Hello! I am new to this forum, but not new to having a Quaker. We brought Dusty home about 12 yrs ago. He was hand fed for about 2 weeks. My husband and I bonded with him and took him everywhere we went. He started out in a smaller cage, then we built a very big cage and introduced him to a female Quaker. That's how we figured the sexes. However, she past away about a year after we brought her home. He seemed ok afterward. Then we moved. He was put into our basement where our office was. It was not very loud down there, but I think that's when we noticed his increase in very loud chirping. It was not so bad because we were not near him all the time. I had a newborn and we spent many hours near him, but his chirping seemed to increase. We moved again but this time we needed to downsize his cage. For the first year we had him in our basement where our entertainment and office are so he was not isolated but much quietier. After our remodling on the first floor, we brought him upstairs. It is very loud now in this house and every loud noise or movement from another room seems to set him off to chirp really loud. He does chirp when I leave the room, but sometimes he doesn't. If dishes clang or my daughter comes running in the room, he chirps. He seems happy and plays with his toys (and himself). We try to let him out of the cage and bring him in my daughters room to eat treats and read books. He's getting much more attention now, but his chirping is getting out of control. He does not scream, but just chirps. It's so nice when he actually talks. I try to encourage it by talking back when he's in this good mood. I've covered him up when he gets this way and sometimes it works. He's been with us for a very long time and I really don't want to give him up, but I just don't know what I can do about his chirping.

Could it be the noise level that is setting him off? Or just the motion going on in the house? He sits up high near windows (we are in southern temps).

I've tried positive reinforcement where if he's quiet I go and talk to him. I've tried giving him treats, but just as I give him one, he chirps. He gets really chirpy and beggs like when dinner is just about done. I know this is my totally bad, because I do give him a treat so I've reinforced this dinner time behavior.

This daily chirping is really getting out of control. How long does it take typically to reinforce a good behaivor of being quiet. Can it work with a bird this old?

Welcome to you and Dusty:

Sorry I have no advice with respect to your noise problem but somebody will be along soon who knows more about this than I do.

Lizz and Chica the wonder bird

Welcome to the forum! I too don't have any advice on noise, but somebody else with more experience will be along shortly...

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum! It is such a great (and addictive ) place to be!

Welcome to the forum!!

To me, and I could be way off base, it sounds as though Dusty was used to having people around more often than they seem to be now. It sounds as though he's flock calling for you (and your spouse or family) because he wants additional attention.

To help reduce Dusty's flock calling, you could talk or call back to him from another room (to let him know that you're nearby). I haven't found this to be terribly successful, but it helps. I know of others who have given their flock-calling birds a firm shot of water from a squirt bottle in the chest. Others might cover their bird's cage for a short time (10-15 minutes, perhaps), or give them a chance to bathe to release some pent-up energy. Still, others try to teach their birds an alternative call.

The most important point to remember, though, is that Dusty could be calling you because he wants attention. If you give him the attention that he wants while he's demanding it by chirping, he will learn that chirping will get him exactly what he wants: you. And then the chirping will progressively get worse.

I hope that this helps. Best of luck, and do keep us posted!

Do you think the chirping is flock calling? It might be that when he hears a noise he calls to you. Is it really loud or?
You might try just keeping a radio or television on near him to keep him company. Although with Quakers or any other bird for that matter I have found you cant really keep them quiet all of the time because birds do chirp make noise etc.....
Also maybe some foraging toys and other toys that you switch off every week to keep him busy might help too.

Hello Chris and welcome to the forum. !2 years WOW... Congratulations on that for sure...

I've been reading a book called Your Outta Control Bird, by Nikki Moustaki. In it she discusses an overly vocal bird...And it can be caused from a lot of different scenerios (sp) The fact that the bird started this after all your recent moves is a concern, you say its in a more active area of the house but is it by a window where it maybe hearing birds outside and is trying to communicate with them Or it could be jealous of the attention you're showing your daughter and it feels it needs the attention too. In the book she advises to make sure that the birds needs are met and that it is healthy and not in pain. Then start working on contact calls. So when it starts chirping excessively you might wait till it quiets down and then give it positive reinforcement by telling it its a good bird for being quiet. Be consistent and excited about it. Then when it starts to do its excessive chirping start singing a song or whistling a tune. Each time he does it make sure that you whistle or sing the exact same thing over and over. when the bird quiets down...Praise it again. And continue to do that. Theoretically it will figure out that it gets good praises when its quiet and you do the flock call to let it know that you are still in the room if it answers you in the same tune as you have been whistling Get really excited and Praise it use a higher excited voice...This will encourage it to continue to do the contact call of your choice. Be sure to pick a tune that you won't mind hearing over and over for the next 10 or 15 years.

She recommends that if this doesn't work then a time out session is in order...A time out session is when the bird is put in a completely different cage in a secluded place and left there with only water for no more than 5 minutes...As soon as the bird quiets down you go get him and bring him back to his normal area. If he continues again you tell him...you'd better stop or it will mean time out...He will associate the word with the action after a few times...But never leave them in there for more than 5 minutes...And don't wait to do it...do it while they are being overly vocal. Otherwise they don't remember what it was they are being punished for. Being banished away from the flock is a fate worse than death for a bird... It doesn't want to be away from its flock. But if you allow it to stay in time out for more than 5 minutes then they forget why they were there so this author says.

So basically she's telling us to try aversion therapy...whistling or singing...and then trying the time out...

I'm sure it works but you have to be diligent about the whistling and not allowing the time out to last any longer than 5 minutes.

So that's my suggestion... to try and see if it works...she also says do not scream or yell at the bird or try to be louder than the bird cuz you won't win and you are only rewarding it with drama by doing so and we all know that birds LOVE drama...So try not to make a big deal out of it.

Good luck and let us know if you find a technique that works for you.

Kermit did the same thing when our son came along. We were spending so much time with the new baby, we had no or little time for our birds. Kermit became really loud, calling to us all the time, and just being totally obnoxious. It has lessened somewhat now that I am able to devote more time to him. But, he still does it. He particularly does it if I am on the phone or having a conversation with someone other than him...like he is trying to get my attention by saying "talk to me instead". What you are experiencing sounds normal from my end. I haven't totally worked out how to fix it, but he is getting better just by me being able to devote more time to him, one on one.

Hope this helps. Also, Kermit is near the age of your bird, 11 years old.

Jeff

I totally agree on the contact call idea. We do that either by wolf whistling to her when we are out of the room or by whistling the andy griffith song. They usually chime in and then are quiet a little longer, knowing we are there. Ours usually want to be in the room with people so we have two cages. One in the main living room where they can hang out and see us, and one in the office where they can be separate or conversely/hang with us if we are working in the office. The office works well for a time out room or a nap room if they are being excessively noisy in the middle of the day. Good luck with the chirping, just keep in mind that he is probably trying to tell you something, its just a matter of figuring out what it is!

Hi and welcome... hope you enjoy the forum..
vicki