Screaming to be Close to Person

[Nostromo]

Hi Avian Avenue,

Our ten year old Blue Head Pionus female has recently developed a habit of screaming whenever she is in the same room as my partner, who is Her Person, and she's not with him on his shoulder or sitting on the couch next to him. The scream is ear splitting and quite irritating. She'll also scream if she hears him talking for a while in another room. She is flighted, so she could fly to him if she wanted - and sometimes does - but for some reason at other times she just paces on top of her cage and screams and looks like she's getting ready to fly (leaning forward, wings partially outstretched). Any advice on how to manage this behavior? She is pretty hormonal.

 

[BirdLady13]

Her behavior is pretty normal; she’s calling to her flock. Unfortunately hrmonal birds can be difficult to handle and there isn’t a 1 quick fix for all. I would start by darkening her area/room earlier, and consider giving her a calming supplement such as Avitech AviCalm. “Leaning forward, wings partially outstretched” sounds like the stance birds take when they want to mate.

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

Her behaviour is pretty normal; she’s calling to her flock. Unfortunately, hormonal birds can be difficult to handle and there isn’t a 1 quick fix for all. I would start by darkening her area/room earlier and consider giving her a calming supplement such as Avitech AviCalm. “Leaning forward, wings partially outstretched” sounds like the stance birds take when they want to mate.

Add on to what BirdLady said, don't give in and pick her up when she screams. If she gets what she wants every time there would be no reason for her to stop.

 

[msplantladi]

Going through the same with my 20 year old Military macaw-she has always been a great bird as far as not screaming so this is very much out of the norm. I totally agree with all the above suggestions. More sleep & avicalm . As hard as it is do not give in to the screaming but when your bird is behaving well you might want to give them their favorite & praise them. You want to teach good habits, not the unwanted ones.

 

[Nostromo]

This is super helpful. We have been giving in to the screaming way too often I think. We'll start being stricter about ignoring the screaming and rewarding quiet behavior. We've got long hot summer days right now, so I'll start pulling the blinds by her cage at 6pm and covering her for bed. If that doesn't help enough I'll buy some of the AviCalm! You guys are great, thank you so much!