New baby and I’ve already messed up

[FrankyBoo]

Hi all!

I’m a first time parrot owner. I researched parrots for about 2 years trying to figure out the most compatible species with my family and lifestyle and finally settled on Pionus. I got put on a few different waiting lists but then in March I found a bronze wing. His name is Franky and he came home late April.

He was quiet at first. Taking everything in. We didn’t push interaction and let him take the lead. When I’d speak to him and say his name he’d do this baby bleating. Super cute and I encouraged it because it was something he was only doing with me. I’m also an idiot.

Skip ahead to now, he’s been home for 5 weeks and in the last week if I even make eye contact or enter the room with him he bleats like a banshee even when I’m holding him, he just does it right into my ear. He keeps it up unless I ignore him for a while but then goes straight back to it if I look again.

Thinking about it as I type this up, I brought him to the vets right before he started escalating this behavior and they did a blood draw, so I think it could have been an especially traumatic experience. I have no idea how to get him to feel secure and stop the crying so much.

He is also terrified of the clicker and stick I bought for clicker training, so I’m trying to slowly get him used to it. He barely ever takes treats from me too, so even when I can capture a quiet behavior, he doesn’t take his reward. ‍

He was on a seed and pellet diet, so I’ve been slowly weaning off the seeds. Hoping that will make them more special and worth his attention for training. I also keep interaction to a minimum when he’s super worked up, but I have to interact sometimes, so I’m pretty sure that cancels any progress made.

Aside from the screaming he’s shy, but awesome. He’s had cuddly moments and will step up for my kids. I’m so happy we got him. I’m sure once we work through this we’ll be golden.

Anyone have a similar experience or tip and tricks to help minimize this?

Thanks so much! Pics, cause he’s just the cutest. Worth all the blown drums in the world, lol.

 

[Shezbug]

How did you encourage this sound? Whatever you did to encourage the sound may be your answer to finding his favourite reward.

 

[FrankyBoo]

How did you encourage this sound? Whatever you did to encourage the sound may be your answer to finding his favourite reward.

I would just say “Hi Franky Boo!” all excited and he would bleat back at me. He wasn’t doing it nonstop though, only as a response but now he does it even when I just look at him. I’m trying to step out of sight when he’s really yelling and he has started to go quiet a little bit faster, but he starts up the second I’m back in line of sight.

 

[Fuzzy]

to you and Frankie! Frankie is indeed gorgeous and cute all rolled into one!! How old is he?

As for taking treats from you, what does he go for in his food bowl first? They will usually be his favourite things which you can remove and save for treats instead of putting in the food bowl. It doesn't have to be seeds, it could be fresh food like peas etc. You could even use a few bites of millet spray as a reinforcer. Reinforcers don't have to always be treats as you have found out - obviously attention is hugely reinforcing for him. Also with training you don't have to use a clicker - the most important part of training is the reinforcer, clicker or not... although admittedly the click becomes reinforcing too, but only when paired with the treat/toy/etc.

When doesn't he engage in the unwanted sound? Is there any way to expand on these times? Usually with unwanted behaviour you would use differential reinforcement which is putting the unwanted behaviour on extinction (ie. not reinforcing it) but more importantly highly reinforce a more acceptable behaviour. If you can choose a behaviour that is incompatible with screaming, like whistling or talking, even better as it is impossible to scream and whilstle/talk at the same time. But an alternative behaviour may work just as well. How about playing with foot toys with him and make that highly reinforcing... ie. a huge amount of attention for playing with you without screaming. Hopefully he'll be too engaged in playing to scream. I wrote something about excessive screaming some of which you might find helpful:

Parrots - Stop Excessive Squawking or Screaming | ThinkParrot

How to address the problem of excessive screaming in your parrot using the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis.

thinkparrot.com

 

[conurehrdr]

As for the clicker training, I would start small. If he freaks out at close proximity to it, take it back a notch. Once he's used to that, you can push his boundary a bit. Otherwise, everyone else had good advice

 

[fashionfobie]

The picture not Frankie sleeping on you is very cute.

I do not have experience with pinous, but I will like another member who has two! @tka may have some advice

 

[fashionfobie]

Oh no! That should have read "picture of Frankie"! please excuse my typo

 

[FrankyBoo]

to you and Frankie! Frankie is indeed gorgeous and cute all rolled into one!! How old is he?

As for taking treats from you, what does he go for in his food bowl first? They will usually be his favourite things which you can remove and save for treats instead of putting in the food bowl. It doesn't have to be seeds, it could be fresh food like peas etc. You could even use a few bites of millet spray as a reinforcer. Reinforcers don't have to always be treats as you have found out - obviously attention is hugely reinforcing for him. Also with training you don't have to use a clicker - the most important part of training is the reinforcer, clicker or not... although admittedly the click becomes reinforcing too, but only when paired with the treat/toy/etc.

When doesn't he engage in the unwanted sound? Is there any way to expand on these times? Usually with unwanted behaviour you would use differential reinforcement which is putting the unwanted behaviour on extinction (ie. not reinforcing it) but more importantly highly reinforce a more acceptable behaviour. If you can choose a behaviour that is incompatible with screaming, like whistling or talking, even better as it is impossible to scream and whilstle/talk at the same time. But an alternative behaviour may work just as well. How about playing with foot toys with him and make that highly reinforcing... ie. a huge amount of attention for playing with you without screaming. Hopefully he'll be too engaged in playing to scream. I wrote something about excessive screaming some of which you might find helpful:

Parrots - Stop Excessive Squawking or Screaming | ThinkParrot

How to address the problem of excessive screaming in your parrot using the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis.

thinkparrot.com

Thanks for the response!

He’s only a baby at 4 months old, so I think that might be why he’s so focused on making the baby noise.

I’ve noticed he stops screaming when playing so I did a big toy rearrange and bought some new ones, but he’ll still scream once I try to interact.

He’s shy in general and will occasionally take a sunflower seed, but any other food I have to drop into his bowl because he looks at it like it’s poison when it’s in my hand but rushes over to pig out once I drop it in the bowl, lol.

I like the idea of getting him to whistle, but he only does that for the contact call when I’m in another room. I’ll have to figure out how to reinforce it.

 

[FrankyBoo]

As for the clicker training, I would start small. If he freaks out at close proximity to it, take it back a notch. Once he's used to that, you can push his boundary a bit. Otherwise, everyone else had good advice

Thanks!!

 

[Wardy]

He’s shy in general and will occasionally take a sunflower seed, but any other food I have to drop into his bowl because he looks at it like it’s poison when it’s in my hand but rushes over to pig out once I drop it in the bowl, lol.

I have no experience with pionus sorry but this is a great technique to offer treats without overwhelming the bird in the early days. I done this with one of my conures who is very nervous after a few weeks she was taking a seed from my hand through the bars.

 

[macawpower58]

I'm not sure there's really a problem. He's only a baby, and you've become the surrogate caregiver. Baby birds cry when they see their parents. They are asking for food and attention. I'm also not sure when Bronze Wings wean, but you may be seeing some regression (for feeding). Does he also do the baby bob/begging? I've known many babies that will still bob, beg and cry even as young adults in certain situations.

If it was me, I'd give a quick cuddle, make sure it's not food the baby is wanting, then offer some toys or other attention grabbing activity.

I also don't know many adult birds (if any) that don't outgrow baby crying. I'd not stress too much.

I'm just offering another thought.

 

[FrankyBoo]

I'm not sure there's really a problem. He's only a baby, and you've become the surrogate caregiver. Baby birds cry when they see their parents. They are asking for food and attention. I'm also not sure when Bronze Wings wean, but you may be seeing some regression (for feeding). Does he also do the baby bob/begging? I've known many babies that will still bob, beg and cry even as young adults in certain situations.

If it was me, I'd give a quick cuddle, make sure it's not food the baby is wanting, then offer some toys or other attention grabbing activity.

I also don't know many adult birds (if any) that don't outgrow baby crying. I'd not stress too much.

I'm just offering another thought.

Thanks so much! I was thinking he might be regressing. Maybe I’ll add some more food when he’s really worked up. It’s kind of funny when he bleats with a full mouth, and at least it’s quieter, lol.

 

[macawpower58]

Just try offering something soft and warmed up; applesauce, sweet potato, scramble eggs (no butter), etc.
Offer them by hand or spoon.
If it is a bit of regression, it's a more emotional need than a need for food, so just a small bit may satisfy him.