Flock Talk: Stop Screaming, Start Talking

I loved this video our dear friend and customer, Chris Armstrong, posted of his blue and gold macaw enjoying our Flock Talk video! Flock Talk is meant to stop your bird from screaming and encourage your bird to learn to talk. Hence, your bird learns to talk for attention rather than scream. I hope you take the time to check it out, as it's avail...
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Things I wish I Had Known When I First Got A Parrot

People who are new to parrot keeping will agree on one thing: having a bird in the house is a challenge. There is a lot of reading you should do to understand a bird’s needs and wants, and how to keep them safe in the human environment. This is all vital information.

Here, though, are some tips that I have stumbled across during my own journey with my birds that you won’t find in the parrot care books. I wish I had known these things from the beginning…

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My Bird SCREAMS When Someone Comes To Visit!

Q: My bird is really well behaved most of the time but when someone comes over she screams and if I let her out she tries to bite them. How can I stop this?

-Bryce H., Birmingham, AL

A: Birds are naturally concerned with anything new that appears in their environment. It is a safety protocol for them to be very aware of and familiar with everything in their vicinity because things that are out of place might indicate danger. When something new appears, red ...

 

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Controlling Seasonal Bird Noise

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Male King Parrot. He nests close to my house and is constantly talking to my Eclectus from this tree. (Pepi taught him to talk by yelling “Hello” over and over when he was nesting here a few years ago).

When the warmer months come, there is one difficult part about living where your pet birds also live wild. That problem? Noise!

Every year, as spring arrives – the increase in wild bird visitors to my place is significant. Sometimes they come as a flock and ...

 

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What Reinforces A Parrot’s Behavior?


Umbrella cockatoo

To reinforce a parrot’s behavior means to respond to something they do in a way that makes it beneficial enough for your parrot that it will be repeated. We do want to reinforce behaviors that we are training and we do so by offering treats for a job well done. But it is very easy to inadvertently reinforce behaviors that we don’t want such as biting or screaming. We have all been guilty of this at some time during our journey with our parrots.

You will often hear “ignore screaming ...

 

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How to Survive with Parrots in an Apartment

Bobo the umbrella cockatoo.

Umbrella cockatoos may be quiet sometimes, but they have the capability to produce an ear-splitting scream like a dying, wounded animal.

 

We can’t expect our parrots to be quiet all the time. Many species are naturally noisy, such as sun conures, amazons or cockatoos. While we can train our birds that excessive screaming isn’t okay, I feel that it’s important to allow them to let off steam sometimes.

Enter the scream session…

Try making time for a sanctioned (and planned!) ...

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