Spoiler alert: You’re never going to get a totally silent bird.

Cockatiels are naturally noisy as it’s how they communicate with their flock.

Dealing with a bit of screaming is just part of being a parrot owner.

But excessive screaming for hours on end is NOT natural cockatiel behaviour and likely indicates a problem.

This article reveals 4 simple tricks you can use to help stop your cockatiel from screaming.

Before discussing these points further, you should know that you might accidentally be encouraging your bird to scream more…

Quick Navigation:

• How You Could Be Encouraging Your Cockatiel’s Screaming
  • Why Cockatiels Scream When You Leave The Room
  • Possible Reasons Why Your Cockatiel Is Screaming
• How To Reduce Your Cockatiel’s Screaming (4 Simple Tricks)
  • 1. Simply Ignore The Screaming
  • 2. Reward Quiet Times & Desirable Sounds
  • 3. Remove Food Bowls & Encourage Foraging
  • 4. Lower The Environmental Noise

How You Could Be Encouraging Your Cockatiel’s Screaming

Cockatiels are smart and they behave in ways that have been previously encouraged.

It’s easy to unintentionally prolong bad behaviours, especially since all it takes is frequent encouragement for a bird to learn that bad behaviour gets rewarded. If your cockatiel has been rewarded for screaming in the past, why would it not scream for those same rewards?

Let’s go through a few common ways you might be encouraging excessive screaming…

Responding To Your Cockatiel’s Screaming

Responding to your cockatiel’s screams is an easy way to encourage the behaviour.

It’s tempting to say “shh” or “shut up” to your cockatiel while they’re screaming, but they will just see this as positive reinforcement. Of course, they don’t actually know what the words mean, so they’ll just perceive it as positive communication.

Giving Attention To Your Cockatiel While They’re Screaming

Cockatiels love attention, even if it’s not the kind of attention they wanted.

If you’ve taught your cockatiel to expect attention whenever they start screaming, they’re going to keep screaming when they want attention. Giving attention probably keeps your bird quiet temporarily, but it’s reinforcing the bad behaviour.

You can encourage other bad behaviours, such as biting, in the exact same way.

Why Cockatiels Scream When You Leave The Room

Does your cockatiel go crazy whenever you leave the room?

If so, this can be a sign of separation anxiety.

A bird with separation anxiety can get very uncomfortable when left alone, even for a short time.

However, this isn’t the only possible reason as cockatiels are known to contact call their flock members as a way to locate them. If your cockatiel calls out whenever you leave their sight, they could be trying to ensure you’re still nearby.

In this case, a simple call back will likely calm them down.

Possible Reasons Why Your Cockatiel Is Screaming

Besides being frequently encouraged, excessive screaming can occur in cockatiels for the following reasons.

• General loneliness
• Boredom
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Flock calling
• Screaming in response to wild birds outside
• Competing with room volume
• They’ve been injured

Cockatiels also like to scream in the mornings and evenings, but that’s just natural parrot behaviour. There’s no way to stop singing or screaming in the mornings and evenings, but it normally doesn’t last too long anyways.

Related: 10 Possible Reasons Why Your Cockatiel Is Shouting

How To Reduce Your Cockatiel’s Screaming (4 Simple Tricks)

How long it takes to see results after implementing these 4 tricks will depend on how long your cockatiel has been encouraged to scream. If you’ve been encouraging this behaviour for a while, it’ll take an equal amount of time for your bird to learn that they no longer get rewarded for it.

Once your cockatiel fully understands this, you’ll notice a gradual reduction in their screaming.

With that said, below are 4 simple tricks to stopping your cockatiel’s pesky screaming:

1. Simply Ignore The Screaming

Ignoring your bird’s headache-inducing screaming is much easier said than done.

As mentioned, cockatiels who frequently get attention every time they scream will learn to scream whenever they want that reward. The best way to combat this is to simply ignore loud screams and other undesirable sounds.

Do not respond and do not give your bird attention or treats.

They’ll soon learn that making those sounds will not be rewarded with attention.

Yes, this means you’ll need to deal with the noise until your bird understands this.

I know it’ll be hard to ignore, but it’s vital not to “cave” to your cockatiel’s screaming otherwise it’ll reinforce the fact that screaming earns rewards, which will prolong the issue.

2. Reward Quiet Times & Desirable Sounds

While ignoring their screams, you should also reward your cockatiel when they’re quiet or making pleasant sounds. Doing this will not only discourage screaming, but it’ll also encourage them to make more desirable noises.

Desirable sounds include singing, talking, and general sounds you like hearing.

While they’re sitting quietly, perhaps playing with a toy, go and give them a treat.

Do the same when they start singing or showing happy behaviours too.

Eventually, your cockatiel will sing for attention instead of scream, which is much better!

3. Remove Food Bowls & Encourage Foraging

Doing this will help prevent boredom, which is a common reason for excessive screaming.

When parrots have easy access to food, it only takes them about 10 – 20 minutes to fill up their crop and then they’re bored. By removing an easily obtainable food bowl and putting their food in foraging toys, you’re greatly extending their “find-and-eat” time.

When your cockatiel is busy looking for food, they won’t feel the urge to scream.

A Busy Bird Is A Quiet Bird!

They might initially scream for their bowl to return, but just stick it out and they’ll eventually decide to look elsewhere for food.

Shredding toys are also great for preventing boredom, so add a few of those to the cage!

Tip: Provide a smaller portion of food in multiple foraging areas so they spend more time looking for foraging areas.

7 Most Amazing Toys For Cockatiels (2023)

4. Lower The Environmental Noise

Cockatiels, being natural flock birds, will try to make their voices stand out from the environmental volume. In the wild, cockatiels must be loud so other flock members can hear them out of all the other birds in the flock.

Is your home naturally loud from the TV, chatting, or the washing machine?

If so, your cockatiel could be trying to compete with that volume with their own loud sounds.

The simple solution here is to lower the household volume to a reasonable level and you’ll notice your cockatiel doing the same.

Sources

• https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/questions/
• https://www.cockatielcottage.net/screaming.html
• https://www.thesprucepets.com/pet-bird-screaming-4148339
• https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/biting-and-screaming-in-birds
• http://www.animalmedicalcleveland.com/blog/bad-bird-behaviors-screaming-plucking-and-biting
• https://birdsupplies.com/blogs/news/how-to-stop-your-parrot-from-screaming
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwX8QfL-PXE&t=56s (Parrot Wizards insight on screaming)
• https://birdsupplies.com/blogs/news/2-important-things-you-need-to-do-now-to-help-your-bird-with-separation-anxiety