I certainly understand the screaming. I kind of had the opposite experience with that. I got to witness the screaming of my U2 many times before we brought him home. He was previously housed in a smaller sized glass walled bird room. His screams bounced off the walls there and were deafening. I nearly did not adopt him because I was thinking "Could I deal with this in the home?" Now he's home of course, and the screams don't seem as loud since my house is a lot more sound proof than a small glass wall bird room. That said, the screams are pretty loud. In fact, I measured them with a dB meter at 100 dB (equivalent to a loud rock concert according to a chart on google) in the living room
. That said, I'm pretty crazy sometimes too haha, so maybe its a taste of my own medicine. The screaming doesn't really bother me that much to be honest.
Tips that work for mine in those situations you described.
Screaming when I leave the room: I generally call out to him and say "Casper, I am right here, I didn't leave you crazy dude". And he sometimes stops, usually not completely but sometimes he stops completely. Or at least lowers the frequency. At first he didn't stop at all, I continue to do it and it helps.
Screaming at Supper: Yup, that happens here too. And funny thing is, he can see us sitting at the dinner table when hes on his gym in the living room. Then I saw him clicking his beak while we were eating and realized, well jeez, maybe he wants some dinner too. So before I sit down for dinner I give him some food too. If we are having something bird safe I will simply give him what we are eating. Or if we are not, then I will cut a slice of bell pepper, or mango, or something he likes. Its kind of like having a super expensive dinner at an all inclusive resort in the jungle right????!
Screaming when guests come over: He used to do this too. But I usually leave him out when guests are over. I started having guests give him a nut. He now seems to have connected guests as being valuable to him too (They are a source of his favorite nuts afterall). He now insists he crawls on every (adult) guest for loving.
I certainly see where you are coming from, and I understand why your family could be upset. If you really dont want to give him up, the screaming can certainly be less than it is now, but they are cockatoos afterall and they love to scream. Mine has a scream fest at about 7:30 every night which he knows is his bed time haha. In the mornings when he gets up, and whenever we get home and open his cage. He is out 100% of the time we are home (except for bed), so I am not sure how he would do if he was in a cage by himself when we were home. I would think not good, because I certainly wouldn't want to be locked in a cage while life is going on around me.
I guess where I am going with this is, hes a cockatoo and will always scream, albeit with some work maybe a bit less than he is now. If your family is giving you this ultimatum then it may be in his best interests to give him up to a family that can deal with it. And thats nothing to be ashamed of. In my opinion I would much rather see someone throw in the towel early on instead of stressing the bird out by living around family who don't want him there anymore. Birds are crazy animals, they can sense when someone likes them and when they don't.
