Wee Wee, take me out of the cage!

About Wee, Wee, please let me know.
I thing I spoiled Chico bit I did open her cage each time she make her: wee wee and now she's yelling non-stop if I won't let her. As soon I'm home from work she's out and until evening. Should I start that training with not letting her out of cage immediately and wait and pretend I don't care about her: Wee! Wee! ?
I think I know the answer, but I want to hear it from you guys

I learned a long time ago with horses that every time I rode, I was teaching them something. I think the same is true with birds... every interaction something is learned, be it for better or worse. My approach to problems having to do with solicitation for attention is to make a conscious effort to develop a "polite" ask. It doesn't mean that the demand won't still be there -- they want what they want -- but with Scooter I now get a progression of "Pretty bird", "Pretty Scoo-bird", whistle-whistle to a wolf whistle when he wants me to let him out or bring him over to me. The actual loud screeching call only comes when I've ignored all of the above... and if I'm truly not able to respond, he often actually gives up by the time he's run through all those calls several times each with no response. Scotty just says "Step up!", and he's way more content to do his own thing, he doesn't demand direct attention the same way.

So what I'd do is ignore the annoying call, but find some noise she makes that you don't mind so much and teach her that will (usually) work.

Thanks, I'm gonna start to teach her nice wee-e-e instead of wee. I think she'll pick up what I want pretty fast since she's doing that pleasant one too

You have to respond to her when you first get home. She's contact calling. She'll actually calm down faster if you go greet her. I blogged about this:
With a sweet new bird, your inclination is to cuddle it and have it stuck to your body when it's not in its cage. Well DON'T!

Paulie doesn't need to be held or on someone constantly. It's good for him to spend some time on top of a cage, or on a play stand by himself for a while each day. Teaches independence and so he won't learn to scream for attention. Do this "independence time" after you have spent some time cuddling and playing with him. Helps a lot to have special goodies on the cage/play stand - table foods, water, wad of paper to chew up, new toy, etc.

If he won't stay on the cage/play stand or won't stop screeching for you (give him at least 5-10 minutes to stop screeching or jumping off, keep putting him back on the cage/stand) quietly pick him up and lock him in his cage until he calms down. Leave the room if you have to. You can play with him again after he's calmed down and quiet for 15 minutes or so. He'll hear you walking around and whatever and he'll scream. Don't go to him, don't let him out, don't "poor baby" him through the bars. Just ignore him.

You also need to be realistic as to how often a bird vocalizes. Birds are not quiet animals (Then again, humans aren't either. When was the last time you went 15 minutes without opening your trap?) .

Understand when it's normal for them to be vocalizing:
- Dusk: 15-20 minutes
- Dawn: 15-20 minutes. 15-20 minutes seems absolute FOREVER if you can't stand the noise. Find some noise that really grates on your nerves and see if you can stand it before you get yourself a bird.
- When you leave the house. He should settle down w/in 10-15 minutes after you leave. Reduce screaming in this instance by giving the bird super special items right before you step out the door - favorite toy, favorite food, etc. Save certain special items for this use. Your bird will look forward to your departure in anticipation of his bonus goodies.
- Even when you leave the room it's not odd for him to beep once or twice - more persistent than that and you need to put him in his cage and/or leave the room until he quiets down.

Understand "contact calls":
- When you return home and he's screaming, he's contact calling you. When you come home, go briefly say "hi" to the bird, let him out on top of his cage, go do something like bathroom/change clothes whatever until he's quiet for a few minutes; then pick him up and play with him.

Article on contact calls: http://www.parrothouse.com/jh2.html

Shoes, she is constant contact calling me, if I disappear from her eyes. I hear her downstairs, when I'm going to work in the morning. Okay, I'm gonna be a strong now

Nice blog post, Roz!

patdbunny wrote:

Understand when it's normal for them to be vocalizing:
- Dusk: 15-20 minutes
- Dawn: 15-20 minutes. 15-20 minutes seems absolute FOREVER if you can't stand the noise. Find some noise that really grates on your nerves and see if you can stand it before you get yourself a bird.
- When you leave the house. He should settle down w/in 10-15 minutes after you leave. Reduce screaming in this instance by giving the bird super special items right before you step out the door - favorite toy, favorite food, etc. Save certain special items for this use. Your bird will look forward to your departure in anticipation of his bonus goodies.
- Even when you leave the room it's not odd for him to beep once or twice - more persistent than that and you need to put him in his cage and/or leave the room until he quiets down.

It's interesting, but our birds don't do the "dusk" calling much at all -- but that's typically a time when we're home and one or both of us are in the office room with them, and they've likely just been given sprouts. And "dawn" they kindly agree to consider that time of day when we wake up and start making morning noises, which can be as late as 9:30 on the weekend.

I've also got them so that they quiet down as soon as I tell them, "Bye-bye birdies! Be good birdies! I'll be back later!" and close the door to the room where their cages are. They will peep and beep at me as I'm doing that, but I don't respond if they call after the door is closed, and they actually have entirely stopped calling then -- even if I have to run back in and do something before I'm really gone.

On the flip side, I usually call to them as soon as I come in the door and thus they have learned to start calling when they hear me opening the front door and turning the alarm off. I don't always get them out right away, but I usually do go back, open the room door and make eye contact and say hello.

Quote :

Understand "contact calls":
- When you return home and he's screaming, he's contact calling you. When you come home, go briefly say "hi" to the bird, let him out on top of his cage, go do something like bathroom/change clothes whatever until he's quiet for a few minutes; then pick him up and play with him.

I think this is an important point. Mine contact call when I first get home, and they contact call periodically in the morning when I'm up and doing chores and in the early evening if I'm doing stuff around the house and not with them. I usually answer them back the first few times in a "session" and then stop if they are going on and on. Sometimes I'll even initiate it myself, "Hey Birdies!" It seems to work out pretty well -- there is a modest amount of happy noise around here but very little screaming.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

It's interesting, but our birds don't do the "dusk" calling much at all -- but that's typically a time when we're home and one or both of us are in the office room with them, and they've likely just been given sprouts. And "dawn" they kindly agree to consider that time of day when we wake up and start making morning noises, which can be as late as 9:30 on the weekend.

I've also got them so that they quiet down as soon as I tell them, "Bye-bye birdies! Be good birdies! I'll be back later!" and close the door to the room where their cages are. They will peep and beep at me as I'm doing that, but I don't respond if they call after the door is closed, and they actually have entirely stopped calling then -- even if I have to run back in and do something before I'm really gone.

Yeah, with behavior management/training a lot of the natural dusk/dawn vocalizations can be severely reduced. Our prior M2, I got him to the point he really didn't go off much at the customary dusk/dawn times - I had him screaming his fool head off in the early afternoons so he was more able to control himself am/pm when he was told "shhhhhhh".

I was primarily mentioning what more natural vocalization patterns would be if the birds were left to their own devices. When I blog I try to think from the point of view of someone with not the first clue what living with a bird is like, let alone any clue they can even be trained. Do you think I get that across?

Thanks for the compliment!

Margaret wrote:

Okay, I'm gonna be a strong now

Yeah, you gotta be strong now. Practice on Chico the guidance of the good behaviors you want before you get the much smarter, much more manipulative, much more bullheaded zon.

Chico's still young. You should be able to rehab her pretty easily. Do it in short increments. After she's been out for several hours, lock her in her cage. When you put her in the cage, put something special in there with her that she really likes or seems curious about - new toy, millet, hang a leaf of romaine lettuce, etc. Leave her in there until she's calm and quiet(er), then let her out, scritches and special treat. Do this at random times, not the same time every day. You're teaching her independence and to entertain herself.

Is she glued to you when she's out of the cage?

Wow. Little JJ has me spoiled. She contact calls the other birds when we come home from being out and in the morning when we wake up. That's it. Honestly, I don't think she (or any of them) really care when we're gone that much. Well, I say that, but I suppose Bucky makes his ACK! ACK! when we come in, and when Bucky does that, Posei CHEEPCHEEP!'s at Bucky... but Bucky is the only one vocalizing that he's interested in seeing us. When I get to the cages though, JJ is practically crawling through the bars to get to me. She's just not making a sound while she does it.

Interesting. That's all really interesting.

patdbunny wrote:

(...)Is she glued to you when she's out of the cage?

No, she is more independent every day, playing by herself or following budgies or bf's dog, when she is here- they even nap together:)
What I believe, she is spoiled! She try to manipulate us by doing her: WEE, WEE!
I started to pretend I ignore loud WEE, reward her when she's quiet and, when she makes contact call I change my melody from loud WEEEE to pleasant WE-e-e. I know, you understand, what I'm trying to explain.
She'll be fine. Little terrorist is getting unspoiled now. I still hug her and etc. to assure her that I love her

How's your little puddin' head?

Thanks for asking. Better, but still have her "princess" moments. I'm working on changing her melody and on not-reacting sometimes. Sometimes it's working, sometimes not. I also started rewarding her, when she's not Weewing loud
Yesterday all feathers got finally they own room- my bedroom before. Here is more
We will see how this gonna work, but so far, so good!