# Jako parrot bored?



## ekorad (Jun 28, 2013)

Hello everyone,

I've bought a Jako/African Grey parrot an year ago, and it has been a pleasant experience. 

My previous parrot was a Great Alexander, which unfortunately, flew away, because someone had forgotten to close the window.

The Great Alexander was not my only parrot, i also had about 3-4 budgies.

Now, back to the problem... From time to time, he starts to scream, very loud. Usually this can be fixed by feeding him or giving him some water, but since a month or so, he starts screaming and doesn't stop whatever I do. This is really driving me and my father crazy, we don't really know what to do to calm him down, and we can't just leave him in his cage and cover it up. 

Has anyone had this experience before? Being a very playful and sociable bird, I guess he gets bored. I can't really explain myself what is it that he doesn't like. The temperature is ok, he eats whenever he wants, whatever he wants.

Another thing that i found out is that he starts getting agitated when he sees dad leaving/entering and then leaving the room. 

Some help would be much apreciated!

(And sorry for the grammar mistakes, i'm sure there are lots of them, I'm not a native english speaker)


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## AlexArt (Apr 25, 2010)

If you're giving him food when he screams just to shut him up you've trained him to scream even more as he's getting a reward for that behaviour and the attention he's obviously wanting! You need to ignore him and only give him food when he's calm and quiet, he also maybe hitting sexual maturity when most can get very noisy, plus boredom will trigger unwanted behaviour as it's his only way of getting attention from you. My little rescue cockatoo was a screamer in the last 6 homes she had and it was due to boredom that's why nobody wanted her! She's out most of the day now with me while I paint and has a 6x6x3ft aviary with lots to do in it for when she is in her cage - i hide her food in her toys and swap toys over every other day so she doesn't get bored - she hasn't screamed since I've had her! Parrots need lots of one to one attention and interaction - they are like having a small child and need alot of work to keep them happy especially african greys.
A few questions about your bird - 
How old is he? 
What size cage is he in? 
How much time out of his cage does he get?
What are you feeding him?
What toys does he have? 
And is he hand reared?


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## ekorad (Jun 28, 2013)

Thanks!

He is about 1 year old.
The cage surely isn't a problem (it's the right size)
He only spends time in his cage at night when he sleeps.
I'm feeding him some sunflower seeds, and ocasionally apples and bananas.
Some plush toys, and some "ropes" with pieces of wood on them.
I'm not sure i know what rared means. If it means raised the answer is yes.


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## AlexArt (Apr 25, 2010)

You're feeding him the wrong diet to start with. Sunflower seeds are like McDonalds to a bird - it's junk food, very high in fat and will kill a bird if fed long term, they are fine for the occasional treat so maybe 12 seeds a day or so but not as a food, apples and bananas are high in sugar and are fine as part of their diet but they need lots of different types of fruit - have a look on google for fruits parrots can eat. As an idea mine get papaya, mango, pineapple, pomegranate, passion fruit, palm nuts, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, beans, a small piece of cheese once a week, a piece of boiled egg white once a week, they often get some of our supper if it has no added sugar/salt etc, peppers, apples, plums, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, cooked sweet potato - not ordinary potato, nuts in small quantities but they have to work for them as they are high in fat, dried fruit like figs etc as a treat, millet seeds, mung beans soaked and sprouted, bean sprouts too, kale, spinach in small quantities the list is endless and they love spicy peppers so as long as you look it up first they like us need a varied diet to keep them happy! 
As well as the fruit and veg you need to get him on either a complete diet like a biscuit type that is specially for african gray parrots, or a seed mix which is designed for them - they need to be the main part of his diet. 

Cage sizes are very misleading - cage manufacturers may market a cage as suitable for a certain type of bird but in actual fact they are way to small, if your bird is out most of the day it won't matter too much though!
If he's only a year old then they hit sexual maturity at around 2 so his screaming is more likely a learnt behaviour which you are reenforcing with food which is high in fat so highly addictive, he needs maybe more toys that he can pull to pieces the sorts you can hide food in are great as they take longer to get the food out so keep them busy! My birds favourite is this -http://www.northernparrots.com/buffet-ball-foraging-toy-for-parrots-prod371261/
These are great and pretty cheap too, you can make toys out of cardboard tubes, scruched up paper, wooden childrens toys, baby toys, you need lots of other toys that keep their need to chew and shred things satisfied. 
African greys have a similar intelligence level to that of a human 3 or 4 yr old child so you can imagine how busy they are and how quickly they go from toy to toy - parrots are the same, they need alot of work and playing with them one to one is a great way to keep then busy, I make home made toys and my parrots will sit on my shoulder or on the table watching me make them which is part of the fun and one to one attention they need!

Hand reared means did a person take the eggs off the parents and hatch them in an incubator then hand feed the birds until they are fully grown - these kind of birds are the most common and also have the most behavioural issues as they think they are a person but have the behaviour of a parrot so can be harder to keep once they do hit adulthood and are the most common ones you find on for sale sites as they can become aggressive and loud if you don't handle them properly, and will often bond to one person like my birds and will attack everyone else!!


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