Any way to train a bird to stop screaming?

I have a young bird named Bacardi that I got last July. She actually just
showed up and started hanging around my outdoor aviary. She was skinny and
scared, and I figured she was a lost pet.

I kept leaving food and water out for her, and after a couple of days, I
managed to catch her. Nobody claimed her and so when I moved, I took her
along with my 3 other birds. (She's a big girl now, too. The largest of the
four.)

I figured she's pretty young, maybe a year to a year and a half old. The
problem is that she's a screamer.

Right now it's not that big of an issue. They live in the sunroom of the
house we're renting and have the whole room to themselves. This house,
however, will be sold in a couple of months and we have to move to an
apartment by the end of August. A couple months ago she began screaming at
sunrise and now carries on daily for two hours. It's not an alarm scream,
nor is it even the "I want attention" scream the birds give if they want
something. If she was a person, she'd probably be saying something along the
lines of "Hey, hey, HEY! HEY!!! HEY!!!!" I figure it might be something like
a rooster crowing, but I don't really know.

She just stands on the corner of the top of the cage, and screams. It's
generally the same corner, though she isn't against standing in other
locations, so prohibiting access to that spot doesn't help. The other three
are generally fairly quiet. I mean, they have their moments and things, but
nothing like this constant 2 hour ordeal.

She's not the kind of bird who wants attention, and is in fact very
skittish. Snapple is hand raised, so he's always flying over to me when I
come in. Usually I give him head scritches and Bacardi is very curious about
what I'm doing and will walk over and watch. If I show any signs of moving
towards her, she'll quickly dart off. We're currently trying to work with
her and she will eat out of our hands if the food is tempting enough, but
that's as far as it goes. It takes her awhile to work up the nerve to come
over too.

I've tried toys to keep them occupied, but they don't like them and the toys
go ignored. I give them other things, like paper to chew on, but that loses
its novelty after a short while too. Sometimes in the mornings before I go
to work I'll stick noodles into the toys, and that keeps them busy for about
20 minutes. (And that's 20 minutes of no screaming.) But I can't do this
before I get up in the morning, which is when she starts. If I put noodles
in the night before they get hard and crusty. Once I'm at work I have no way
to stop them either.

I don't want to have to get rid of her, but we will need a place to live
soon and can't afford getting kicked out because of her screaming. Any ideas
how to stop her? I think it's just a "It's sunrise!" scream, but we don't
have the means to cover up the cage as it's way too large.

I don't have a way of positively reinforcing her for not screaming, since
she won't take food from me or anything. I did train Snapple to do a few
things, but I started with him right when he learned how to fly, and he was
always eager to come to me anyway. Bacardi is too skittish to do this with.
I figure if worse comes to worse, I can pull her out every night and keep
her in a darker room until I leave for work, but I don't know if she'll
start screaming once I put her back into the main cage with the others. And
I don't really want to constantly stress her out by having to catch her.
(She's also a grinder, which is no fun at all.)

Anyway, it's a problem that has to be solved within the next month, so ideas
would be appreciated. I really would like to try to make friends with her,
because she seems to have an interesting personality, but it's a slow
process and I worry that giving her up will mean that somebody without
patience and understanding will get her. =(

Kasatka,

I have a cocketiel and a blue front amazon they both can be noisy at sunrise
but not every day. the Cockatiel in the morning when she sees me she puffs
up a little then she just sticks here winds out a little sticks her head in
her cowbell and sings her song for 10 minutes and stops.

but if i make kissing noises for her she will sing again its possible that
your bird is very happy and thats her way of letting you know.

have you talked to a vet?

mike
"Kasatka" <kasatkaNOSPAM.TakeThisOut@whale-web.com> wrote in message
news:be5rha$1hmes$1@ID-93691.news.dfncis.de...
> I have a young bird named Bacardi that I got last July. She actually just
> showed up and started hanging around my outdoor aviary. She was skinny and
> scared, and I figured she was a lost pet.
>
> I kept leaving food and water out for her, and after a couple of days, I
> managed to catch her. Nobody claimed her and so when I moved, I took her
> along with my 3 other birds. (She's a big girl now, too. The largest of
the
> four.)
>
> I figured she's pretty young, maybe a year to a year and a half old. The
> problem is that she's a screamer.
>
> Right now it's not that big of an issue. They live in the sunroom of the
> house we're renting and have the whole room to themselves. This house,
> however, will be sold in a couple of months and we have to move to an
> apartment by the end of August. A couple months ago she began screaming at
> sunrise and now carries on daily for two hours. It's not an alarm scream,
> nor is it even the "I want attention" scream the birds give if they want
> something. If she was a person, she'd probably be saying something along
the
> lines of "Hey, hey, HEY! HEY!!! HEY!!!!" I figure it might be something
like
> a rooster crowing, but I don't really know.
>
> She just stands on the corner of the top of the cage, and screams. It's
> generally the same corner, though she isn't against standing in other
> locations, so prohibiting access to that spot doesn't help. The other
three
> are generally fairly quiet. I mean, they have their moments and things,
but
> nothing like this constant 2 hour ordeal.
>
> She's not the kind of bird who wants attention, and is in fact very
> skittish. Snapple is hand raised, so he's always flying over to me when I
> come in. Usually I give him head scritches and Bacardi is very curious
about
> what I'm doing and will walk over and watch. If I show any signs of moving
> towards her, she'll quickly dart off. We're currently trying to work with
> her and she will eat out of our hands if the food is tempting enough, but
> that's as far as it goes. It takes her awhile to work up the nerve to come
> over too.
>
> I've tried toys to keep them occupied, but they don't like them and the
toys
> go ignored. I give them other things, like paper to chew on, but that
loses
> its novelty after a short while too. Sometimes in the mornings before I go
> to work I'll stick noodles into the toys, and that keeps them busy for
about
> 20 minutes. (And that's 20 minutes of no screaming.) But I can't do this
> before I get up in the morning, which is when she starts. If I put noodles
> in the night before they get hard and crusty. Once I'm at work I have no
way
> to stop them either.
>
> I don't want to have to get rid of her, but we will need a place to live
> soon and can't afford getting kicked out because of her screaming. Any
ideas
> how to stop her? I think it's just a "It's sunrise!" scream, but we don't
> have the means to cover up the cage as it's way too large.
>
> I don't have a way of positively reinforcing her for not screaming, since
> she won't take food from me or anything. I did train Snapple to do a few
> things, but I started with him right when he learned how to fly, and he
was
> always eager to come to me anyway. Bacardi is too skittish to do this
with.
> I figure if worse comes to worse, I can pull her out every night and keep
> her in a darker room until I leave for work, but I don't know if she'll
> start screaming once I put her back into the main cage with the others.
And
> I don't really want to constantly stress her out by having to catch her.
> (She's also a grinder, which is no fun at all.)
>
> Anyway, it's a problem that has to be solved within the next month, so
ideas
> would be appreciated. I really would like to try to make friends with her,
> because she seems to have an interesting personality, but it's a slow
> process and I worry that giving her up will mean that somebody without
> patience and understanding will get her. =(
>
>