I have a very fussy blue and gold. When ever she doesn't like whats going on, she screams very loudly. Have had her for more than a year and she has gotten much better, but sometimes she screams for no reason that i can identify. She also screams every time I leave the house. Have tried everything to break this habit. Suggestions would be great. Thank you.

Well, as you probably know, the worst thing you can do is to reward the screaming by acknowleging it in any way, shape or form. So this means no telling her to shuch and no going over to cover the cage.

Don't forget to reward her when she's quiet either. It's easy to notice a bird when it's screaming, which is why they do it. But if you start rewarding her when she's quiet, then she'll start being quiet more.

Now as for screaming for no decetable reason...A mentally healty parrot will not scream for no reason. Look around the room....are there any cats or dogs that could be scaring her? Is she near a window? Alot of times a parrot will see some hawks or cats or other creature outside the window and percieve it as a threat and scream. Do you have her cage near a pet snake or lizard's tank? This can cause a pet parrot to scream.

Now as for screaming when you leave the house, this is natural flock behavior. Macaws live in flocks and she sees you as a member of her flock. When you leave, she is screaming for you to come back. Now to break this, you could make an attempt to train it out of her. First, just turn your back to the cage for a few seconds, then turn around and give her a treat, do this a few times. Then walk a few steps, stand there for a few seconds with your back turned, then turn around, walk back and give her a treat. Do this a few times. Then, gradually walk further and further away before you turn around and she gets the treat. Eventually you can walk to the doorway and around the edge and start increasing the time you stay out before going back in and giving her a treat. Just be sure to take it slowly. If she screams when you have your back turned or she can't see you during training, don't do anything. Count to 10 slowly and if she's quiet the whole 10 seconds, then go back in and reward her. If she screams while your counting to 10 in your head, then start over.

Thank you so much for your advice. Sometimes she actually helps us when she screams. When ever my cockatiel gets on the floor, she screams to let us know. I think she knows he is not suppose to be there.
My husband is at his wits end, he just doesnt understand that sometimes she cant help herself. I realize that when something scares her, its natural for her to scream.
My husband always has to leave the house before me so he can get away from her screaming. We tried water bottles, making her go in her cage, but for some reason I think ignoring her is going to be the hardest for us. Her scream actually scares my husband sometimes.
She is very bonded to me. She fell in love with me the first time we met.
My aunt had her for a year then gave her to me. I know she has been through at least 4 homes and the one before my aunt was not a happy one at all. She had some very bad habits.
With a lot of time and tlc she is a changed bird. She hasnt bit anyone in a year now. I completely trust her right up by my face. My husband still gets nervous when she is up on his shoulder, but she has finally started to bond with him too.
I intend to make my home the last home for her. She has had a hard life of abuse and she is only about 15.
My husband doesnt understand that she is a very young bird and that it takes time to mend the wrongs that were done to her.
She seems to be a very happy birdie now, but anything you could suggest to help me would be great.
She is basically well behaved. Completely different bird than 2 years ago.
I will certainly try your training method. Sometimes she screams for more than 5 minutes when I leave the house. I worry that this is stressfull for her.
Is it possible for a bird to experiance seperation anxiety? We leave the tv on, and she has a cockatiel for company, but shes just not happy to be left alone.
Thanks for your help, sorry to type your ear off. lol

Well, like I said, birds are flock aniamls. Safety in numbers. It's not natural to be alone. When you leave, she probably feels more vulnerable so yes in a way it is seperation anxiety.

Thats great that you've rescued her. Too many people get those birds and are't prepared for them at all, and don't realize how demanding they are.

My Jenday conure was an obsessive screamer, aggressive biter and was starting to feather pluck a bit before I got him. He was about to be put to sleep because he was under stress and nobody could fix him, not even bird behaviorists. They were going to put him out of his misery. And goodness knows how many homes he's had and he's only 4 or 5 years old.

Those jerks at the store knew I wanted him and wasn't going to let him be put to sleep and they ended up getting $270 out of me for him and the cage.

It was worth it though because it saved his life. With a few adjustments and some training and love, he stopped screaming (so far I am one of the very few who have been able to do this, but I've found a trick to it, it wasn't just luck. Most behaviorist stand by "once a screamer always a screamer"), and he is friendly to me and only me. And he stopped feather plucking, which is another supposed difficult habit to break a bird of.

I had a blue and gold, and we did something that worked most of the time as far as when you leave. However, the other times, unless you reward the bird consistantly when its quiet, even still= they are going to scream once in a while. And I know what you mean- it will raise the roof! With Teddy, I kept music on most of the time, and when I was going to leave, made up a small treat bowl. I put walnuts, peanuts, dried fruit, but his favorites was banana. I alternated what I gave, but you get the picture. I did it every time before I would leave, and it reached a point, he would say " ya wanna eat" when he heard me pick up my keys. Also- remember- they can read you better than you think, and if you are not calm leaving ( not running out the door) you have convinced him leaving- and quickly was of upmost importance.

Thanks both so much for your response. The ignoring her is definately getting a reaction. She is so use to us reacting to the scream that she seems baffeled. She keeps screaming for about 3 minutes then switches to other noises, which I respond to.
I will definately try the treat method, although that may be hard since we feed her a lot of junk food. She eats everything we eat. I know I may be taking a few years off her life, but hey, what's 2 or 3 years out of 70? lol

Hey as long as it's healthy junk food

walnuts, peanuts, almonds, dried fruits and veggies, fresh fruits and veggies and noodles are good for a bird.

The raise in intensity of her screaming is a good sign, I should have warned you about that though, but you figured it out just fine on your own. That is an extinction burst. As an animal trainer, I use extinction bursts to my advantage...I'll be teaching a behavior and rewarding it and then suddenly withdraw the reward. The animal will try harder and harder to get the reward and the behavior will become more pronounced and intense. Once it gets progresses, I reward it again so the animal learns what I want. This is good with teaching fetch with dogs for example. I click (clicker training) for just touching the toy after I throw it. Then I don't. The dog will touch it again, but no reward. Then the dog will get desperate and pick it up in it's mouth. BINGO, click and reward and I've started teaching him to not only chase it, but to pick it up as well.

But in your case, it's very important not to reward him during an extinction burst. It'll eventually fade and disappear. Keep rewarding good sounds too, with the combination of screaming being ignored and cute sounds being rewarded, it won't take him long to figure it out.

And as a future warning, you may experience a spontaneous recovery, which is when the behavior you've been ignoring will suddenly and spontaneously reoccur for a minute or so. If it happens, just continue to ignore it. She's just testing it because screaming used to get her attention before so she's making sure it still won't work.

Thanks, I was hopeing thats what it was. We are doing very good at ignoring the scream but it has gotten worse. I pretty much figured that she is confused because that use to get attention. Once she figures out that its not working anymore, hopefully she'll stop.
Thanks so much. Today was particularly tuff. lol She'll talk cute, so I talk back, then she starts screaming while I'm talking to her. I just stop paying attention to her completely. I think she is trying to figure out if there are times when it still works. Like a learning curve or something.

Those noisy birds. I know how it is. My 'tiel will scream when I leave a room, and will throw tantrums in his cage to get me in there. When he would start this in the morning, my fiance would yell across the house, "SHHHHH! Chicken! Enough!" Which, of course, made him louder since he finally got a response. And, the louder you are, the louder they will get. When Chicken is screaming while I am in the room, I've noticed that it seems that he is concerned about something. This may be a similar behavior in your macaw. I say in a soothing voice, "Well, that's wonderful screaming, Chicken. I bet you've warned the whole neighborhood." It seems to shut him up. I guess it says, "I sound soft and calm. You should do the same." When they are acting up for attention and you are not in the room, don't give in. Chicken has suckered me into running in the room after 30 minutes of screaming by making this sound like he is dying. He wasn't. I've found that leaving the T.V. on Animal Planet, and putting a few treats in there keeps him occupied. I have a theory that parrots may scream out of boredom. Who wouldn't?