Help With My African Grey

Diane Renshaw

Registered
Hi, my African Grey has been a family pet for 23 years. Recently he has started making a very annoying scream, I’ve tried everything toys/not responding to it. The only time he is quiet is in complete darkness with no noise. I’m beginning to think there is something wrong with his hearing because the more noise there is the louder he becomes.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum
Sounds like your bird has trained you very well :)
Time to think of what happens when this noise is emitted … you interact as its annoying you and he is being rewarded with your attention.
Like a human child if you don't think your getting attention you shout louder and get more off the wall to get the attention you crave.
Sounds more like you need some training help to help remove the scream and replace it with a better sound just to help your ears and sanity.
 
It's possible to train the bird to make the scream that is annoying you into an alternative sounds that is more pleasing such as a whistle that is your interaction with each other but you have to respond to it.
If I leave the room and one of my flock yells to locate me or interact with me then I yell back … we have a flock call.
I ignore an unwanted sound and reward an alternative sound that I prefer with heaps of oo's and argh's and well done and a training treat. Bribery works well in this house.
 
:welcome: Has something changed at home? Anything, it may seem a small change to you but not to your boy. By the way what is his name and can we have a photo please.

Do have a look under the Training Thread also perhaps @Roz would be able to offer more advice.
 
Hi and :welcome: to the forum.
I was thinking the same as Diana....has anything in his environment changed... new furnishings, cage been moved to a different position, have you had a change of hairstyle...might sound strange I know, but parrots uptake objection to things. Can he see something he doesn’t like outside, mine hates magpies and will screech really loudly.
 
Hi, thanks for the help, it’s so loud it’s hard to ignore, but I am trying. No nothing really has changed except the kids have all moved out whether that has anything to do with it. I’ve got parrots talking on you tube constantly at the moment that seems to help
 
His name is Timmy, my late father used to breed African greys, he was kicked out the nest at a very early age, the vet said he wouldn’t survive, but I hand reared him, this is him
 

Attachments

  • 6CFB7CA7-4506-43E0-B0DD-40FE290C5941.jpeg
    6CFB7CA7-4506-43E0-B0DD-40FE290C5941.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 12
Aww he’s beautiful!

How about keeping him busy? Hide some special treats in wrapped up paper and boxes. That might distract him. My Ruby loves an egg box full of treats.
 
Isn't Timmy gorgeous. Good idea there those cardboard egg boxes with things in, many of my birds enjoy having a box in their cage & spend most of the time shredding it to bits and I spend most of my time hoovering it up where it shoots out of the cages!:lol:
 
Just put the Dyson away, come in here & Boxers shoved chewed box bits on to floor again, I give up!:lol:
 
Yes it could be that he’s calling for the rest of his flock...hopefully with reassurance from you he will clam down. We have a whistle call that we use for Chiko and whistle a tune that he’s learnt so we do that when he seeks reassurance and in the gaps between the yelling, it usually calms him down.
@dianaT I think Mr Dyson should give a special discount for parrot owners...i’ve just bought a new cordless, cost a fortune, but does pick up that really, really fine parrot dust! And cardboard, and feathers, and seed, and.......
 
Hi Diane, lot's of good advice and ideas already. Here are my views on it:

Ask yourself what purpose does the behaviour serve for the bird? There may be different reasons throughout the day. Commonly there is the screaming first thing in the morning and/or in the evening. This is the normal dawn or dusk chorus which means it’s good to be alive! At other times the reason could be fear, boredom or joining in with loud household noise (a running tap or vacuum cleaner). And yes, they will make themselves louder if they have to compete with background noise like the TV. Maybe the screaming could be separation anxiety or an overzealous contact call. Or perhaps it is being reinforced either by another animal or human. Choose one instance of screaming. Can you pin point what sets the stage for the behaviour (the antecedent), and also what reinforces it /keeps it happening (the consequence)?

Let’s talk about human interaction.

If the bird enjoys attention and you go to the bird to quieten the screaming/squawking (consequence), guess what you are reinforcing? Yes, more screaming. You are teaching the bird to scream every time he wants attention. If you then try to ignore the screaming it becomes worse. The bird thinks, “this worked before, I’ll just have to scream louder and longer and eventually they will come running”. And what does the human do? The noise is unbearable so eventually the human goes running to the cage. You have just reinforced the louder and longer screaming!

How do we deal with it?

As with any unwanted behaviour the best way to deal with it is to use differential reinforcement. This is putting the unwanted behaviour on extinction (removing the reinforcement) AND reinforcing another behaviour.

Think of another behaviour the bird can already do that you can reinforce instead. A whistle? Talking (eg. Hello)? Ringing a bell? A whistle or talking is going to be doubly effective as the bird can’t whistle/talk at the same time as screaming. It is important the bird already knows how to do the replacement behaviour so that you can easily put it on cue when required.

Cue the whistle or other more acceptable sound BEFORE the unwanted behaviour is expected to start. And reinforce like mad!!! A HUGE amount of attention (since this is the reinforcement for the unwanted behaviour) and maybe even treats too. EVERY TIME the bird makes the more acceptable sound REINFORCE!! You may have to drop what you are doing to come running! Later on you can drop back on the reinforcement and start answering from afar, but when teaching a new behaviour it is vitally important that you put it on a continuous schedule of reinforcement, ie. reinforce EVERY TIME!

At the same time, we need to put the old behaviour on extinction. ie. remove the reinforcement for it. No running up to the bird to quieten him. Wait until a gap in the screaming and cue the whistle. If the bird is screaming with you outside the room, wait for a gap in the screaming before you enter the room again. Then cue the whistle as you walk in and reinforce like mad!

Every animal will choose to do the behaviour that gains most reinforcement (it is called the Premack Principle), which is why the more desired behaviour MUST be HEAVILY reinforced, at least to start with.

We might look more closely at separation anxiety or an overzealous contact call if the excessive screaming starts when you go to leave the room (the antecedent). Separation anxiety is common among social creatures like parrots, especially in those that are hand reared and imprinted on humans. You can still teach the bird to whistle instead of scream using differential reinforcement as previously explained, but it is important to answer the bird’s whistle with your own whistle as you leave the room and from outside the room to let him know, “it’s ok, I am here!”

Teach him to play/forage – he needs to learn how to keep himself occupied. You can do this by providing foraging toys. Nothing complicated to begin with:

Try wrapping his favourite treats in pieces of coffee filter paper (let him watch you do it and leave some of the treat sticking out so that he catches on) and putting them into his dry/seed bowl.

Or fill his dry bowl with beads (big enough so that he doesn’t swallow them) as well as seed/pellets to get him to forage for the food.

Work up to hiding wrapped treats in toys around the cage.

String pieces of fruit and vegetables on a birdie kebab skewer (available from most pet shops) and hang in the cage.

Weave big wet kale leaves through the bars of the cage or hang them from a clothes peg. You may have to start with smaller leaves so as not to frighten the bird.

Fill lengths of coloured paper straws with safflower seed (if bird likes safflowers).

Fill woven “finger traps” with sugar snap peas and tie them to a toy.

Remember you will have to teach him how to forage in tiny manageable steps so that he gets it. Each tiny step he makes towards foraging should be reinforced with lots of attention (since human attention is reinforcing to our bird with separation anxiety).

If he is flighted let him fly and exercise to burn up energy and release feel good endorphins.

Once in a while turn the music up and scream and dance with him – it’s ok to scream sometimes!

Because the bird has learned to scream, he cannot unlearn it, but if we understand the reasons behind the unwanted behaviour we can work towards lessening it and even changing the sound to something more acceptable.
 
Great post from Roz, Ok the fact that your grey will get louder if other noise is happening actually proves there is nothing wrong with its hearing, one thing is he missing your children and the quietness with less activity going on? My grey's Reggie and Molly certainly missed Harry when he went to another home both doing very sharp whistles and calls as if they was calling for him. Knowing how easy it is to reinforce such behaviour with greys I completely ignored it and just carried on as I would normally do. well I hope you can persuade Timmy to be less noisy, love the photo and his little pink feather certainly stands out, well I must say hello and welcome Diane and of course Timmy
 
Back
Top Bottom