Echo's Haven Macaw Rescue Sanctuary The Complete Bird Community
Our goal is to provide a free-flight home for formerly abused, unwanted or problem Macaws.

Screaming Issues in the Adult Cockatoo

by

Karlene R. Sunday

The issues of screaming have played a primary role in the placement of cockatoos from one home to the next. Hopefully, the insight gained from the following paragraphs will help to prevent a screaming cockatoo from becoming a homeless cockatoo.

Many times I am asked, "Why does my cockatoo scream for hours? I have tried everything and he won't stop screaming".

What the first course of action should be is a complete history on the screaming behavior.

• How many hours of sleep is your cockatoo receiving?
• Is he centrally located or does he have his own room/aviary?
• How long have you been caring for the bird? Are you the first owner?
• Do you know his age? Is the cockatoo a male or female?
• How long has the screaming been going on? Weeks? Months? Years?
• Is the screaming affiliated with neurotic behavior? Continuous hopping or whipping?
• What is his current diet?
• What size cage are you currently housing him in? Exact dimensions are required.
• Does he receive daily or weekly showers?
• When was his last veterinary appointment? What were the results?
• What have you tried to correct the problem?
• What were the results of your behavior modification?

Sleep is the number one question and for a variety of reasons. We may believe that our avian companions are receiving adequate levels of sleep but when their sleeping schedule is reviewed in detail, the realization is sometimes startling. There are factors that we cannot see unless each hour is speculated over.

Lighting seems to be one that many owners overlook. They turn the lights out in the room their avian companion is in but overhead lights remain on in the adjacent room. The rays from a nearby light can brighten the room enough to disrupt sleep. If you feel you must keep adjacent lights on, a dark colored fabric adequate enough to block adjacent rays should be seriously considered.

Lighting from a nearby street that invades their sleeping schedule can be in the form of a street light or a passing car. This streak of light can disturb them enough that they remain awake for an hour trying to settle down from the shock of light.

Noise, whether it be household or human made is also a contributory cause to prevent your cockatoo from receiving adequate levels of sleep. If you must remain up at night, remember that noise can be as distracting for your avian companion as it is for you.

In addition to our avian companion, many of us also share our lives with furry critters.

The roaming or playful dog or cat can disturb your sleeping avian companion by a gentle nudge against the cage when passing by and this recurrent situation could go on all night. So in actuality, how many hours of sleep is your avian companion truly receiving?

The location of the cage plays another primary role in whether the cockatoo receives adequate levels of privacy and rest. If he is placed in the center of the living room and there is constant interaction on an hourly basis, the afternoon rest period is interrupted and nap time is basically nil.

Some people feel that placing their avian companion in front of a window is the best location but drafts and/or temperature extremes place your cockatoo in a compromising position. If you live in a cold climate and feel it is necessary to place your cockatoo in front of a window for adequate levels of sunshine, be aware of the fact that window panes block many of the beneficial rays that your avian companion requires. If you stood in front of the window and removed your shirt, would you be comfortable sitting there for a number of hours? You would not subject yourself to this uncomfortable temperature and the same consideration should be applied to your avian companion. Placing the cage in the corner of the room will remove the stress associated with an unfamiliar movement on two sides of the cage. By doing this, half of the cage is maintained at a constant environment This may not apply to all cockatoos as some adjust very well to environmental stimuli.

The length of time that you have been caring for the cockatoo will also play a role in whether the screaming behavior began prior to you or during your care. This directly coincides with ownership issues playing a major role in the screaming behavior.

If you are the second or third owner, screaming problems could be the reason the cockatoo was passed onto you in the first place. If this is the reason, then their life before you should be evaluated to try to determine the cause of the screaming. In some instances, previous owners will not mention any behavior problems because they feel that it would put the sale of their avian companion at risk. If they look at the whole picture, wouldn't it make more sense to place their avian companion into a home that knows of any behavior problems instead of the new owners finding out the hard way?

This places the cockatoo into another risky situation because now the new owners have to decide if they wish to live with the screaming and try to modify the behavior or do they need to find another home for him. Back to the second or third owner issue again, there will be times when the screaming will begin with you because of so many changes in their new life. This can be intensely upsetting to the new owner and many times they take the blame. A cockatoo being placed into a new environment will experience some degree of emotional upset. It is how you deal with their emotional needs that will set the precedence for future acceptance into their new home.

Knowing the cockatoos age will help to determine if the screaming behavior is associated with the breeding season. Many of our avian companions express their desire to breed in sometimes painful and confusing ways. I call this the "Raging Hormone Syndrome" and cockatoo owners have experienced a painful bite or rejection during a hormone rise. This breeding desire can also induce episodes of screaming. The gender differences do play a role when dealing with screaming issues in cockatoos. Specifically, whether your male cockatoo has a higher tendency to scream due to the breeding season frustrations.

The duration of the screaming episodes is two-fold. There is actually the time frame involved in the matter of hours. The other duration issue is weeks, months and even years. When screaming issues first begin, this is the time to focus on why the screaming is occurring, when the screaming is occurring: time of day or night, and where the screaming is taking place. The exact location may indicate environmental factors that were not previously considered.

Requesting help after years have gone by will place unreasonable demands on your adult cockatoo by expecting results within a few months. For screaming issues that have been going on for years, you should realistically expect that it may take years to correct the problem. Screaming has then become an ingrained behavior, something they are familiar with and have been doing with regularity. Altering such a familiar behavior, in my opinion, is like asking a cigarette smoker to quit smoking.

A normal screaming behavior pattern for an adult cockatoo can run approximately 5 to 15 minutes. This occurs at daybreak and also when the sun goes down. This is their normal exuberant expression and should be viewed as such. The above time frame for normal should not be viewed as set in stone. Each individual cockatoo may have their own screaming pattern and it may involve an afternoon session. They are as individualistic as we are and you will find that some cockatoos do not have any screaming issues, not even on a daily basis. To personalize that phrase, I will refer to one of the cockatoos that I share my life with. Puffin Girl, is as quiet as can be and she does not scream in the morning or evening.

In addition to the above screaming duration questions, you also need to review if the screaming is associated with any type of neurotic behavior. This places the screaming issue into another realm of difficulty. Neglect by itself and/or associated with abuse tend to turn the emotional needs of the adult cockatoo inwards and they focus their energy use on behaviors such as picking, plucking, mutilation, bopping, whipping, and banging. These are in combination with screaming episodes and should be reviewed with the same scrutiny. Do not confuse the normal energetic behaviors with neuroticism.

Diet plays a role in screaming issues. Sometimes your avian companion is lacking a nutritional need and it is displayed in the form of screaming. A Vitamin A deficiency can cause obvious physical signs which in turn display painful symptoms. This can create screaming episodes in your avian companion. When the Vitamin A deficiency is corrected, the screaming decreases.

Another nutritional issue is one that creates an intestinal upset. There are some foods that create allergic problems in the avian diet similar to what we experience in our own. If your avian companions diet is reviewed in detail and things are removed or added based on their history of allergic problems when given a certain food, you may find an answer to their screaming by diet restriction.

Screaming issues can also be directly linked to the improper housing of your avian companion. If you place an umbrella cockatoo in a cockatiel sized cage, it would stand to reason that they would experience physical as well as emotional discomfort. Screaming is the only way they can express their unhappiness with the situation. When looking for a cage for your cockatoo, you should place the same level of scrutiny on their housing arrangements as you would your own. You would not enjoy living in the dimensions of a closet based on your size and your cockatoo would not enjoy living in the dimensions of a shopping bag based on their size. It is either a matter of surviving or thriving. Yes, they will survive in a small cage but they will not thrive in a small cage.

Showering on a weekly basis should be part of their regular routine. With the amount of cockatoo dander that is produced, a minimum of two showers a week is recommended. This does not include a light misting. A shower for your cockatoo should constitute a complete drenching. This will remove a large percentage of the dander that may be creating physical discomfort which in turn is manifested in screaming episodes. The greatest risk with showering is chilling afterward or drafts. Every precaution should be taken to protect your cockatoo from experiencing a chill. Blow drying can be effective but it does dry out their feathers. I recommend natural drying in the sun which serves two purposes. The obvious, of course, and the nutritional absorption that occurs when exposed to the suns rays.

The last time your cockatoo was seen by a veterinarian. This is an important consideration due to the fact that there may be an underlying medical problem that needs to be addressed. Metal poisoning has been directly linked to screaming issues. There are also some parasites that will create screaming episodes. If your cockatoo had been seen recently, within the past 3 to 6 months, what were the results of any tests that were performed?

My initial response is to question the methods used to try to correct the screaming behavior. Many times, the good intentions of the owner are seen as a reward. Let me name a cockatoo so that I can refer to him in this paragraph. I will name him Barney. Barney has been screaming for hours at a time and it has been going on for approximately two months. The owner has tried everything. When questioned on their methods, the owner reports that they have used "time out" by putting Barney back in his cage. They have covered Barney and put him to bed. They have given him treats to try to quiet him down. They have moved him to another room. All of these behaviors are actions that have been taken by the owner towards Barney. If you will review the above actions, you will see that in each instance or action, Barney has received attention for his screaming. He was moved, he was covered, he was given a treat. Soon Barney starts to learn that if he screams, something will happen. It does not matter to Barney that the action on the part of the owner is a disciplinary response, it is perceived and received as a positive reinforcement to the screaming.

The best course of action when responding to screaming behavior is to do nothing at all. Even a dirty look can be perceived as a positive response. Turning your back to your avian companion and continuing on with what you are doing projects a no response attitude.

This "no response " attitude must be continued on a daily basis if you are to make a difference in he life of your screaming companion. Acceptable behavior modification should always be based on a non-threatening and non- aggressive manner. Focusing on the positive behavior when they are being quiet, playing with their toys, sitting pretty or eating their morning or evening meal will attain positive results. Your cockatoo will think to himself when you approach him in this manner: "Hey, all I have to do is just sit here and I get all this loving attention". "I really like this kind of attention and I am not even doing anything". "I get more attention just sitting quietly than I do screaming so I think I will cut down on the screaming and see what happens".