Is your parrot screaming often? Does he squawk loudly when you leave the room?
Many large pet birds are vocal and highly entertaining, but excessive screaming is an issue.
Why is your bird yelling? How can you prevent or fix that? Keep reading!
Birds’ Incredible Vocal Talent
Birds are the only non-human creatures that can produce human language. Parrots speak because they’re vocal learners who can easily hear and recite sounds like a police siren outside, the sound of its toy ball bouncing around, and, of course, your voice.
As you would expect, parrots are social animals that communicate their needs vocally. You should expect
some amount of talking, screaming, and other noises during the morning and evening.
However, there are times when this normal vocalization escalates and becomes a behavioral issue.
Why Parrots Scream
Your Bird is Bored
Birds need a lot of activity and mental stimulation to stay happy. So if they’re bored, they may act out to entertain themselves.
To prevent boredom, be sure your bird has a wide variety of toys including perches, hanging toys, swings, and ladders. It’s also important that your bird has a large enough parrot cage for itself and accessories without feeling crowded.
If you have a very active parrot, consider a cage with a play top. A playtop sits above the cage and allows your bird to move around and entertain himself outside his normal habitat.
The great thing about play tops is that they are attached to the top of the enclosure, saving space and making it easy to clean up after your bird.
Another way to keep your bird happily occupied is to house him in a flight cage. This type of bird cage will provide your pet with adequate space to
fly around and stretch his wings. The exercise will promote your bird’s physiological health and could eliminate incessant screaming.
Your Bird is Stressed
Harsh screaming and squawking could be a sign of stress. It could be uncomfortable in its environment, it could be feeling sick, etc.
Interestingly, some birds have a high level of awareness and can sense and imitate their owner’s stress, like a child would do.
This is usually picked up through vocal cues, like loud voices in particular. If this resonates with you, try to be quieter and calmer around your feathered friend.
It’s Mating Season
During mating season, birds are much more vocal. This is natural and should be expected.
These behaviors are hormonal and should not be scolded for it. This may only confuse and sadden your bird.
Here are a few healthy ways to discourage breeding behaviors in pet birds.
Your Bird Feels Isolated From Family Members
If your bird is constantly away from family activities, he may feel left out. You should also let your parrot out of his enclosure while you’re home.
This way, he can follow you around and feel like part of the family. You may also want to purchase a playstand.
Your pet can roost on his playstand, interact with his toys, and still be next to everyone else.
How to Respond to a Screaming Parrot
Regardless of why your bird is screaming, there is a right and a wrong way to handle it.
Below you’ll learn some do’s and don’ts for responding to this behavior, plus some tips to prevent it.
3 Don’ts in Dealing with a Screaming Parrot:
1. Don’t scream back
All this does is encourage your bird to scream even louder.
Parrots take particular delight in loud, vocal communication, so if you start screaming at your parrot, he will only become excited to continue this behavior.
2. Never hit your bird
Hitting will either make your bird fearful or aggressive, which will lead to worse behavioral
problems.
3. Don’t “Reward” Screaming
Many parrots learn that if they scream when they want something, their owner will rush to gratify their wishes. This is negative reinforcement.
Cockatoos in particular are prone to developing this habit.
If your bird screams because he wants something, don’t rush to him right away. When he quiets down, return to his cage and reward him with attention.
5 Tips to Stop Birds from Screaming
1. Cover The Cage For a Brief “Time Out”
By covering the bird cage, you can help calm an excited or agitated parrot.
The cage should never be covered for more than 10 minutes at a time and you should never lock your bird in a dark room as punishment.
The easiest way to cover your bird cage is to purchase a commercial cover that fits your parrot cage, unless a blanket around the house works fine for you.
2. Give Your Pet a Change of Scenery
How would you feel if you never left the four walls of your house? You’d probably feel like screaming too.
Let your parrot roam around your house for a while, or even go for a ride in the car. Just be sure he is securely placed in a bird carrier.
You may also rearrange the toys in the cage, move the enclosure to a different section of the house, or invest in an outdoor aviary.
3. Make Sure Your Bird Gets Plenty of Sleep
Most birds need 8-10 hours of sleep each night. If your bird doesn’t get adequate rest, he’ll be cranky and irritable, which could promote screaming.
4. Let Your Bird Interact With You and Others
As mentioned earlier, allow your bird to be part of your daily activities. Let him out of his bird cage regularly. Make him feel
like part of your friends, your family, and your life.
Birds are very intelligent creatures and they want to feel welcomed and engaged with.
Give him lots of attention, play with him, and just hang out together. This could make all the difference to your bird.
5. Learn to Ignore Your Bird
Sometimes birds scream simply for attention. The first few times you check on them while screaming, pay close attention to their body language, their enclosure, and what’s in it.
Is there anything out of the ordinary? Anything you recognize that would cause them stress? If not, try to ignore your parrot the next time and give them attention only once they quiet down.