Yellow Fronted Amazon:
Yellow Fronted Amazon Problems
The Yellow Fronted Amazon is one of the easiest birds to be trained, socialized, and to own as a companion parrot. However even the best birds sometimes act up.
| When the Yellow Fronted
Amazon acts up owners need to act quickly to nip any problems in the
proverbial bud. So what problems might a Yellow Fronted Amazon owner face? They typical problems include biting, screaming, and feather plucking. The most common complaint of Yellow Fronted Amazons is that they’re noisy birds. |
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Noisy is different from screaming. Yellow
Fronted’s are notoriously noisy in the morning and in the evening. In the
wild this is when they’re greeting their flock. It’s happy hour in the
jungle. In your home, you’re the flock so they’re going to happily greet you.
Screaming on the other hand is a behavior that is intended to elicit a reaction.
For example, you get home and don’t immediately let your Yellow Fronted Amazon
out of their cage. They scream. You walk over and let them out of
their cage. Two things have just happened. One, you’ve given your
bird what they wanted. Two, you’ve encouraged them to scream next time
they want you to let them out of their cage. In short, you’ve just trained
your bird to scream.
Another example, your Amazon screams and you yell or throw water on them.
They stop because they’re startled. You’ve solved the problem, right?
Wrong. Your Amazon has just learned that you give them a strong reaction
when they scream. To learn the correct positive reinforcement training
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It won’t stop them, it’ll actually make the
behavior worse. Negative responses or reactions on your part, breed more
negative behavior. Additionally, most parrots prefer negative attention to
no attention at all.
What do you do? Positive reinforcement is the key. Reward the good
behavior and ignore to the best of your ability the bad behavior. When
your Amazon is screaming it is better to ignore it for the moment and work to
reinforce the good behaviors. Like when they stop screaming.
Generally screaming biting and feather plucking are the result of something
missing in your Yellow Fronted’s environment. Maybe they’re frightened,
stressed from changes in the home, bored, or they’re not getting enough sleep or
quality nutrients.
If your Yellow Fronted is screaming, it is helpful to first determine why and
then work with them via strategic training measures and positive reinforcement
to eliminate the behavior.
Biting. Biting in a Yellow Fronted Amazon generally occurs for one of two
reasons, they’re either struggling with sexual hormones which can occur both as
they’re approaching maturity and during breeding season. The other reason
a Yellow Fronted might bite is if they’re not properly socialized, they’re
frightened.
Regardless if your bird is biting because they’re hormonal or if they’re
frightened, both reasons are basically handled the same way.
Training. Training helps to socialize your Yellow Fronted Amazon and while
it isn’t an overnight fix it is a permanent fix. Once your Yellow Fronted
learns to adapt to situations, through training, without tremendous fear that
causes biting, they’ll be much easier to live with.
Additionally, training teaches them how to behave
in a manner that is acceptable to you. If biting isn’t allowed in your
home then it is the responsibility of the owner to train them alternative
behaviors and to establish structures that eliminate situations where biting
might occur.
For example, if a Yellow Fronted Amazon bites whenever someone reaches into the
cage to retrieve them, then learning the ‘step up’ command will help to
eliminate this behavior. Training is a necessary both to prevent biting
from happening and to eliminate the behavior should it occur.
Feather plucking is another complaint of some Yellow Fronted Amazon owners.
Feather plucking is often the result of boredom, stress, or medical illness.
If a Yellow Fronted is pulling their feathers out, take them to the veterinarian
immediately. Once medical issues have been eliminated as the cause of the
behavior, owners can then address behavior reasons. Again, training is a
good way to eliminate feather plucking
Biting, screaming, and feather plucking are all behaviors that bird owners have
to deal with from time to time. Diligence, patience, and lots of love are
required to both prevent these behaviors from occurring and to eliminate them if
they should show up.