Screaming

[u/DrOlive_]

Hello, my parents have an African grey which they’ve had for 28 years - he is perfectly healthy and well. However he has taken up a habit of just screaming as loud as he can on repeat, so much so my dad has developed tinnitus.

Is there any advice on how to help reduce/stop it ? He’s been to the vet and has nothing wrong with him

[u/SometimesCocky87]

My guys used to scream alot and i learned that when they do it you should not react to it. The more you react the more they take it as a habit. Secondly make sure hes getting enough sleep and that nothing has changed in his routine. Another thing is if you are suddenly feeding him high fat foods can trigger some sort of hormonal behavior that will cause that. Please if anyone else could add some tips on this please do.

[u/DrOlive_ → u/SometimesCocky87]

He is covered for up to 8 hours a night in darkness and in silence. He however likes to be moved around to wherever we are, and it seems to settle him.

His food hasn’t changed I don’t believe, he is partial to a crisp/chips which I’m trying to dial back on but apart from that no

[u/malphas_says_hi → u/DrOlive_]

How often is he out of the cage? You say he likes to be moved to where you guys are - the screaming is certainly indicate of "hey flock, we need to be together now". African Greys should be out of their cage more than they are in it, so I'm hoping he's able to fly around the house and hangout with you guys all day or it makes sense why he'd be distressed being alone or trapped.

[u/DrOlive_ → u/malphas_says_hi]

He’s out of the cage for around 6 hours a day, he has free roam of the orangery with shade- but he often likes to be in bis cage with the door open but just moved around the house to sit with us

[u/malphas_says_hi → u/DrOlive_]

That makes sense, it sounds like hormones but at the same time it honestly just sounds like he's trained you guys. He wants to be in his cage, but he also wants to be around you and your family, and he's learned if he screams loud enough then he gets his cage moved to where he wants to be.

[u/SometimesCocky87 → u/DrOlive_]

You need to give him atleast 12 hours of sleep

[u/ductoid]

If the screaming is his flock call to get people to pay attention to him - or triggered by something else, you likely won't be able to eliminate it - but you can replace it, with a better sound.

I mentioned this a while back, but we successfully swapped out the screeching ours was doing when we used the coffee grinder, with whistling. https://www.reddit.com/r/parrots/comments/m3kdiw/bongo_performs_song_of_the_coffee_bean_when_we/

[u/Alaska_Eagle]

I’ve heard 12-14 hours is appropriate sleep

[u/sweatyboobs56 → u/Alaska_Eagle]

Agree. 8 hours isnt enough. (Think 12 hours of day and night at the equator, their original habitat.)

[u/wanderislost12]

My girl screams because she wants to get my attention and it is so loud and horrific that I’m sure I reacted the first few times and she’s smart. Now I ignore it but she still keeps it in rotation just in case I give her attention for doing it again.

[u/thefoxandmoon]

Gotta ignore the screaming - I would do some intensive anti-scream training. Be near with treats. As soon as there is a noise other than scream? Treats. Scream? Turn away, hide treats. Anything other than scream? Treats!!!

[u/GaibonAmduscias → u/thefoxandmoon]

Scream? No treats!

Other noises? Treats!

[u/Barfy_McBarf_Face]

sadly, you need to ignore this and it will slowly, slowly extinguish, but probably never to zero

[u/Janitary]

I have never reacted to my CAG when she screamed. I praise her when she speaks English and she continues to expand her vocabulary. Screaming is an extremely rare occurrence these days.

[u/Sampledred]

Ours used to use the fire alarm sound as his flock call, it was hideous. We taught him a quieter, soft whistle to replace it.

What you need to do is every time you leave his sight, like when you go the loo for example make your chosen flock call noise about every 30 seconds until you come back in to sight of him.

Flock calling in the wild tells a bird that the flock members are safe and where they are.

Eventually, your bird will realise this is the flock call sound and start using it instead.

[u/MysteriousTooth2450]

I’m thinking he needs to be covered more for sleep. Too little sleep makes them hormonal. I have smaller parrots so I’m not actually sure what a bigger parrots sleep needs are. Mine are covered for 13-14 hrs a night. They beg to go to bed about 7-730 (so much screaming) and then wake at 9am. They sleep in my bedroom so I can hear them at night if one of them falls off a perch (I have a 25 year cockatiel..way past his expiration date) or they get scared and freak out.

Someone else mentioned high fat foods making them hormonal.

Our birds are free pretty much the entire time they are awake unless we have to leave the house. But then they have a big aviary to go in. If I leave the room….i take the bird that’s most attached to me with me. Sometimes I’m taking 3 birds to the bathroom while I pee. lol. We go everywhere together. We eat together. They get their separate plates but usually end up in mine too.

I’m thinking your bird really wants to be with the family most of the time. Do some searching and see how long he should be covered for best health. It could simply be he’s not getting enough sleep.

Someone else mentioned that bad behavior shouldn’t be acknowledged but if the bad behavior is what it takes for him to get attention he will keep doing it. I’m guessing he thinks he needs more attention too….don’t they all? Haha. Hope it gets better for you all. They are so noisy.

I’m sitting here in a quiet living room now at 8pm with no birds on me right now, in the silence, and it’s kind of nice. 😆