How to keep my conure quiet

[Cinnyluver]

My dad is working at home right now and he does a lot of business phone calls (especially in the morning). Lately he has started to realize that my birds are disturbing his phone calls and everyone can hear them screaming and chirping. Juni, my mitred conure, is the biggest problem. Now I'm supposed to keep him quiet during the morning and I can't figure out how to! No ones ever been bothered by Juni's noise until now and keeping Juni quiet is like trying to keep a rowdy toddler sitting still! Right now he's on my shoulder so I can try to keep him calm and occupied but he keeps yelling and screaming. I tried giving him treats, covering his cage, letting him forage on the ground, cuddling with him, and he still won't shut up!! My dad is getting a new office in a couple months so I need to figure out how to keep Juni's noise down in the morning until then. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[waterfaller1]

Short of cruelty{covering the bird or keeping them in the dark} there isn't a whole lot you can do to stop a bird from doing his normal morning calling. It is natural for them to be vocal in the a.m., then towards dusk. Many conures sound off all day...

 

[waterfaller1]

Do you have anyone who could foster them until dad gets his new office?

 

[wonderb]

Can you take him outside during his phone calls? Give him a shower so then he'll spend more time preening?

 

[waterfaller1]

Good ideas Ellen. Have you tried a radio or tv?

 

[Cinnyluver]

Thanks for the advice. He loves going outside in his harness and even if he's vocal out there, it won't bother my dad. So I'll try that and give him a shower. The radio might work, but he usually just wants to sing along with it.

 

[Ming-Ming]

I have that issue too! My roommates sometimes get so angry with their noises.
Sometimes I make up some foraging toys, that usually keeps them busy for like... 30 mins?

 

[Sierra_N_Fids]

You could try a bath and then feed Juni something she really likes. My birds always get quiet when i do this.

 

[Cinnyluver]

I gave him some of his favorite treats and he stayed quiet for about 30 minutes. I think my dad is done with phone calls for the morning. The biggest problem is early morning before I wake up and Juni's yelling for me. I'm going to start getting up a lot earlier and taking him on morning walks. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

 

[cosmolove]

When I know I need ralphie to stay quite I generally will hold off on his seed the night before (no I'm not starving him he gets them as an "extra" thing) and then I give him a bunch in the morning. Then when I've noticed he's picked through a lot of it I give him 2-3 nutriberries. That usually does the trick. If I can't be there when he needs to be a reasonable noise level I go out and buy those seed stick things covered in like orange flavoring. Works like a charm. Short of covering ralphie up its the only thing that keeps him at a good level.

Nutriberries always work around here tho.

 

[cosmolove]

You could tell your dad to give him food in the morning

 

[KatherinesBirds]

From my experiences, birds just love the sound of someone talking on the phone and tend to act up right then. Kids seem to do the same thing, don't they?
If you have a spare room to move them to, this might be the best thing for right now. At least until your dad has an office set up elsewhere.

 

[JLcribber]

I gave him some of his favorite treats and he stayed quiet for about 30 minutes. I think my dad is done with phone calls for the morning. The biggest problem is early morning before I wake up and Juni's yelling for me. I'm going to start getting up a lot earlier and taking him on morning walks. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

Now that's a perfect example of dedication and taking that extra step to make things work. Bravo.

 

[Cinnyluver]

Thanks for all the help. My dad's office is actually upstairs (we have a pretty big house) and is always has the doors closed. Juni is just so loud that we can hear him clearly even in the garage and front yard! Erica, nutriberries work very well for me too. Juni stayed quiet for at least 20 minutes this morning when I gave him one. I'll let my dad know so when I'm not around, he can just put a few in Juni's food dish.

 

[cosmolove]

Yeah usually I give them three in the mornings after I walk out the door for school other wise my little punks harass my dogs all morning. Usually if I bribe them they just play after instead of scream.

 

[Merlie]

Thanks for all the help. My dad's office is actually upstairs (we have a pretty big house) and is always has the doors closed. Juni is just so loud that we can hear him clearly even in the garage and front yard! Erica, nutriberries work very well for me too. Juni stayed quiet for at least 20 minutes this morning when I gave him one. I'll let my dad know so when I'm not around, he can just put a few in Juni's food dish.

Be careful with this tactic .. you're actually reinforcing the noise by giving a treat/reward. Juni may very well figure out "hey, when I'm loud, I get a goodie, so .. anytime I want a goodie, I just need to be loud!! That's awesome and so easy!!"

See what I'm saying?

 

[cosmolove]

Be careful with this tactic .. you're actually reinforcing the noise by giving a treat/reward. Juni may very well figure out "hey, when I'm loud, I get a goodie, so .. anytime I want a goodie, I just need to be loud!! That's awesome and so easy!!"

See what I'm saying?

My trick is to get them the treat BEFORE they are loud. Like if you know when a work call is coming give them the treats before when they are being quiet and good.

Although "good" isn't in ralphie's vocabulary...

 

[waterfaller1]

There are far better treats than nutriberries, which have questionable ingredients, like propylene glycol.

 

[cosmolove]

My guys are super picky about treats unfortunatly. That's the only one I can readily get them to eat and that takes them more than 5 seconds. Its better than some other alternatives