I’m having problems with my African Grey screeching and screaming at me when I am in the same room. Any suggestions on how we can cut back on this behavior?

Nikko sleeps in his “night night” cage in the back bedroom. He is very good about calling out “night night, Nikko” when it is time for bed. He loves his shower and politely does “wing pits up” to facilitate.

Bonita is a 27 year old Double Yellow Amazon who has been in the family since she was 6 weeks… Over the years bath time has gone from a pie plate full of water to the squirt bottle and a cool hair dryer in the shower (ear plugs not included) but summer time is the most fun for her as we go outside. I will usually clean the cage at the same time and I use the hose with luke warm water and a spray nozzle that has a mist position on it. Based on the volume of screeching and parrot chatter, it is a hit. She preferrs bath time in the early afternoon then it is off for a nap…

I have a 6 month old Jenday Conure and she likes her cage to be covered at bedtime. I do think it helps her to feel more secure, and since her cage is in the living room, it helps her to settle down with all the activity going on in the room. As far as showers go, she takes one with me every night when I take mine. Since I don’t want her to go to bed wet, I blow her dry with my hair dryer. She absolutely LOVES it! She actually seems to like being dried better than the shower, but she is a funny little girl and I love her to pieces!

Very good post. My WF Amazon has always loved to shower by spray bottle. We live in Canada so in the winter I shower her around lunch time. We just brought home our baby CAG Louie & much to our surprise he actually asks for a shower. When we put him on his play gym he goes over to his water dish & splashes a little bit onto himself & puffs up & baby talks to me letting me know hey mommy it’s shower time. LOL. Very funny since the first time I tried showering him he was very unimpressed. So much for Greys not liking showers. Now the most difficult part is figuring out how to spray them both at the same time so they don’t fight over it. LOL.

I hadn’t realized that birds need so much sleep. Our green cheeked-Conure, Baby, often will start squawking around when we eat dinner, sometimes we can’t figure out if she is hungry and wants to come out and eat with us or just tired, so we end up covering her up, atleast the part of the cage where she can see us. She quiets right down though. I have started taking her food out of the cage at night because a few days ago, she was getting into a bad habit of starting to want to bite my hand when i went to refill her dish. That has stopped since i started taking the food out at night. She absolutely loves baths!! Even sometimes when the kitchen faucet is on and running she will change her chirp. i hadn’t thought about the bottom of the shower, which i might try with her. we’ve always done it in the early evening, sort of before bed, it’s typically pretty warm in the house then and she dries up pretty good before bed…and she ends up being super quiet while she’s preening. Thanks for these tips, i’m always learning something new about our bird.

What can you do if your bird doesnt like to take a bath ? I have tried so many different things and nothing works She acts like she is a afraid of water? any ideals?

My Sunday conure thinks she is running everything She doesn’t like the shower or the birdbath outside. She wants to bathe in her water bowl. Or in the kitchen sink under the running faucet. As far as healthy food goes… She is the pickiest eater ever. She wants to survive on sunflower seeds and dried papya. And she doesnt play much with toys. She would rather poke holes in are shirts and get on her back or head and fight with you like it’s restle mania. Oh yeah and to top it all off. I can’t even conduct business on the phone. She will squak the whole time. Help!!!

We have a Gray and a Festive Amazon and your info was very helpful. Our birds have their own sleeping quarters, as their daytime cages are in the busiest room of our house. The gray will let you know it’s time for bed with a “Are you ready, are you ready, let’s go night” usually 7:30 or 8ish. We do a finger fly for exercise around the room a couple times, hug and kiss, then off to bed. The amazon follows reluctantly but goes.They are quiet until they hear us up at 7ish for work. Then the gray will whistle and yell “Hey, come here” until we uncover & head downstairs. I was not aware we should take out the food at night. That makes so much sense to get them to eat good in the morning. We will start doing this tonight.

I rescued an Amazon who, from what I can gather, is approximately 25 years old. He was horribly fed, malnourished, etc. (I have two other parrots – a Solomon Eclectus and a Rosella). I know that Amazons are great talkers – my Eclectus is, as well. Since my Amazon has been with me (about 3 months) with proper diet, rest, etc., he is starting to look great. There are still bald areas where he had pulled his feathers, but they are starting to grow back. He only says a few words, very few, and I am wondering if, at his age, he will develop a more extensive vocabulary now that he is calming down. I spend a lot of time with him, talking with him, etc. I want to get him where I can take him out of his cage, like I do with the others. Does anyone know if this will eventually work? Thanks.

Thank you for the concise information.

My four parakeets will sleep with or without covering. My Conure definately let me know he has achieved his 12 hours of awake time, and demands he needs to be covered for sleep. He sqawks as the 12th hour of the evening approaches. He will not stop sqawking until he is covered. He calls me “mommy” in the morning when he feels it time for him to awake to see daylight, and he sqawks in the evening to be covered for sleep time. I know the parakeets would love to tell him to “shut up.” You can set your clock/watch by his requests. (He will only do a 12 hour shift no more than that) lol lol lol lol

And you should bathe your birds a few times a week…….Some love it some hate it…but they still need a good cleaning! :)

Hello….this is for Darlene….I too have an African Grey he is alomost 3 years old and he only says a few things…..it takes some time for them to start talking so be patient…..

this is my lovebirds 1st breeding season they are showing all the nesting signs but they refuse to go in the nesting box! now i originally had a bamboo like nest at top of their cage brutis used it as a toy lu lu then ripped it apart !! we have tried to intice them w/ treats to go in the box what do i do? tara

Speaking of cage covers, has anybody found anything a macaw won’t rip to shreads? I need suggestions!

We have a Green Cheek Conure. Her name is Opie. She loves to bathe. When we first got her she was 4 months old, andher wings were clipped, so we would bathe her in the kitchen sink with warm water from a spray bottle. She wasn’t crazy about it, but she cooperated, As time went on we noticed she liked to bath in her water dish after we changed her water, and this could be anytime, but usually in the evening. The water would be cold. She would engage in antics which were funny to watch, but we knew this couldn’t work. We first thought it was the cold water that was creating the show, but this turned out not to be the case, we would immediately change it to warm when we saw it coming, and the show went on. Today we have a deep pie dish, and we’ve narrowed it down to every 4 days. We just place it in the middle of our kitchen table. We’re careful to have the water temp perfect, because she now first checks it to see if its to her liking?. She is all over the table, in an out like a kid at a pool, talking a mile a minute, diving, flapping and making a mess. This goes on for several minutes, she will then take flight, I pick her up where she’s landed and take her back to the pool 2 ,3, or 4 times. When she is finished she will not allow me to put her back on the table. She is really fun to watch knowing she is enjoying herself. I like my wife to be there just so we can both keep an eye on her, I do this by going to get her then telling her that I’ve drawn Madam Opie’s bath:). She then flies about, or lands on the towel we provide, preen’s, picks and chews, and I then keep her on my finger till she’ s dry. She’s a beautiful little bird who says Thank you!, 50x’s a day, along with Okay!, Whats UP?, what you doing?, whats up with you?, and lately she tries to say Daddy, and she is clear as a bell. We purchased a Full Spectrum light, with a timer, and moonlight for her bed time. It took a while for her to get use to the light over her cage but she loved the moonlight right away. We first covered her with a cozy cover which blocked out nearly all light, but we finally stopped. When we would cover her cage, she would retreat to the bottom and pick at the second layer of paper for more than an hour, even two looking for either light, or a way out. Not now!. Her Full Spectrum goes out which leaves her with this beautiful moonlit glow, less we let her stay up a little longer, or have her out. But when its beddy time she may push the keys on her talk and play with keys that light up red, or munch a little taking a pellet or two to her water dish and use the secure bar to crush them, or talk a little before retreating to her snuggle hut. We have recently begun covering just the top part of the cage with some towels just to give her a little more privacy, and to give her a little covering to block off any breezes that may come off our frigerator fan, etc., just to give her some added warmth. The moonlight is very soothing to her, and keeps her calm, unlike the cozy cover, and this was the best suggestion given us from the owner of the business we bought the dual lights from. The shield that keeps the light above the cage , and which seperates the lights from being on top of the cage itself is better secured using clear tiny zip ties that can be purchased from Tru Value in a pack of 48. I centered the hood/shield secured it after centering the bell, and its perfect. Her colors are brilliant, and she is going on 3 years old. The company we purchased this thru is Featherbrite, and the owners are just terrific. We could not be without these lights, nor could Opie, one of the best investments we have made for her. We purchased our cage, actually two, the 2nd one is just the size for a trip or vacation. We bought these from Windy City Parrot in Chicago, A business that supports a sanctuary in Wisconsin with all kinds of donations. They may be invovled with more, this is the one we are familiar with, We love the work they do as well. Support you local sanctuaries they need it, and the work they do giving birds home and care is born of the heart. Our best to all you bird lovers

Ten years ago I installed a perch in my shower high enough so I don’t subject the birds to any splashed soap but just low enough that the birds can get their morning drink of water from my mouth. I have three birds; an African Grey, a Blue and Gold and a Hyacinth, so I alternate each to the shower so each bird is bathed every third day and they love their morning showers. I have often thought that this practice has a secondary benefit that each is handled and fussed over at least every third day. The only problem I’ve ever had is jealousy fierce displayed by the Grey and the B&G every time it’s the Hyacinthe’s turn for the showers (although for some reason they’re not jealous of each other).

My Blue and Gold likes to go into the shower but, doesn’t always get wet. All I have to do is turn on the vacuum and both my Blue and Gold and White Cap Pionus take a bath in their water bowls. I tried putting them in the shower and turning on the vacuum in the room but, I have had no luck with them getting wet in the shower, they wait till they are back in their cages and the it’s bath time. This is strange to me. Bedtime is fun at my house. My Blue and Gold will sit on my arm and start roosting. Then he gives kisses. That is when he is ready to go nite-nite. I do cover the cages. He likes to be rocked and have his prayers said to him before he goes in the cage.

you never said how often you bath your birds my quaker baths when he wants to and sometimes we take a shower together. My afican gray hates to bath it is like it is hurting him except when he does it about once a week if I am lucky but sometimes I also put him in the shower with me. And each time it has gotten less stressful for him but he stills does not like it where as my quaker loves it. My quaker rulls night time he lets us know when he is ready for bed by screaming intil we say are you ready for bed whick he will kiss my husband on the lips and then comes to me and I give him night sugar and imediatly my afican gray rings his bell to announce he is ready too so they go to their separted rooms in there cages and are covered intil we wake them up. Maybe I am wrong but I let my birds eat when ever and the quaker eats all the time to be so small he doesn’t never seam to be full and of course is always poo pooing which we have train to let us know when he is one us when he has to poop so very seldom poops on us and because we weren’t paying attention.

I didn’t know I was SUPPOSED to bathe my African Grey!!! He bathes in his water bowl—and when I introduced a large bowl into the cage, it only got filled w/stuff!! Please give me some guidance on this. We used to take our cockatiel into the shower and she bathed herself but the parrot—I don’t think anyone has ever bathed him—freaked out. I’m open to suggestions, please.

I haven’t put my Amazon, in shower, He likes to get bathe in the sink in kitchen i have a sprayer my husband lets him stand on his finger and i spray him he will spread his wings and turn so i can get him every where. At around 7:00 p.m. i cover him and when i get up i will uncover him. he loves the outdoors we camp alot in summer and when i go out on swing he goes with me he loves to swing. He also goes to McDonalds with me he eats what we eat..If we are eating he will holler until we give him some of what we got. I always make him a little plate of food, when we eat supper.He does talk quiet a bit. I love him, Don’t know what i"d do without him.

My Sun Conure is such a pleasent soul. I provide a tent like hut for him in his cage and cover the cage. When he was first brought home from the breader I started his nightly ritual which includes about 10:00 I start to settle him down for the night. His cage is in the living room so I try to let him have his space after 10:00. My Great-Grandmother, his “Mommy”, is the one who plays with him throughout the day. She uncovers the cage in the morning around 9. Although he is not recieving a full 10 hours sleep, he seems to be well rested. As far as food is concerned I am a real stickler about keeping his bowls and food bowls clean. I change the water twice a day or even more depending on if he has taken a bath in his water, which for some off reason he enjoys doing. I keep two bowls of different types of food at his access all the time along with a bown of fresh fruits and veggies. For some reason he will not eat the really good food such as Harrison’s. Showers with my Sun Conure are a blast. At least twice a week I get him in the shower with me and for some reason he doesn’t enjoy getting wet in the shower; however, he does watch and talk while I am showering. I never knew that having a parrot would be so enjoyable. Everyday I look forward to greeting him and loving on him as I know he does with me. What a special relationship we have with these wonderful creatures.

My Timneh Grey always knows when it is time for bed at 7pm he starts saying good night good night and shortly I put him in his cage and cover it. I bathe him in late morning or if we are going outside I bathe him while we are out and I am cleaning his cage he gets a bath and he cages gets a bath! He starts saying Stinky Bird, I always tell him Are you stinky you need a bath! He says Stinky Bird and puffs up his feathers ready for a mist!

Bev Its nice reading your tips, ive learnt alot , as my Amazon its surpring me , i bought it in 2009, ive tried to make her talk but she doesnt. She eat but i dont bath her she bit me whenever i do so. I appreciate for all your tips, and ive been trying to teach her NOTHING. The good part of her is she kows me very well, to other members of the family she’s rudy to them. When I arrive hmoe she would shout, to show that shes’s hpply seeing me and whenever am eating she come to gate food, or anything am eating I keep her in the cage but she doesn’t stay inside. and i dont bath her I teach her to say GOOD MORNING and THANK YOU but if you dont pay attention you would not hear but i myself i hear Ive been longing to purchase one from you there, but i dont know how to buy, Ilive in Zambia, Please kindly advise Beverly THANKS