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Screeching Green Cheek Conures

Colibri

Meeting neighbors
Joined
4/13/20
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64
Location
Illinois
Real Name
Mel
Hi Everyone. I have been having some screeching issues with my two green cheek conures, Hachi and Froggy. They are a bonded pair that live together. I have had them for close to 4.5 years. I recently moved into a small 1 bedroom apartment, and their cage is in the living room. I don't know if they are hormonal or what, but they are driving me crazy with their screeching. Especially in the mornings, as soon as I uncover them and open their cage for them to have room to fly and exercise during the day, they start screeching (sometimes screaming, but more screeching). They get into a pose where it looks like they are about to fly, bent forward and kind of flitting their wings slightly, all while making a pretty loud screeching sound. I am at my wits end because if they are too noisy and my neighbors complain, my landlord won't let me keep them. I have toys available for them to play with, but they never touch them. Sometimes they like to hang out with me on my head or shoulders, but mostly they fly right back to their cage to continue screeching.



I took a short video so you can see kind of what I'm talking about. I'm hoping maybe someone has experience with this type of behavior and have some suggestions on what I can do to get them to stop. It seems like they want something, but I have no idea what!

 

Zara

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barbs0nly

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lilly
Hi Everyone. I have been having some screeching issues with my two green cheek conures, Hachi and Froggy. They are a bonded pair that live together. I have had them for close to 4.5 years. I recently moved into a small 1 bedroom apartment, and their cage is in the living room. I don't know if they are hormonal or what, but they are driving me crazy with their screeching. Especially in the mornings, as soon as I uncover them and open their cage for them to have room to fly and exercise during the day, they start screeching (sometimes screaming, but more screeching). They get into a pose where it looks like they are about to fly, bent forward and kind of flitting their wings slightly, all while making a pretty loud screeching sound. I am at my wits end because if they are too noisy and my neighbors complain, my landlord won't let me keep them. I have toys available for them to play with, but they never touch them. Sometimes they like to hang out with me on my head or shoulders, but mostly they fly right back to their cage to continue screeching.



I took a short video so you can see kind of what I'm talking about. I'm hoping maybe someone has experience with this type of behavior and have some suggestions on what I can do to get them to stop. It seems like they want something, but I have no idea what!

train them to play with the toys, i know bird tricks isn’t the most loved channel on AA but i can link a vid that will help you with that toy issue.
those will help with screaming behavior, try incorporating foraging in their everyday foods, be sure they’re finding and eating them. start easy in the beginning and progress to harder things. also how long have you been in the apartment? it could be that they miss their home. maybe put hard plastic toys also? experiment with toys and things. is there something that you missed from your other home? maybe the position of the cage is different, or they had a window near them. the one that’s on the rope at the top longest is doing behavior my girl does when she wants me to get her or to get her out of her cage, it might be attention seeking or something like that. i’d try the toy and foraging plan of action, and then get into the niche part of the problem you could have. :)
 

~Drini~

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My green cheek did this after I moved with him to an apartment. Previously, he would never scream, but he switched to screaming all hours of the day as soon as I moved. He also did a lot of the bent-forward wings-quivering behavior. I tried everything. More toys, more one-on-one interaction, interesting foods, all of it. I figured it was the fact that we moved, and perhaps he was not comfortable being in a new environment without anyone besides me (at home he had my family members as well). Weeks passed by with no improvement. I eventually ended up bringing home another green cheek to keep him company. The screaming stopped almost immediately as soon as they got to know one another. This kinda proved to me that it was just an issue of insecurity/anxiety.

I don't have any ideas of what exactly might be the solution here, but I would suggest just giving them more time to adjust. Perhaps try covering some parts of the cage so that they feel more secure.
 

Monica

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I agree that the move is most likely why they are screeching now. It can take a while for them to feel secure in a new place.

Although I do not care for BT, I do agree with @barbs0nly in that they need more work. The cage is rather bare from the looks of it.


Some easy ideas....


Get several small food dishes. Petco, for instance, has 5 oz SS cups. They can be found online as well. Figure out how much they would eat in a day and spread that out between their bowls so once one bowl is empty, they have to go to another. You could mix dry food in with some clean river pebbles. You could cover the dishes with some paper towels.

You can create a 'foraging bin' by using a shallow plastic bin and filling it with the river pebbles and mixing in dry food and nuts.

You can wrap some of the food up into paper cupcake holders.

Get balsa or yucca toys and stuff pieces of food into the wood. (it's really soft!)

Get wooden toys (or make) with holes and slats in them. Starbird has the brainiac blocks. A simple one is getting a bunch of straws, tying the centers together and stuffing the ends with food!




Working on mental stimulation through training can also be great! Teach them to station, come, turn around, fly to you on command, fly back to their cage, etc.

 

barbs0nly

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lilly
I agree that the move is most likely why they are screeching now. It can take a while for them to feel secure in a new place.

Although I do not care for BT, I do agree with @barbs0nly in that they need more work. The cage is rather bare from the looks of it.


Some easy ideas....


Get several small food dishes. Petco, for instance, has 5 oz SS cups. They can be found online as well. Figure out how much they would eat in a day and spread that out between their bowls so once one bowl is empty, they have to go to another. You could mix dry food in with some clean river pebbles. You could cover the dishes with some paper towels.

You can create a 'foraging bin' by using a shallow plastic bin and filling it with the river pebbles and mixing in dry food and nuts.

You can wrap some of the food up into paper cupcake holders.

Get balsa or yucca toys and stuff pieces of food into the wood. (it's really soft!)

Get wooden toys (or make) with holes and slats in them. Starbird has the brainiac blocks. A simple one is getting a bunch of straws, tying the centers together and stuffing the ends with food!




Working on mental stimulation through training can also be great! Teach them to station, come, turn around, fly to you on command, fly back to their cage, etc.

all of this is great advice op!! especially with soft woods, when they destroy it easily they feel rlly achieved LMAO and you can stuff treats in the wood since it’s soft. basically this whole paragraph is a go! :p
 

Colibri

Meeting neighbors
Joined
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Illinois
Real Name
Mel
My green cheek did this after I moved with him to an apartment. Previously, he would never scream, but he switched to screaming all hours of the day as soon as I moved. He also did a lot of the bent-forward wings-quivering behavior. I tried everything. More toys, more one-on-one interaction, interesting foods, all of it. I figured it was the fact that we moved, and perhaps he was not comfortable being in a new environment without anyone besides me (at home he had my family members as well). Weeks passed by with no improvement. I eventually ended up bringing home another green cheek to keep him company. The screaming stopped almost immediately as soon as they got to know one another. This kinda proved to me that it was just an issue of insecurity/anxiety.

I don't have any ideas of what exactly might be the solution here, but I would suggest just giving them more time to adjust. Perhaps try covering some parts of the cage so that they feel more secure.
It is encouraging to hear that it may be a case of them still getting used to their new environment. I will continue to try some different things to see if I can distract them or keep them better entertained.
 

Colibri

Meeting neighbors
Joined
4/13/20
Messages
64
Location
Illinois
Real Name
Mel
I agree that the move is most likely why they are screeching now. It can take a while for them to feel secure in a new place.

Although I do not care for BT, I do agree with @barbs0nly in that they need more work. The cage is rather bare from the looks of it.


Some easy ideas....


Get several small food dishes. Petco, for instance, has 5 oz SS cups. They can be found online as well. Figure out how much they would eat in a day and spread that out between their bowls so once one bowl is empty, they have to go to another. You could mix dry food in with some clean river pebbles. You could cover the dishes with some paper towels.

You can create a 'foraging bin' by using a shallow plastic bin and filling it with the river pebbles and mixing in dry food and nuts.

You can wrap some of the food up into paper cupcake holders.

Get balsa or yucca toys and stuff pieces of food into the wood. (it's really soft!)

Get wooden toys (or make) with holes and slats in them. Starbird has the brainiac blocks. A simple one is getting a bunch of straws, tying the centers together and stuffing the ends with food!




Working on mental stimulation through training can also be great! Teach them to station, come, turn around, fly to you on command, fly back to their cage, etc.

Thank you so much for the ideas! Yes, their cage is pretty bare right now. I have spent a small fortune on toys that they have refused to play with. But I just read yesterday that some birds need to be taught how to play with toys. That was a new idea for me. I am going to incorporate some of those foraging ideas and see if I can occupy a little more of their time so that they will maybe be a little quieter!
 

Monica

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Common misconception! Many people assume that birds don't LIKE toys... when they don't even know HOW to play with them! :)

Be creative! You're on to a great start!
 

Colibri

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Mel
I have a promising update! Yesterday and today I have been leaving the room immediately when Hachi and Froggy screech, and I think i have already noticed some improvement. As soon as they are quiet, I go back into the living room (where their cage is again). I think they are beginning to realize the screeching gets them left alone, which they don't like!

On the toy front, I started stuffing one of their natural hanging today's with some millet and showed them what I was doing. They were cautious, but interested. So far they will only go for the easy access "prizes", but they are still getting used to having to work a little for their food. I also put some safflower seeds inside some mini cupcake liners inside their food dish. They're pretty mad at me because they know their seeds are in there, but they haven't gotten up the courage to take the top liner off to get at the seeds.
 

Monica

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It's better to start off easy and work your way up to making it harder and harder! You might need to tear the paper just a tad so they can see their treats!

Awesome start! :D
 

Colibri

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Illinois
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Mel
I caught Hachi chewing on some balsa wood on one of the toys today!! So exciting for me! (You can see Froggy down below, doing the "quiver and squeek") I "hid" some millet in the toy as well and they have both been able to get some out.

https://youtu.be/btyROrBh5To
 

Monica

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Way to go! :D
 
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