screaming IRN

[Lynne Watts]

Hi Guys,
I have 5 parrots and 10 finches. 3 IRN's, one plumhead parakeet and one quaker.
I've had the 7 year old female IRN for over 2 years. Her cage mate flew away 4 months ago and I've since aquired the other birds. I had recently gotten a male IRN and after quarantine put him in the same room as my female. She's always screamed her normal morning raucious IRN scream for about 45 minutes, but since I put the male in there, it's louder, much louder and lasts twice as long. The scream's have never bothered me, but my husband is temporarily on the night shift at work, so he needs his sleep during the day.
Anyone here have any ideas for quieting her, even just a little? I did put ear plugs by his alarm clock and don't know why he doesn't use them. hee hee. The male is fairly quiet, although he does talk. Sometimes she gets him going too and then of course the quaker joins in.
She's a happy bird and her calls seem quite happy, but I would prefer she keeps it down a bit.
Thanks for any suggestions
Lynne

[Carly]

Hi Lynne,

I know how you feel - my IRN's (like most parrots) like to do their screaming early in the morning and it annoys my housemates alot!

One solution I have is to keep the birds covered at night, which stops any really early morning screaming. After I get up in the morning and uncover them, I give them something to do. sometimes its a corn on the cob, or a 'fruit & veg kabab' on a skewer, or some wooden pegs, some nuts in the shell, a toy they havent seen for a while, anything really!

The idea is to keep them occupied for an hour or so, then they are ready for a nap, and by the time they feel like screaming its later in the day and they arent waking anyone up!

Its funny that her screams have increased since adding the other bird. It sounds like the new bird is in a seperate cage. Have you tried letting them spend time together in the same cage/ or during play time?

[Mikaela]

I just posted somewhere on this topic myself. My new IRN is a screamer anf it literally pierces my ears. She is so perfect in every other way. I pray I can change this in her. I also pray the baby doesnt pick it up.

I just put them both in the same cage and she is watching the baby play and not screaming. I will let you know how long we can go without one.

[Lynne Watts]

Hi guys,
Thanks for your reply. My screaming female (Leah) doesn't get covered, but that's a great idea! I did let them both out of their cages (she is free all the time anyway) one day and they seemed ok together. The male went to her cage and got on it while she was on her perch stand and then he got in it. She went over and stood on the door and guarded it and everytime he came close to come out of her cage, she lunged at him. It didn't exactly seem like a serious attack, but she was annoyed he was in HER cage. I think they will get along fine though and I''d love to get them together again and close the cage doors, so it won't be so territorial. Maybe that will help. It would be perfect it they could cage together, but I don't want them to breed and I've heard they could kill eachother if they can't breed. Tiki and Leah were fine together for two years, although she was bossy.
Anyway, Leah is hard to distract one che decided to scream. Her favorite (corn on the cob) only works for second and then she's back to it. I have tried everything to keep her quiet, but nothing works. I think I'll try covering, so that way when I uncover in the morning, she'll maybe be calmer for a bit longer. Also getting the male and female together sounds like a plan too.
My other IRN baby, Asia is very quiet. She's been caged with the plumhead since hatching and when she makes a sound it's a quiet whimpy little plumhead sound. So cute. One day her and Leah started screaming to eachother. (They're in different parts of the house) and Asia got loud and sounded just like a IRN. It was such a special moment!!! hee hee. She's 5 1/2 months old now and I've had her since she was 2 months old and she's always quiet. I think she prefers quiet, but just wanted to try being an IRN.

[Carly]

It would be perfect it they could cage together, but I don't want them to breed and I've heard they could kill eachother if they can't breed.

Why would they kill each other if they can't breed? Unless you provide them with a nestbox, they shouldnt try to breed as far as I know..? I have my male and female together, but I have only had the female for 8months so I dont really know the long term effects... I was anticipating that they may get a bit 'clucky' in breeding season but we will have to wait till next year when my girl gets a bit older to see what happens..

If you want to house them together, the way I got mine together was by introducing the established bird into the new cage with the new bird. First I just put the cages side by side - touching so they could touch beaks through the bars if they wanted. then I put them together supervised, then together for the daytime only, and eventually together all the time. they get along fine, although the female is definately the boss! It can also take a while for them to learn how to interact with each other, my male had been alone for many years so it took him alot of trial and error to figure out that she wasnt a toy and biting her toes wasnt the best way to get her attention!

[Mikaela]

My older baby Peek-a-Boo is very sweet natured whereas my Baby is a meany. Peek-a-Boo allows the baby to push her around. However, when she has finally had enough she will nip the babies leg.

I house them seperately, they are out from morning until bedtime. Sometimes, they will hang out in Peek-a-Boo's cage but Baby will not tolerate a visit from Peek-a-Boo in her cage. Otherwise, they are on the condo or stand.

The baby isnt mean to Peek, she just bullies her. I hope Peek gets good and tired of it and puts a stop to it. I see Baby's feather on the very top of her head took a good nip but I say Go Peek! Enough is enough and the Baby takes advantage of Pee-a-Boo's patience.

Let me too say, I NEVER leave them in the same cage without me being right here. I also never shut the door so one can retreat when it has had enough. I do allow them to play together outside of the cage outside of my immediate presence because Peek has full flight (until I can get her clipped).

Let us know how it works out. I am glad my cage covering idea helped. I am against covering Irn cages, however, every bird is different. I do not cover either of my girls cages but would if it meant having a peaceful moment.

Carly: As far as the long-term affects, it will cause your birds to bond together, therefore not needed to bond with you. That is the biggest draw back and is too why I cage seperately.

[Lynne Watts]

Thanks for your repllies. Well I did cage Leah with Tiki her mate that flew off. They did ok for the two years together, except of course, Leah was the boss. I got an email from a woman that has alot of birds and she was talking about putting a male and female together causing problems if they can't mate. Not putting a nest box in would not allow them to mate, so maybe that's what she meant. I know she knows I was thinkig of caging Ringo and Leah together, so maybe she was hinting around. It scared me so I decided not to cage them together. I would love to try to cage them together, so I'll see how they get along.

[Mikaela]

Just remember, when birds, especially Irns are caged together they bond with eachother, thus needing you less. This can lead to a much less tame bird. Which leads to poor behavior and so forth. That is the biggest drawback. I do NOT cage my birds together for this reason. I do let them play together during the day in whatever cage they so choose but never close the door.

[Lynne Watts]

Hi Mikaela,
I do agree with you. When I bought Leah 2 1/2 years ago I had no idea what i was doing. i was looking for a companion for Tiki. I live in Michigan and at the time I couldn't find a IRN anywhere in the area, but found an add for Leah. She was a 5 year old breeder bird. I thought, ok no problem. Well, little did I know she wasn't handled ever and bit the heck out of me a number of times. I learned to love her the way she was and I know she loves me, but she just doesn't want to be handled. A vet told me because she's older and a hen, and a IRN, not to push too hard to hand tame her, plus the fact she was a breeder. I have tried many times to get her used to my hands, but she's very smart and seems to know what I'm up to. One good thing is, she doesn't bite me as hard anymore and after Tiki escaped, she would come down the hall to my bedroom looking for me. My husband and i would wake up to her sitting on our oscillating fan watching us sleep. It just melted my heart. I would cry for her all the time. On top of my devistation over losing Tiki, she was also missing him. That's when i decided to get more birds for company for her.
Anyway, Ringo is a biter, too, but not like Leah I don't think. I want to spend time with him and I think he will be handelable one day. Thinking about that, maybe it would be wise not to cage them together.
Ringo is 5 years old too and he's a talker. I will try to get a picture of him and the rest of my flock on here soon. I will also try to record his talking for you guys. he says "Ringo's a pretty bird, uh huh!" He also says " I love you". "Pretty boy" "Comere" "Hello" and wolf whistles and whistles the toon to Andy Griffith show. I have a feeling he says more than that.
Ringo and Leah are both green. I do favor the green males more than anything which is why I got another one after I lost Tiki. Others think Tiki and Ringo look alike, but I see them as looking so different. I guess no bird will ever compare to Tiki. I still miss him dearly. I think he was gorgious. He remained hand tame even after caging with Leah, although I did notice Leah would go after him when I put him back on his cage as though she thought of him as a trader. That's why I let him fly so he could get away from her when he needed to.
Anyway, thanks for your advice. I will take it seriously

[Mikaela]

The girl I just adopted now has full flight which I love but it is simply not realistic, too many things can happen. I have a 5 yr old that acts like he was raised in a barn lacking a door for he NEVER shuts them.

I am getting her clipped tomorrow, she is going to hate me for it, wish someone else would take her so she didnt associate it with me
The reason she has full flight is because her past mom had her wings clipped and Peek was very mad with her for weeks. I expect the same results.

[Lynne Watts]

Yes, to clip or not to clip is a double edged sword for sure. I have made my decision to keep all mine clipped after losing my beloved Tiki. I can't go through losing another bird as I'll never get over losing this one. They may sulk for a few days, but they'll be fine after that. Anyway, since you're taking her in to have someone else do it, technically, you're off the hook right? hee hee

[Melika]

I've always clipped all my birds wings. My sister helps with a towel restraint for the biting ones, lol. They've never seemed to hold it against me and are usually calm about it. I consider it less stressful since they trust me (at least to a degree). Same with the dogs, nail clipping and such.

Of course, their head is covered with the towel, so when we release the birds we've "rescued" them. Maybe that helps. ^_~ Also, we trim their wings before they realize they can fly again. So they're not missing anything.

My three large indoor dogs snap at flying birds, but run from walking ones so clipping is the way to go in this house. Especially with dogs that can open the backdoor.

[Mikaela]

I can not even begin to imagine what it would feel like to lose one of my babies. Do you have any idea how it happened? God bless you

[indian ringneck]

Ringnecks are some of the noisiest birds in the parrot world, I agree! Here's an article relating to it.
http://members.dodo.com.au/~johanp/Kiki ... icles.HTML

[Carly]

Carly: As far as the long-term affects, it will cause your birds to bond together, therefore not needed to bond with you. That is the biggest draw back and is too why I cage seperately.

I've heard this said too, but do you know if this is true or could it be just a myth? The reason I ask is because I have had a number of pet birds that were housed together with other pet birds of the same species, and they never 'lost their bond' with me?

Up until a few years ago I had 4 cockatiels who were all tame (mostly handraised) and they lived together for years in a large flight avairy. Every time I entered the avairy they would all come up to me and ask for head scratches, and sit on my shoulder etc. One of them I had for 9 years, and despite being fully flighted and bonded to her mate in the avairy, she would always be happy to step up and do whatever I wanted with her.

I also know about 6 Sulfur crested cockatoos who were all peoples pets, but had been given up for one reason or another and now live together at an animal sanctuary in a HUGE enclosure. Keepers at the sanctuary get swamped by the birds every time they enter the avairy, and the birds have a number of tricks they play on the visitors. (their favourite is to ignore people who come up and talk to them, and then as they are walking away say 'hello', or 'bye bye' and laugh!)

Never underestimate their memory power!

I'm not saying that its impossible for birds to lose their bond with people, but I just dont believe that letting your bird live with other birds causes them to 'not need to bond with you anymore'. Parrots are flock animals and I think that they have room in their lives for more than one person/bird.

Also I think we underestimate the effect we have on their ability to socialise with other birds when we make them our pets. When Rajah displays to Sari, he lifts his wings and bows and pins his eyes (normal behaviour) but while he's doing it he says 'good boy' and 'mmmmwa' .. lol luckily she is hand raised and dosent know any different, I would hate to think how long he would last with a regular IRN breeder hen! my guess is that he would be severely punished for acting so weird..

sorry Lynne, i guess this is a bit off topic ...

[Mikaela]

I know from other board members that it is true, they will bond together. They are social creatures, although you'd never know it *CHOMP*

However, if you allow them out most of the day or play with them atleast 30 minutes a day they shouldnt lose anything. If they start to want eachother more than you, you'll know. Then house them seperately because you dont want to take any steps backwards with this creatures, too hard to get them where we have them now.

Myth or fact. I would go with fact because I know personally of several members that housed together and the birds thereby bonded together. But again, I think if you take them and play with them they will enjoy you and want to be with you. I house my girls seperately and always will. Irns are very territorial so I feel like they need their own house. Otherwise, someone is getting pushed around. Baby pushes Boo around like a lil punk and they are 2 yrs apart in age. Baby is a bully. Peek-a-Boo is a nervous little basket case.

[IMR4N]

I had a pair of female IRN that changed nothing between me and the one with PBFD. She would still call out to me. She was with the other IRN long before we bonded.

[Carly]

Hmm well mine are definately bonded together. the male feeds the female, displays to her etc and they cuddle up at night and sleep together. So i would guess thats about as bonded as IRN's get, short of actually breeding together.

But they are definately still bonded to me. They get all excited as soon as they see me, drop whatever they are doing and run to the door of the cage for attention. I think its almost like a competition, because if anything they are more keen for human attention than before they were housed together. They are both handled every day, which I think is important regardless of how many birds you have. The female loves cuddles and sits on my lap while im at the computer at night. The male isnt a 'cuddly' bird but he loves to talk to me, and he demands my undivided attention while he's talking to me!

I think that maybe one reason why they have retained such a strong bond to me is that they have two cages, one is the 'play' cage that they go to during the day, and the other is the sleeping cage. It gives them a closer lifestyle to what they would have in the wild - a 'foraging' area and a 'roosting' area that they move back and forth from. Of course, they rely on me to get them back and forth so it means that they cant really 'lose their bond' with me.. they rely on me to fulfill their daily routine, so they NEED me. I can understand if you had two birds in a large cage together all the time, they wouldnt need you, so they could become less dependant on you for attention (but I still dont think they would totally forget who you are). Also I am the wonderful 'bringer of treats' so how could they not love me