How to silence a screaming budgie: I’ve had budgies all my life. They have always been sociable and good-natured birds that I can get along with very easily, they chirp in the morning and whistle back and forth with me.
I have always found my budgies absolutely delicious and it is a joy to have them in the house. But I’ve never owned a male parakeet… Thus far. Thanks to him, I learned a lot about the techniques to silence a screaming bird:
Tips to reduce budgie calls
- Move the cage
- Using Avicalm
- Interrupt nasty behavior
- Leave them alone
- Socialize them
Our story: How we acquired a noisy parakeet
When my last budgie, Hedwig, passed away two years ago, I was sad. It was the third parakeet I’d owned since I was 14, and I didn’t know what I was going to do without a bird in the house. That’s when my adorable boyfriend decided to give me some budgies. He chose a male and a female this time, fearing that only one budgie would feel lonely while we are at work.
Things went well for the first few months. I immediately started socializing with them. I noticed from the beginning that the male was much more difficulty socializing than the female. The female loved to interact with me and immediately learned tricks. The male, on the other hand, always acted like I was trying to kill him whenever I got too close. He shouted and threw himself in all directions like a real “Drama King”. Still, I wasn’t going to give it up.
Video: What does a noisy budgie look like?
Help! My budgie can’t stop screaming!
About six months after getting these birds, I began to notice a real behavior problem in the male. He squeaks a lot! In fact, it’s more of a scream… A very high-pitched, shrill, heartbreaking scream. Why is he doing this? After two years, I still have no idea. He seems to be irritated by everything, literally.
My male budgie screams if he hears anyone talking. He screams if the TV is on. He yells if he sees you move. He shouts at the other bird when it eats. He also yells at her when she dares to move. He screams if anything changes in his cage. If I put a new toy in its cage, it will scream non-stop for hours. He even screams for no reason, all day.
What I tried to do to reduce the budgie screaming
I tried everything with him. I do everything I can to keep him busy and entertained; He is healthy, eats properly, has a lot of toys, and spends a lot of time out of his cage. He has everything he could possibly need and more. But he keeps screaming all day. Here are some examples of what I’ve tried:
- I gave him a ton of attention, but he always screams (and he always panics when I approach him).
- I’ve tried to ignore it when it’s noisy, but it doesn’t help.
- I tried to respond to him by vocalizing – it helped me for about 5 minutes and then the screaming started again.
- I tried to separate it from the other bird, but it only makes things worse.
- I tried to move the cage to different rooms and even outside during the day, but he still screams.
Does this sound like you? I know I can’t be the only one who owns a budgie like that! Nothing I tried completely solved the problem, but here are a few things I found that make it a little better.
Parakeets and mimicry
Parakeets have the gift of mimicry: they can imitate the meows of a cat, the ringing of a telephone, the sound of a radio, etc. They can also pick up common words they hear every day.
5 tips: How to make a parrot stop screaming
1. Try moving the cage.
This is my first line of conduct every day. I put the cage outside or in another room to change the landscape a little.
2. AviCalm can be used to calm them.
This trick was recommended to me by a friend who has an aggressive bird. It’s a powder that you can mix with their food and it calms them down. This is one of the most effective tactics I’ve found. But I have to give it to him every day because it seems to dissipate after a while. Often this only improves the situation, but it does not stop it completely.
AviCalm for anxious budgies
3. A spray bottle can interrupt aggressive behavior.
I know it sounds harsh, but he’s brought me to tears more times than I can count. When he is mean to the other bird, I give him a little squirt. He keeps the food when she tries to approach the food bowl, so every time he approaches her while she eats, he gets a jet. He understands pretty quickly, and that reduces his behavior. Just be careful not to do this in cold weather or if you move your bird’s cage outside and there is a draft—give it time to dry. Use this technique sparingly.
4. A “timeout” helps them calm down.
When none of the other things work, I put him on a work stoppage. I have a separate cage in which he can spend time alone to calm down. He has his own food, water, and toys in this cage. I partially cover the cage with a blanket and put it in a room where there is soothing classical music. It works half the time. If he is calm after about an hour, I put him back in his cage with the other bird. Usually, it is pretty decent after that.
I usually don’t like clipping wings. Many owners clip their wings or “flight feathers” to prevent their bird from flying away and injuring or getting into trouble. His wings are currently clipped, and as I always try to make him love me, I take him away from his cage and put him on my shoulder when he makes his. When he tries to move, I put him back on my shoulder.
After 10 minutes, he will stop screaming and sink into my hair. I just let him calm down while I go about my business. This usually means that it will be quiet for two hours, and this seems to be a huge relief for the other bird as well. My female usually takes this time to eat and play in the bath, two things he never lets her do when he’s around.
Video: How to calm a noisy budgie
Do you have experience with a noisy budgie?
I work from home, so I’m home with my male bird all day. I am sometimes a little desperate and I have tried everything to solve the problem and silence it. It would be so nice if he could just chirp all day like normal birds do, like all my other budgies! It’s like he doesn’t know how to communicate without shouting.
Imagine a horn sounding in the room next to you. Now imagine that this sound repeats itself over and over again in one-second intervals for long periods of time. A scream. Cry. Cry. Cry. SQUEAK! After two long years of hearing him scream all day, it’s really starting to take a toll on my mental health.
Do you have a similar situation? How to deal with it? Do you have any tips and tricks I haven’t thought of? Let us know what you think!
Attention Screaming Behaviour Solutions
SOURCE: Flock-Talk
