My 16 year old cockateil started screaming when his cousin of 14 died.
He has a feather mate of 17 years but screams continuously. I have tried talking, rewarding not screaming, ignoring even changing his cage. I don’t know what else to do. Am disabled and with him all the time.
Hi,
Birds can be attached to each other even if they aren’t in the same cage. He’s calling for the other bird and it will take time for him to decide the other bird isn’t going to come back. Some birds will grieve for a long time. I don’t know how long it has been, but I can only suggest that you be patient with him and also try to notice if there is anything he seems to be directing his calls to, or something that might be setting him off. There are so many opinions on loud behavior, and the problem is, their natural habitat requires them to be loud to stay in contact with each other. In one of our recent pet bird webinars, the behaviorist did a Q&A and fielded some questions about screaming. You might want to check it out and try some of her suggestions.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
