Senegal Parrot HELP!

[SJ76]

Hello All. I adopted Lou short for "lucifer" at a bird rescue place..he was 6 at the time..I've had him about 3 and half years now. He is a very moody, angry, LOUD bird. I'm at my wits end with him because lately he has been getting worse. He will only allow me to handle him..and even then he's fresh. He will never let me scratch his head or do anything cutesy like that. He comes out of his cage often...He is in sight so he can see people. The house is not loud...his cage is clean, I feed him and give him plenty of treats, vegetables, everything he likes..he showers..but his screeching and loud whistles are going to get me kicked out of my apartment. He goes to bed at a decent time, I cover his cage, that is the only time he is silent.. gets 12 hours of sleep as soon as he's up its just screeching all day long.. except for maybe the breaks he takes to eat. When I come home and my windows are open, I can hear him out in the parking lot. I do not know what to do. I would hate to bring him back but like I said, I don't know what to do. He has toys, he has a basket full of treats he hangs out on..he goes outside on a tree and enjoys that but even then he is screeching.
When I adopted him, he was with all kinds of other birds and I'm guessing he picked up a bunch of different whistles, etc...but its just getting so bad, so loud, its like he is running me out of my own home,,I hate being here because of his loudness...how terrible is that.
Any suggestions would be so much appreciated.

Thanks
Stacie

[jenseits]

Hi Stacie - I moved this into the Poicephalus section for you since a Senegal is not related to the Pionus species.

Hopefully someone with Poi experience will be along shortly to give you some tips on behavior and training.

[dmiller91]

Screaming in Parrots

I'm not exactly an expert, but this article helped me when I was having this issue. I would suggest you post at the general discussion board as well, more people seem to monitor that. It may not so much be senegal behavior as just bad behavior.

Obviously one thing I would suggest is to get a complete vet exam, to make sure that he is healthy.

Good Luck.

[Maggie F.]

My Trixie was a mess and screamed alot when I got her. She's somewhere between 7 and 11 years old. I have had her for 3. She really just wanted attention. I found out that she likes to do call and answer. So we do alot of games where I make one sound and she imitates it. Then she makes a sound and I answer. But when she screeches, I won't answer. I have a bird sound CD that will make her be quiet. She really concentrates on it. Maybe your bird could benefit from a CD of nice bird sounds to learn and copy. I taught Trixie alot of tricks, too, like to wave, dance, swing and to play dead. It's like I gave her a job and she loves to perform. We do a few minutes of tricks and she calms right down. There are still times when Trixie screams usually when she is too tired. She gets tired more easily than my other birds. As it starts getting dark earlier, she wants to sleep as soon as the sun sets, so I let her. Sometimes it's more than 12 hours. I guess every birdy is different. Have you read anything about making foraging projects for him? Google parrot enrichment for lots of ideas to keep him busy.

[birrdylove84]

Hang in there:(