John's Cockatoo World
I am Cockatoo
Screaming and Biting
Parrot rule #1 --> 1 month human time = 1 minute Parrot time. It CAN take months to change 1 little thing. Patience. Baby steps.
Reference Article:
There is always a reason for screaming and many reasons why. You need to figure out what the reason is.
Birds will scream out of fear. They will scream in the mornings and the evenings. This is a ritual. You need to allow these scream times. If there is a lot of energy in the room they will join in and be just as energetic. In the wild they use contact calls to talk to flock mates over long distances. They will simply call for attention. This is where most people get frustrated.
If the bird is just screaming for attention you need to work on extinguishing it. What is re-enforcing it? Stop it. Something you are doing is reinforcing it. Does the bird have a stimulating environment. Is the birds attention tank low because you have not been filling it? All the people involved must be on board with the same behavior. Re-enforcing the scream just once in a while is way way worse. If your working on screaming, inform all guests so there are no slip ups. You must allow scream times, just not all the time. Ignoring the scream does not always work. You need to teach the bird to make a different, more acceptable sound. Learn the importance of calling back and contact calls.
To get a handle on this you should start keeping records on a calender. What your doing. What the bird is doing. What are the reactions before and after.
Your bird is behaving badly and screams or bites when you are in the same room.
If a bird screams 99 times and on the 100th time we give in and go to them, reward them with attention for it. What the bird has learned is that it takes 100 times for you to give in.
You must absolutely have NO REACTION to screaming or biting behavior. You must ignore it completely. When I say no reaction, I mean nothing. No flinching. No looking at the bird. Do not even lift an eyebrow until the bird stops screaming. No matter how long it takes. You must be 100% consistent in doing this or it won't work. All people that interact with the bird must be on the same page doing the same thing or again, it will not work. Leave his sight if necessary. It's probably the hardest thing you will ever have to do. ANY reaction by you to the bird is a good reaction to the bird.
Praise and treat him immediately whenever he does good things. This is just as important as no reaction.
Biting is even harder to ignore. Believe me, I have the scars to show. You MUST NOT react to the bite. No swinging your arm. No yelling ouch. No crying. No reaction of any kind. Quickly put the bird away (say nothing, just put the bird away) and go an cry and tend to your wounds out of site and sound of the bird.
Again. ANY reaction to the biting reinforces the behavior. The reaction is the reward. Avoid bites at all costs. Do not put yourself in a position to get bitten.
It's a good idea to teach your bird to ride a T-stick. This gives the bird a sturdier place to grip as you move him from place to place and gives you control over the bird so you can handle him with confidence and not show fear. Once they are accustomed to riding the stick, it becomes the preferred method to travel. Your forearm is mushy and does not make a good perch. Tika loves to lean way over when traveling to get a good look at things.
A straight piece of perch material does not work as well because the bird can just shimmy along the stick and bite you on the hand. A T-stick keeps your hand safely out harms way, avoiding the bite. Presenting the stick becomes the cue to "step up" without even using the command anymore.
You need to study your birds behavior intensely. They convey EVERYTHING they do through body language. You must learn his language. Think of things from the birds point of view.
Before the bird learns not to scream it is going to to get worse. Because you are now not going to give into the screaming that the bird knows you will react to. It is going to try harder, and harder and harder for a while until he figures out his screaming gets him NOTHING. This last ditch frantic effort is called an "extinction burst". He will stop screaming for no reason because it doesn't get him anything. You need to outlast him. You need the patience of a stone. Timing is very important. You must leave "immediately" when they scream and come back "immediately" when they are quiet. You must reward this quiet time with enrichment and praise.
You can not stop screaming, but you can change the behavior so the bird uses an acceptable sound or word instead.
Tika was a world class screamer when we adopted him. It took us over a year to change his screaming habit.
Tika's body language before a scream is very clear. He will get that anxious look on his face. Leans forward wings slightly outstretched. Bobbing up and down. Eyes pinned. Looks like he's ready to go somewhere right now.
I would distract him before he screamed by speaking very loudly right to him. "Hello Tika, what ya doin, your not thinking of screaming are you. I love you". I immediately tried to copy any sound he made other than screaming. He liked that. Repeated it right back.
It took a while but when he wanted to scream. He could tell I was going pre-empt his scream. He would jump in before me with "I love you" in a very loud clear voice. I fell on the floor in shock.
Today neither of my birds really screams for no reason. If you leave the room you are sure to get a loud "I'll be back" and "I love you" repeated over and over. I'll take that over screaming any day.