My friend has a 15 year old conure that screams a lot. She was never let out of her cage. I built a large cage and she loved it at first. Lots of toys, a pool for her bath. Has her original cage inside for her to feel secure. She just won’t stop screaming. If I stand in front of her and talk to her she’s quiet. Once I leave it’s the most horrible shrieking sound. What can I do to help her? I will be bringing her to my home where she will be in the living area. Where she is now. I’m hoping this will help? I am clueless .
Answer:
Hi,
Parrots are an exotic, wild species, so even when captive bred, they are not domesticated like a dog, for example. All of their behaviors are based on instinct. They do not respond to punishment, and need to be trained with positive reinforcement. By going to the bird when she screams, you have taught her that screaming means she gets attention. You have to ignore her when she screams and reward her for being quiet or maybe for talking. All unwanted behaviors should be ignored. If you give in one time, you undo any progress you have made. It can take a long time to untrain a bird that screams. In the wild, this would be his contact call and a mate or flock member would respond. They have to be loud to be heard in the wild. I’m not sure what species of conure you have, but we had a recent webinar about the green cheeked conures. I’ll give you the link, because it can help even if you have a different species. The same behaviorist did a webinar for us on Behavior, which I will include. I will also include our behavior and training pages.
