A screaming Mango

[Athosia]

Hello All!

Quick question!

I've have Mango now for close to 8 glorious months! We've achieved a great deal within that time frame!

Step up was a little rocky to start with as Mango wasn't fond of skin, shirts jumpers coats even pants were completely fine! Now with the help of our good friend strawberries we've achieve step up onto skin, doesn't like walking around too much but the biting is easing off and we are more willing to step up onto a bare arm (hands still get a good bite but working on that)

We give kisses and 'boop' where Mango will bump our noses with his beak.

The only thing we've been struggling with is the afternoon screaming. Happens the same time every afternoon. 5:30pm. Even weekends. We've tried everything we can think of, foraging toys, changing feeding time, playing with him, moving him into another room to be with one of us constantly, walking around with him etc.

A few of these worked wonders for two or three days, mainly the walking around with us, but then he'd scream even while doing that.

I'm currently trying clicker training but Mango is more interested in eating the clicker, than the treats that I'm trying to give him (even tried our good friend strawberry to no avail).

I am hoping there is some other method that you've tried out that might work a little better.

Thanks
Sorry for the long post!!

[MissK]

Hi. On one hand, birds tend to be more active, and that may include being vocally active, in the morning and evening. So I want to say this is hard wired. At the same time I don't want to discount environmental input.

I would encourage you to closely examine everything that's going on in the environment at the time, including what's in the house and what's outside. You might make a really long list of tiny stuff, such as:
5:30 at My house:
bird screaming
me covering ears
partner making tea
particular program on television/radio/etc
cat gone out for the evening
neighbor yelling at kids
sun dropping behind tree in the yard casting a shadow on the window
oh, and me clipping my toenails
ice cream van down the street
porch light timer turning on
etc, etc.

When you examine each tiny thing happening, and there are MANY, you might find something you didn't realize was jump starting your bird. Honestly, I would look at sounds first because at a time when the flock would be making noise together, other noises might start your bird to join in. The neighbor calling in their dog might not sound like parrots to you, but a lone parrot might take any port in a storm, there. **Where I live we just set our clocks back an hour. If you did as well, make haste to note if the bird changed according to the clock (likely indicating a catalyst related to human activity) or if it remained at the same point in the natural day as it was before (indicating something more natural in origin, such as the sun or the neighbor's dog's bedtime).

If you are ambitious and quite dedicated, you might try to train your bird to make noise, then ask it to make noise for a little while and then ask it to stop. It could work, maybe. The theory is sound at any rate. I don't think I could do it, but I've been admitting to laziness for years, now. A final thing to note is that these birds are, by nature, quite noisy. I really think that it is mainly the quiet (compared to a wild flock) environment of the home that keeps them as quiet as they can be, using the theory that in the quiet you don't want to call attention to yourself by making a bunch of noise.

By all means keep us posted, and good luck!

[InTheAir]

To add to Missks list:
Lorikeets or other wild parrots/birds going past to their roost. That sets my girl off, but she is easy to distract into silence by trick training or other positive interactions.

[Athosia]

Thank you both so much we had a pretty good afternoon today. Only a small amount of screaming. There are galahs that fly by in the afternoon so maybe that is part of it. We also didn't turn the tv on when we got home which we usually do for background sound. I also sat with Mango making origami boxes... Well attempted to... They were destroyed pretty quickly. Then there was some cleaning adventures! The screaming kicked in a little at the end. But I feel that was more that Mango wanted to go to bed then anything else. We're going to try this again for a while and see how it goes. I have a feeling that I might try different bird craft ideas each night so Mango doesn't get sick of one too quickly! You have both been really helpful and any further pointers would be delightful! Particularly if you have any craft ideas I love making things particularly things that are useful or usable!

Jack

[Athosia]

Hello again!!

Just thought I'd give a little update on Mango!!

The afternoon screaming has gotten a lot better!! With tag teaming between my partner and I we have been able to give Mango attention all afternoon up until he's ready for bed! We've eliminated tv before Mango goes to bed as he doesn't seem to like it very much. I think there are too many voices and not enough attention lol.

We've made sure that there are plenty of foraging toys and things to explore while we are at work so all of these things combined seem to have settled him in the afternoons!! WIN!!

Sadly now the mornings are a problem. We haven't changed our routine at all. Up at 6 fed by 630 stretch while I make breakfast. Then about 730 the screaming has started

This is when I leave for the day, with my partner leaving about 8.

Is this because Mango doesn't want us to leave? Not sure how to handle this... Not the greatest morning person already lol

Any extra advice on this?

Jack

[InTheAir]

Hi Jack,

I'm glad to hear your afternoons are going better.

More details on the exact schedule in the mornings and what his breakfast is may help someone pinpoint a solution. Ie: when you put him in his cage and he starts screaming then or whatever.

Does he make any vocalisations that you do like? Parrots are pretty vocal by nature, so encouraging nice noises is very helpful for everyone's sanity!
My 2 talk and make funny noises throughout the day. I try to encourage any noises I like to hear, though one of them spent half an hour this afternoon making fart noises because it makes me laugh even though I try not to. He likes laughter so he repeats noises that make people laugh.

Anyway, let us know more and hopefully we will have some ideas for you to try.

[MissK]

I am feeling a lot of concern that you and your partner may be taking extreme measures to occupy your bird in a way that possibly will tie you to entertaining him long term at the expense of your own freedoms. You can't allow him to expect you to always be there at his whim. It's not sustainable for you, and he should learn independence. One of the traits that attracted me to Ringnecks is their supposed independence. Even when my Rocky was an "only parrot" he did not get that undivided attention, and he was fine. True he had company in the two dogs and Canaries who were in other areas of the house. I am really hoping you can find ways to teach Mango independence for long term success. I don't have answers for you, only concerns.

[Athosia]

Thank you for your responses!!

Turns out the mornings were just too quiet for Mango. As someone who isn't a morning person I don't do too much talking. The radio seems to have solved Mangos morning issues.

As to Mango's afternoons. Well yesterday he didn't want either myself or my partner to give him too much attention. A hello and a kiss was all he wanted then showed no interest in us at all. So we just went about our afternoons like normal just without him with us!

And thank you for your concern MissK!

We certainly haven't been sacrificing any of our own freedoms! We share a lot of the things we need to do so each of us gets to have our own time. And including Mango in our afternoon activities has meant my partner and I are spending more time together and it gets a lot of house work done ;) which means freedom on weekends! Yay!

I probably have a tendency to make things sound worse then they are. Mango had been a great companion up until the last few weeks but he seems to be settling down again! Like yesterday he enjoyed an afternoon entertaining himself while I cleaned the kitchen. And this morning he was so good! Breakfast then straight to his foraging box toy thing! As with anyone I guess he felt a little lonely and needed some extra love the last few weeks. But if his behaviour holds he'll be back to his usual independent self coming to us when he wants treats and garden visits lol.

[InTheAir]

I'm glad things are working out for you guys. I'm impressed you do more housework when spending time with your bird, in our household it is quite the opposite!

[sanjays mummi]

I second that! All pets/animals are terrible time wasters!