screaming cockatiel

Question
Hi,

My bird's screaming has gotten out of control and it's putting a huge strain on my relationship and mental health.

I have a 10 year old cockatiel, Jude, who sometimes SCREAMS for hours on end. Sometimes it's when I leave the room, and sometimes it seems completely random. I've tried covering her cage, opening it to let her out, changing the food and water, whistling to her, speaking calmly to her, giving her treats, yelling at her...everything I can think of! She gets upset if I walk into the kitchen...even though she can still see me. And sometimes when my boyfriend gets up earlier than I do she won't stop screaming until I come out, so I have to wake up and come into the living room even if I wasn't planning on getting up for another couple hours.

Sometimes I'll be sitting right next to her and she's still screaming. She seems otherwise healthy and we don't keep the apartment below 74 degrees. She is generally a little bit of a scared bird, and she only really trusts me but even with me can be frightened. I have her in a cage that is meant to be big enough for two cockatiels, she has plenty of toys, and we keep her in the living room where we are most of the time, with glass doors that let in plenty of sunlight.

I don't know what else I can do for her. Please help!!!

Thanks,

Laura

Answer
--- Cockatiels come from a very arid or semi-arid natural habitat and thrive in some spectacularly cold, cold temps.  You're not doing anything wrong with her environmental temps so don't give that anymore thought.   Basically, if you are comfortable in your home, so is your 'tiel.

When it comes to the screaming, you've done a marvelous job at teaching her this new behavior.  Oh wait, this isn't the behavior you want?  Well as easy as it was to teach her, you can teach her to replace it with something more desirable.

I have a step by step here http://www.4AnimalCare.org/birds  -- scroll to 'biting and screaming' (even though it's just the screaming)

The last 'tiel owner who tried it wrote me back in 2 days and said that two years of being terrorized by their little bird was resolved .  2 days!   Honestly, that seemed awfully fast, even to me, but who knows?  Maybe the bird didn't like having to do it either.