinforces the undesirable behavior, and how to remove the reinforcers. I have found some useful tools from Susan Friedman’s articles which are rather old, but probably still valid. You can check her articles on: www.behaviorworks.org/htm/articles_behavior_change.html

I have learned to constantly analyze my parrots’ changing behavior and to prevent further escalation of existing problems. For example, one of my birds has learned to scream occasionally in some situations, and although it’s not constant, it is still annoying, and it happens nearly every day. He may scream when the other bird comes too close to his favorite food bowl, which he is sometimes guarding, or when I start hoovering. He usually screams, if I turn on the wrong music, but this behavior I reinforce by then changing the song, as I think he should be able to choose the music which I play to entertain him.
I think I may have reinforced the other undesirable screaming behaviors somehow, but I’m not sure how they first occurred and why he keeps on doing it. Now, I’m trying to ignore screaming (f.ex. while I am hoovering) or leave the room, when it starts, but so far there is no or very little progress. At least the situation has not gotten any worse. I wish you a lot of patience and good luck, and hopefully someone more experience can help us both.