I have had Paulie my quaker 8 mths he will be a year old in nov. I love him, but lately he is driving me and my whole family crazy. All he does is scream. He never used to be like this. He is talking and I talk to him all the time, but if I am not showering him with attention all the time or letting him sit on my shoulder (which i hate to do anymore, because he picks at my neck and makes me bleed) he will chatter and talk which is ok, but then he starts screaming ughhhhhhhhhh I end up out of frustration putting his blanket on his cage to make him go nite nite. Help .... what can I do? What am I doing wrong?

A few questions to help us give you some tips:

Where is his cage located

How much time does he get to be out of his cage

How many toys and what type does he have

How much uninterrupted sleep does he get at night

That's for starters, I'm sure others will have some more!

This a very common problem...what happens (IMO) is that we bring this cute new bird home and everyone makes a big tadoo over him and wants to play with him every waking minute; and being a flock animal they thrive on being with a flock mate and not liking to be alone. So when the new starts wearing off or our schedules suddenly change we spend less time with the bird. Well the bird doesn't understand that, he still expects the same kind of treatment and attention as he was first getting. So now in order to get attention, he's learned that if he screams etc he will get some attention because you have obviously come running or spoken with him while he's doing the screaming.

How do you undo the situation?? Time and patience and changing your habits so you don't keep encouraging him to yell.

The easiest part is to keep the bird occupied, teach him to play with his toys while you're not there, teach him to forage for treats and food while you are away. Teach him a whistle instead of a flock call when he's calling for you. You can also teach him that you aren't really gone by whistling or singing when your out of his sight.

It is possible for him to learn that just because you are out of sight doesn't mean you are gone. Birds as I said are flock animals...they depend on their flock mates to keep them safe as well as to keep them company and entertained. So each of your family members should pick a snappy tune and whistle it around him so he soon leans to equate that tune with the individual person. Such as Pop goes the weasel or row row row your boat or what ever your choices are. But only that person uses the particular whistle. When he learns that song you should be able to leave the room and whistle the tune a couple times to let him know that you aren't totally gone so he doesn't feel he's alone. You'll be surprised that he will learn to call who he wants by the tune he whistles back. I'd much rather hear a whistle over and over again than a scream, wouldn't you?

Another thing is to ignore bad behavior (screaming) and acknowledge good or wanted behavior so don't go running to him the minute he starts screaming or yell at him. Wait till he stops screaming and then whistle your tune. If he starts screaming while your whistling. Stop...wait till he's done and then start your tune again.

You might also try talking in a soft voice so he has to listen to be able to hear you.

Can you set his cage in a place where he can see the general goings of the entire house so if you should say leave the living room to go to the kitchen can he still see you? You might consider trying that and see how he does.

Also when you know you're going to leave the room, Tell him you'll be right back...Birds can be taught to basically tell times of day if you are consistant. For instance, if you work outside the home, Your routine will show him that you do leave. And by leaving a TV on that he can hear you can teach him that you'll be back after a specific show is over or on... For instance we know that Oprah is on at the same time everyday...So what you would tell the bird is that You'll be back when Oprah is on. Or what ever show would be on at the time you generally come home. They will learn to associate that with you coming home.

I have several birds who have learned that I will be gone...totally out of sight when they hear my car keys rattle. I always tell them, Bye Bye, see ya later... and they knew I'd be back soon. But when I was working I'd say. Bye Bye, I'll see you tonight, be good birds...play with your toys.

It won't happen over night, but if you're consistant it will help make a difference.

And just so you know...this problem you're facing is one of the biggest reasons that birds get rehomed.

That's the main reason the rescue society was told the family that had Kiko (the 5 year old quaker I adopted last week) couldn't keep her... She definately goes through spurts where she gets wound up and it's EAR SPLITTING. So far they've been fairly short and I've been whistling the first two parts of the Inspector Gadget theme song to her. Within the week I've had her she's trying to whistle it back already. Pointedly turning your back and avoiding eye contact seems to work too if I'm close enough to catch her before she gets carried away. The second she makes a sound other than screaming I turn around and tell her how good she is, making sure to look her right in the eye.

Don't get me wrong... at first it REALLY messes with any kind of daily schedule considering how consistant you have to be. Some days she has good days and she only does her regular flock calling in the morning and evening (which doesn't count as screaming... all parrots do a gr'morning and gr'night thing in one way or another). Other days every time I even LOOK like I'm going to leave the room she goes into almost hysterics. And apparently when I'm not home and my boyfriend is she alarm screams the entire time she can see him. I'm trying to get him to understand that she only sees him for about two hours out of every day because of his work and class schedule and she sees me all day except for the two hours I'm out of the house on weekdays taking the kids to Karate. My next door neighbour says she doesn't scream for more than a minute after I pull away from the house as long as she has on her light and either a kids DVD or the Kids music channel on the TV.

Petrie does this also, and what we do is make sure she has plenty of time away from the cage, and plenty of open cage time. We also rotate her toys often, and introduce a new toy now and then. We just got her a new cage tonight, and she is pretty upset over being left in it so of course she's hollering away and doing the quaker biatching aka chattering lol.

Anyway my point is you need to rotate often, give plenty of away from cage time & open cage time as well as being mindfull of where you're placing his cage. Keep away from drafty places (ie, windows), keep it near a lighting source, ect.

I agree with what Andie's Mom said about teaching phrase meanings. Due to my work schedule there are days I'm gone for a full 12 hrs. Every morning, same time I lift the cage cover I say "good morning", then I open up the cage door, lift Pugsly out and set him on his t-perch at the window while i clean his dishes and give him fresh food and water. When that's done, I pick up up and give him kisses and I wisper to him, "Hungry? Wanna eat?" then set him to his food dish back in the cage. He starts eating right away, and then I just tell him, "gotta go to work, love you, see you later, be a good boy" and he responds, "see you later, gotta go to work". That means I won't be back for awhile. He knows and doesn't get too stressed about it.

Also, I give him several foot toys, at least one chewy one, and hanging toys he can tear apart to keep himself busy while I'm gone. Keeps them from getting too bored.

When I am home, I will usually at least 2-3 times a week, fill a dog dish with warm water and set it down for him to bathe in. When he's "all clean", he goes back to his cage to preen and have a treat and he is silent for hours. I don't remember who I got the wisper trick from, but that really seems to help a lot with the noise level. He always wispers to me when I am holding him now, lol.