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What do you do when your 'too drives you crazy?

Barcann

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Anna! Sweetest bird ever! Anna! Most annoying bird ever!
Anna has a large outdoor aviary with lots of branches to climb on, lots of things to chew, lots of toys, and is of course well fed.
She is near our gate so announces everyone who comes to the gate. She also has a direct line of view into our kitchen, and gets very noisy when she sees any of us in the kitchen...or sees us walk by..or hears our voices in the house. we have taken to whispering a lot lol
I talk to her all the time and open the feeding door and pet her. I sometimes go in the aviary and sit with her and let her cuddle with me. She loves that. I do too actually.
But most of the time she is alone in her home, just watching everything.
I feel guilty I don't go inside her aviary more often and sit with her.
Sometimes..a lot of times..when there is no one in the kitchen or outside, she starts to scream and I mean scream..without taking a breath.
That's when I want to strangle her. My husband really has a love/hate relationship with her and when she starts up, he disappears into the basement so he cannot hear her.
When she is doing this screaming, we cannot watch TV . We cannot have a conversation. We cannot talk on the telephone. We cannot hear ourselves think.
I don't mind the noises she makes but the incessant screaming makes me crazy.
Luckily she usually only does this a couple times a day. and luckily she does not do this at 6:00 in the morning. The neighbors would kill me.
I guess this is life with a cockatoo.
gotta love them!
 

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Mizzely

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Sounds like she is flock calling because she can't see you. It's unnatural for birds to be alone since they are flock animals, and it can be stressful if she's by herself, especially for long periods of time. Any chance of a buddy, or letting her come into the house for the periods she can't see you?
 

Barcann

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Sounds like she is flock calling because she can't see you. It's unnatural for birds to be alone since they are flock animals, and it can be stressful if she's by herself, especially for long periods of time. Any chance of a buddy, or letting her come into the house for the periods she can't see you?
she has been by herself in a cage at our local zoo for many years. and she is a rescue. we have had her for about 8 months. I am not sure how well she would do with another bird. I do feel she is lonely though.
we do have a large cage on wheels for her in case of inclement weather but we are not really set up to have her in the house.
 

faislaq

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I was going to say, our G2 is usually on one of us and only screams when we don't let her out soon enough when we get home. If she gets fussy other than that it's easy to hand her a fresh bowl of beads and toy parts to keep her busy, but again, she stands on us while she plays with them.

I would have thought an outdoor aviary would be plenty entertaining, but it sounds like @Mizzely is right. She wants to be with her flock. If she can't be with you I'd seriously consider another U2. Even if they didn't get along well enough to be housed in the same space, could you build a similar aviary next to hers so they can still see each other and communicate? (And maybe connect the 2 spaces if they end up bonding?)


A second bird would be the most entertaining "toy" she could have, even if they couldn't stand each other they'd both benefit from the companionship of just being near one another. :tup: And I can't begin to imagine how her life would change if they did get along. :heart:
 
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Fia Baby

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Does she live in the aviary full time? If so, she must spend a good bit of her time alone (?)- which would never happen in the wild, and she's very stressed by it. You could try having her live indoors with you, with a more traditional cage and play stand, and only put her in the aviary when you're out or nearby. Or - you could look for another umbrella to keep her company, and slowly introduce them. If she's outside all the time, and alone most of the time, she'll never be at ease with this arrangement. She is beautiful and she sounds like a great girl. I hope you find a solution to this - it would be hard to live with the constant screaming, and I imagine you won't be able to tolerate it for long.
 

Barcann

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thanks for the replies. great minds for sure :)

I think you are right in what you are saying but I don't know if I can do any of that. We are older retired folks living on a Caribbean island. It is very hard at this time to import birds so getting another U2 would be hard.
I think the solution is to maybe let her inside more or have a cage that is closer to us. Now all I have to do is convince my husband of that lol
Thanks for the suggestions. I will work on all that and in the meantime try to give her more attention.
 

JLcribber

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thanks for the replies. great minds for sure :)

I think you are right in what you are saying but I don't know if I can do any of that. We are older retired folks living on a Caribbean island. It is very hard at this time to import birds so getting another U2 would be hard.
I think the solution is to maybe let her inside more or have a cage that is closer to us. Now all I have to do is convince my husband of that lol
Thanks for the suggestions. I will work on all that and in the meantime try to give her more attention.
It doesn’t have to be another cockatoo. I’m sure you can rescue another parrot. Section off the aviary and you have two environments.
 

cassiesdad

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I agree with @Mizzely....Anna is flock calling for you.
I think the solution is to maybe let her inside more or have a cage that is closer to us.
Yes...both good ideas, I think..in the absence of another bird, you've become Anna's flock...it happens a lot with 'toos. Milton was raised as a lone bird, and now he really would rather be with people than other birds. He's seen Elvis the G2, our guest here, and Milty just looks at him with indifference.
 

Barcann

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thanks again for all the great ideas. do any of you have any recommendations for a good play stand that I could have her on in the house?
 

cassiesdad

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Oh yes...when our birds drive me absolutely nuts (for whatever reason) I make sure they are safe and secure, and go for a drive. I come back in an hour or so.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's best that I leave for a bit...
 

faislaq

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thanks again for all the great ideas. do any of you have any recommendations for a good play stand that I could have her on in the house?
We made Buzzard's playstand out of a rolling, double garment rack. We hung toys on it & wrapped it with vet wrap for grip. I'm able to roll him from room to room with me.
0719171746-1-1.jpg


The best part was it was $50 at Walmart and has pretty big wheels so it rolls easily. :dance5:And the top shelf makes it sturdy and gives me a place to put a poo-catcher and the bottom shelf holds toys and food. Love it!
 
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Fia Baby

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Nothing in particular - something durable that you find somewhat attractive and that can handle a couple toys. A food bowl would be nice, but mine doesn't have that feature - I can hand her treats if I want to. Something that you can move around would be nice. Sometimes regular furniture works really well - like a kitchen/bar stool that's made of something durable, with a throw rug underneath. Then your house doesn't wind up looking like a zoo...
 

Barcann

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We made Buzzard's playstand out of a rolling, double garment rack. We hung toys on it & wrapped it with vet wrap for grip. I'm able to roll him from room to room with me.
View attachment 277393


The best part was it was $50 at Walmart and has pretty big wheels so it rolls easily. :dance5:And the top shelf makes it sturdy and gives me a place to put a poo-catcher and the bottom shelf holds toys and food. Love it!
that is so cute! Great idea! He doesn't fly away?
 

Barcann

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Nothing in particular - something durable that you find somewhat attractive and that can handle a couple toys. A food bowl would be nice, but mine doesn't have that feature - I can hand her treats if I want to. Something that you can move around would be nice. Sometimes regular furniture works really well - like a kitchen/bar stool that's made of something durable, with a throw rug underneath. Then your house doesn't wind up looking like a zoo...
thanks. another good idea. I am worried about Anna flying away though
 

Barcann

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Look! Anna has a new temporary daytime home! She is right in front of our door. She can see me at the computer. So far she is not screaming. She is just saying hello, hello, hello.

I hope this works.
I will figure out a play stand for her eventually but for now, I will see if this helps.
Thanks again for all the suggestions!
 

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faislaq

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that is so cute! Great idea! He doesn't fly away?
Buzzard doesn't fly. But our G2 Luv Bug does fly, and while she prefers to be on us, I can't have her on me in the kitchen (beads dropped in the food, garbage disposal, etc) so she has a corner of the bar that is "hers". I have a box of toys on the counter below that she can reach easily and spends most of her time there anting or tossing them to the floor, but it keeps her occupied. She will also fly to the top of her day cage where we have her bath set up & put a saucer of oatmeal out for her. Maybe if Anna's playstand had enough food and fun stuff on it she might stay there or at least go back to it often once the newness of flying around the house wears off. :shrug2:
 

Fia Baby

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Flying - yes, my macaw flies to me constantly. It's kind of like playing "catch" in the middle of trying to do any other thing - sometimes it is annoying, but I can always put her in and shut the door when I've had enough. Make sure you answer her sometimes when she calls to you - not every time, but sometimes.
 
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