Parrots are noisy animals, that’s just fact. And although you can’t eliminate every bit of noise your bird is going to make, you CAN greatly decline how often your bird is noisy and for what reasons or lengths of time.

I was noticing that every time Dave and I went out of town for a trip whether it was for one day or 10 days, when we came back our birds were SO loud, especially in the mornings. This was not something that was common before on our two year tour, nor before that when we were often home here in Florida or on trips periodically whether with our birds or otherwise.

I started to wonder if it was because of how they were housed when we went out of town… we house everyone separately in their own cage to avoid a random fight that a bird sitter wouldn’t be able to handle on their own. It’s just safer this way. I thought maybe they wanted to be together, but the screaming continued. In the mornings they were waking up around 6:30am and screaming their heads off!

Dave and I talked it over, and as the nicer days came around (yes, even in January) I decided I wanted to be taking them flying. I thought they could use getting rid of the excess energy that might be part of their screaming lately. I started bringing them in the house to fly and be in a wider space with one another, AND I started trick training more. BOTH of these helped the screaming but still the mornings were rough.

That’s when I realized their feeding charts were way off. They were getting too much food, not enough exercise and receiving breakfast at the same time Patty would give her birds their breakfast (before she’d leave for work which sometimes can be real early). There had become an expectation to receive their breakfast bright and early and to always be full. This meant with no charting of the weight or working on recall that we couldn’t just take them out freeflying on a whim like we would normally have done on tour.

So that was it – it was back to our routine which is exactly the opposite, it’s not a routine much at all! But it’s one feeding a day and that happens around 4pm (but sometimes, 3pm, sometimes with a free flight or training session – they never know what to expect this way throughout the day). This keeps them from screaming for breakfast in the morning because they know it’s not coming until later, and it makes them MORE active in their aviaries by foraging into the grass, looking in toys and interacting with one another. Also, when we would bring them out or in to work with them on something, they were excited about it and looking forward to flying, trick training or just hanging out. They were calmer, happier and at ease again. Which was refreshing, in fact, I took Comet and Tusa out in the backyard with us and worked with them on flying across the pool a few times. Later in the day we went freeflying at a new location by our house and had a blast.

The camelot macaws along with Jinx flocked together around the yard and Bandit the rose breasted cockatoo seemed to have a ball as well.

With their new schedule, or more so back to their OLD schedule, there’s no expectation so the screaming stops and I feed them around the time the sun is going down so that when they would normally scream naturally to say goodbye to the day, it’s too late and is getting so dark that they go to their spot to sleep and that’s it.

With this type of feeding I’m giving fairly large meals at night of fresh foods and pellets in foraging toys. Sometimes I put the fresh foods in foraging toys if I choose to serve them earlier so that it takes longer, or if the days become lighter longer this way they take longer to eat and by the same time it gets dark they are still ready to sleep. Depending on the time of day and what I’m feeding depends on HOW I feed them (foraging toys, etc)

So if you’re looking for ways to make your noisy bird quiet try a different routine (your bird might object at first) with daily interactions of small treats throughout the day when you plan on handling your bird, and experiment with foraging toys so that it takes your bird a while to eat his meal (that way you have longer amounts of time of peace and quiet) you can also put in empty foraging toys too, to make your bird work even harder. The more active your bird, the healthier he is. Just think of how active he would be in the wild! I know when I’m stuffed full I just wanna lay on the couch and chill out. So if you’re like that all day you’re gonna have one serious perch potato on your hands!

Whether or not a bird is vocal or not depends on how the bird is naturally, and how it’s reinforced throughout its life. What exactly gets reinforced and how, when, why and with what and how often.

I consider our galahs quiet birds. But I’ve met some galahs that I would consider noisy. Any bird can have a screaming problem – and I’ve even met loud budgies or cockatiels that learn screaming gets them the attention (or something else) that they crave.

So to me, a bird’s screaming being reinforced to the point where it screams for something it wants until it gets it – is a noisy parrot.

From our flock, the noisiest of them all is maybe the macaws when it comes to “most often” as they make their macaw coos at intervals and when they scream, they are the loudest. So they have the most potential to be the noisiest… however, I’d say my personal vote would go to our congo African grey parrot Cressi. She tends to act like a sentinel among our flock (which Bandit has since copied) and makes a very high pitched alarm call when she sees something in the sky, or feels there’s something wrong or something scary in the nearby area. It’s a very loud, ear piercing noise that I’ve had her do from my shoulder straight into my ear… ow!

She’s just naturally louder altogether. When she whistles, it’s loud and when she talks you can hear her clearly above the others. She’s just a louder parrot, kind of like kids with naturally louder voices than others.

Rocko our toucan is probably the quietest because he merely makes his squeaky baby noises now and eventually will make purring and growling noises that won’t get as loud as a macaw’s scream or a grey’s warning call.

Our cockatoos tend to be the most vocal of our flock – they have the largest vocabularies and honestly are the most interested in training so they get the most time spent training them. They naturally pick up more on talking and mimicking and will fight over attention and training time that they get. Even going so far as acting out if they aren’t mentally challenged and stimulated often enough.

When we’re living in Florida and keeping our birds outside, they all average about the same noise level. We feed them when they would naturally scream so that it doesn’t occur – so screaming at dusk and dawn isn’t really an option to hear. And when one goes, they usually all go if it’s a warning call or playful call. When one rosie takes off in celebration bursts and flights, usually the whole flock will watch and not say a thing, or all join in on the fun.

Hyancinth photo by ZakVTA @ flickr.com

Q: Do any of the anti-plucking products available actually work?
Gary M., New London, CT

A: There are two types of products on the market that address the issue of plucking: one approaches the problem medicinally, the other physically prevents access to the affected areas.

The following is my opinion. It is based on research of the ingredients in the herbal products and on the opinions of trusted sources who have used them and other products:

Ingestible remedies:

There are a few varieties of these products available, but there is one main brand whose name you would recognize. I am not going to mention this name (you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure it out) because I don’t wish to give any atrtention to a product I disapprove of. This un-named product is distributed by a company whose main product I LOVE, own and would recommend to anyone. It is a strange affiliation that I have never understood.

This product is an herbal liquid that is added to the bird’s daily drinking water. The company does provide some testimonial claiming that it works. I know of a few cases where owners have seen results. It seems reasonable that the product has had some successes, but at what cost.

This product contains ingredients which cause lethargy It’s aim is to stupify. Plucking is most often a behavioral problem. To the manufacturers way of thinking, the best way to eliminate a behavioral problem is to eliminate the behavior. Unfortunately, it eliminates many behaviors, even those that aren’t problematic, leaving a bird that is too zoned-out to enjoy the good parts of its life.

This product has been “reformulated” to address biting and screaming issues. The bird that is too stupid to pluck is also too stupid to bite or scream. Further, some of the ingredients in the formulas are considered toxic to birds. These ingredients aren’t present in large amounts, but there is no room for toxicity in any bird product – ever.

Blue and gold macaw

Anti-plucking “suits”:  

There are several of these available online. They are simply garments that are worn by the plucking parrot that cover his “areas of interest”. There are patterns, templates, out there that can teach you how to make one of your own. Some people just use tube socks with holes placed in the appropriate places. However, any self-respecting parrot could have his way with any one of these in a very short time.

People’s opinions on plucking suits vary. Some have found success with them. Some think they irritate the plucked areas thereby calling attention to the very place you would like your parrot to forget about. Others think they work great – until they come off and the parrot resumes its unwanted activities.

Umbrella cockatoo

Both of these options fail in one key area: they solve nothing.Your bird has a plucking problem – accent on the word PROBLEM. It is the problem which needs your attention. There are no quick fixes out there. You cannot give your bird a pill or a bandaid to make this go away.

The idea of medicating a behavior away is insane to me, and covering a problem with fabric to prevent access to it won’t fix anything, The problem will still be there when the suit comes off or the drug wears off. If you need to eliminate a behavior, find the source of the behavior and eliminate IT.

**NOTE – ALWAYS have your bird vet checked for any possible medical cause for the plucking problems. There are certains illnesses and conditions that might be responsible for this behavior.