WHAT IS EXCESSIVE BIRD SCREAMING?

Parrots are flock animals that need a lot of attention to maintain their mental health.  They constantly communicate with each other in the wild, sometimes across miles of jungle. It is natural for parrots to be are vocal, noisy animals.  Parrots are not quiet pets.

While you can expect all parrots to "scream," excessive screaming is actually a behavior problem in when a parrot squawks or screams much more than is “normal” for the type of parrot it is. Some types of parrots are much louder than others. While normal parrot noise is annoying, is not a behavior problem but a sign that your parrot feels safe and loved.   

WHAT CAUSES MY BIRD TO SCREAM SO MUCH? 

The majority of overly loud parrots have accidently been taught to scream by their owners.  Research tells us that if we want a behavior to continue we pay attention to it.  So, when your child learns the A,B,C's you gladly sing along with her over and over again! We accidently teach our bird to scream when we pay attention to the screaming and ignore it when it is quiet.  It's just natural.  You're a busy person who has everyday life to attend to and it is easy to just let your parrot be when it is quiet and content.  Then, when your bird is lonely and it screams, it gets a generous amount of attention.  This scenerio needs to be flipped.

HOW TO STOP YOUR BIRD FROM SCREAMING:

The solution to a screaming bird is to learn what it is that you are doing when your bird screams that it finds to be rewarding.  For instance, a lot of people thing that if they yell at their bird, it will stop screaming.  Bird psychology tells us that birds communicate in the wild by screaming.  If you yell at your bird, it thinks you are having a nice family conversation.  Like it's bonding time! Instead, you need to ignore ascreaming parrot.  

At the same time that you are ignoring a screaming parrot, you need to get into the habit of providing much needed attention when your bird is using it's talking voice or whistling.  Get into the habit of generously attending to your bird at least five times a day when it is being quiet.  Use this opportunity to model talking and whistling.  Then, generously reward your bird for talking.  For detailed help on this get Train Your Parrot To Talk! by Good Bird, Inc.

Also, begin generously rewarding one or two particular pleasant sounds your bird makes, teaching it what type of sounds always result in satisfying his need for attention.

Always ignore unpleasant and loud shrieking showing your parrot that it won't get your attention with that behavior.  Expect your parrot to try harder to get your attention with screaming but it dawns on him that he can expect love and attention when he is quiet, the loud screaming will fade with time.