I wasn't for sure if I should put this under Introductions or Parrot Behaviour....

My new baby's name is Squawky.....I am about to pull my hair out....He squawks if I'm present, he squawks if I'm not present, and I don't know what to do....This has been going on for 3 or 4 days....If I hold him for a little while and go to the back side of the house and don't make any noise, he is okay with that; but the minute he hears I'm moving around, he starts....

Now I know it is hormone season because he showed me yesterday he could get a little romantic, not too persistant with it, I stopped it....

So don't tell me it is hormones, just tell me what to do to fix it...I sure can't hold him all the time....And that is when he is an angel, preening away...He got a good bath yesterday and he gets his required amount of sleep...So I am at my wits end..HELP..

So sorry about Mr. Squawky. The only thing I can thing of is to duct tape his beak shut.

Seriously, there ain't gonna be a quick fix. You can try possitive reinforcement. Instead of offering him a toy or a treat to settle him down when he's noisy, do the opposite.

When you notice a nice quiet period, just show up with a treat. Keep doing it, but only when he's quiet. Eventually he'll(hopefully)get the message that being quiet brings treats.

I'm sure he'll quiet down once the "happy" season is over.

Loco has been noisier than usual at our place. Once he starts Maya starts. When Maya starts Buddy starts......

Sorry your having a hard time with Harley!
Spring is here!!!

Cold shower? - Nah, I don't guess you could do that.

Willie is between 8 and 9 months old so I probably won't have to go through it until next year. I'm going to watch this thread closely and make note of any tips that show up.

Well good luck on taking notes QPdad...I don't think many people want to touch it, but it doesn't keep them from reading.... Nobody is saying too much..... Yep, and you sure have something to look forward to if it is all hormones....



I just wish I had some more tips...Will try to do what UZ says but dunno cause I'm forever giving him a little of this and a little of that....I still don't think he is eating his pellets like he once was and I have tried new ones...

Just wondering even when birdies go thru the hormone stuff, however it is with them, do you suppose they will squawk until the season is over..God, I hope not...I don't remember Harley being like this last year....Oh well, I guess that is part of the enjoyment of having a little quaker monster....

Wow, I can't help you with Mr Squawky, but I wanted to wish you patience and peace through it all!
Good luck.... my time is coming!!

Ugh Julie I can totally understand where you are coming from. This is Peanut's first "season" and he is driving me absolutely freakin bonkers. he is screaming then when i get him out of his cage for some one on one time I don't know whether he's going to attack me or be nice. He's extremely undpredictable. I wish there was something we can do but right now I'm beginning to think just patience to get ourselves through this is key.

Hey Julie, where is the picture? I didn't see one. Oh yeah I guess you didn't attach one.

UZ you crack me up.

Gee I must be lucky, so far Quincy is being quite lovely...oops I probably shouldn't say anything or I'll jinx myself

Good luck Julie, I don't know what to say but hang in there, and take lots of walks outside, by yourself

I am new here and I hope I dont offend anyone when I chime in.

When Freddie started squacking a few weeks ago I thought she was just as happy to see spring come in as I was. So when she squacked, we went outside. I put her in the grass and let her walk around or put her in a branch of a tree. I would take a breather and soak up some of the son's warmth while she played a few minutes. We now do that about 3 times per day and its healthy for both of us! And Freddie doesnt squack anymore......unless she sees me heading to the door without her.

She is coming to realize that when I put her in her cage during the day it means that I am leaving the house and she cant come with me. Its quieter now.

Thanks y'all---Connie, Andie, Cheryl and anybody...How long will the hard squawking continue please...?



Stella, no picture this time, he isn't a very good boy...

And Catherine, that isn't a bad idea, just go walking round and round the house I guess....

And sometimes guys my patience just isn't there.....But am trying to maintain my peace of mind....

All I CAN Say Julie is I hope Harley settles down pretty soon....

Oh no Ginny, you aren't offended me or anyone and I don't won't to offend you; but please don't or should I say I would hesitate to put birdie in a tree or on the grass for fear of getting possibly a disease from outside birds....

I use to do this when Harley was younger until someone told me I shouldn't and I hardly let him sit on the backporch bannisters because the wild birds sit up there...

Just wanted to bring that to your attention because someone had to tell me also....

It is a hard situation to deal with. I wish I had some kind of information to share with you. When Bomber would act this way, I would really try to focus his screaming at a toy or I would start singing until he would start singing or talking...THEN I would reward him with picking him up. I think if we could find a good answer, we would solve one of the bird world's greatest mystery. I'll keep thinking on it...but I sure wish you luck!

Hi Julie, I feel for you. Glad Andi came in to help. I think that is a great idea to focus on a toy. I used to do Cheryl's technique (when possible);skwalk with them. Cheryl has said that she would just have big skwalk sessions or flock calling, back and forth, I tried it with the Pepster and it seemed to help. It didn't completely stop her but it toned her down a bit. Either that or she just plain got tired. Another one of Cheryls things is to give them forage seed/treat time on the floor. Spread treats/seed/pellets on a safe place on floor and let them go hog wild. It is a mess to clean but keeps them occupied for a while. Pepe loved that. I know seed is bad, it is a once in a while thing.

Petey has been really bad this year. I was taking his romantic toys out of the cage until I realized thats probably why he is squacking so much and I left one of his girlfriends in the cage (a bell toy with beads on it how pathetic right?) and it seems to have settled him down more that he is able to get randy with this one toy. He is getting better tho and doing it less so I think for me he is ending his desire to mate and will be back to himself in no time.

I am pretty sure that your bird will be back to themselves as soon as the hormonal time passes which generally can be a couple weeks or a month (sorry each bird seems to be different in re to the time frame)

Have you tried a spraybottle full of cold water??? Captain is squawky this time of year too, but usually shushes when I show her the "Spray Bottle of Quaker Doom!".

The only thing you can try is making some foraging toys... I just use a piece of paper and crumple it up with seeds and stuff in it. Something that will take a while to chew up, give him one before you go to watch a movie or leave the room. That will sometimes help. Captain used to try and have noise contests with movies when we watched them but if she was given something like a foraging toy or some popcorn before the movie, she'd quiet down in favour of tasty snacks.





Heh, Actually you're not far off with the cold shower QPDad... if Captain is being obnoxious I'll sometimes soak her down with a misting bottle or just take her in the shower for a good drenching. It quiets her down about 80-90% of the time

I think you and Cheryl are right Pepe....He sure hasn't been any different today....Hoping for better days....Skwalk sessions it will be too...Just anything....lol....

I think we all need to have at least one sound proof closet in our house where we can hide when the fids get nuts!

I have actually been putting Tiki in his travel cage and we go outside - or I will put his flight suit on and we will go for a walk - it seems to help - he gets tired out looking at everything and forgets to scream.

Good call Joanne...Thanks for that tip also....And yes Jamie I've tried the spray bottle too...Like you said it doesn't last too long...Guess some peace and quite is better than none....

my only advice is not to give attention to him when hes screaming. I was reading my birdtalk magazine, and they tried to help show the cause of bad behavior. Basically you reward your bird by trying to punish it if you go to it when it screams. What happens is the bird is lonely/bored/angry ect. so he screams. Then, the owner goes to the bird, even if there punishing it, the bird still gets the attention it wants.Also, if you havent already, try closing doors or talking softly to it when you leave the room. closing the doors is just to mask the noise. If you talk softly, some birds will be quiet to try to listen. seems like the oppisite would happen with him/her, but its worth a shot.

My Rico shrieks when he wants to be squirted. He'll do his little screams, and fluff up in preparation for his squirting.

Just have patience. Your baby will quiet down. They go through a loud phase, you know. Though quakers DO seem to be in a perpetual loud phase. If you REALLY feel like giving up your bird, just drive down to Pensacola Florida, and we'll take care of him.

How old is squawky?

Oh my---Thanks Victoria for your advise....I was only kidding about giving up my baby.... Sorry if I mislead anyone...In other words that is his nickname...In reality his name is Harley and he is 3 1/2 years old....Just couldn't part with my baby...

It seems a lot of people are having the same problem with squawky birds, so I'll have to take the advise that is offered and see what works....He wants to get romantic with his mommy but I can't allow that.....Attention, attention.....

Thanks anyway for your input....And I do love Florida....

I was going to say, Steve can just put him in that helicopter and point him toward Endicott.

"Spray Bottle of Quaker Doom"....lol....yep, I have one of tose too. When Georgie starts to cut loose on her squawkin, I show it to her and she shuts up.

Tequila has been really bad lately, too. This is going to sound kind of nuts, but here is what I have changed and it *seems* to have made a bit of difference with the screaming the last week and a half.

~I dont let the late afternoon sunlight in the room. Right about sunset is when she seems to get bad, so I just close the blinds and turn on the room light before that happens.

~increased her sleep time to 12.5 hours and increased baths to twice a week

~also, when she gets REALLY riled up, I have started squirting her with a spraybottle

anyway, not a whole lot for you but maybe some of those will help. Hang in there, girl!! It will get better...

QPdad, if I can get Steve to do that, do you suppose the copter will know which way is north....Tell you what, Let me take Willie for awhile because he is very young yet and you can cuddle with Harley until ???? Sounds like a good deal?



Harley is ready for bed about the time the sun goes down Tara Rose and he gets up between 8:00 and 9:00 the next morning...Maybe he is getting too much sleep...

Then again, we live right by a main highway and trafffic is going 24 hours a day, especially large trucks with their bang bang noise...Maybe he isn't getting enough sleep...I just dunno...

But I would be willing to take you up on that offer QPdad if you send him back home at a later date....

Thanks everyone, you all have given me some great ideas; now I have to see what is going to work.....

Well Julie, Quincy has joined the screaming club, for the past 2 days he's been a total pain in the butt. Tomorrow he's going to get his nails trimmed at the vet, that usually poops him out, hopefully he'll sleep most of the day afterward.

Georgie has been letting it loose this morning. I'm getting a headache.

It's sunny here.....wonder if that has something to do with it some. Like I said in another thread, when it's gloomy out, she's pretty quiet. When it's sunny and pretty out, she's screamin her bloody head off.