Many families choose to have birds as pets. Some species of birds will make more noise than others and this can have an impact on not just your family, but also the neighbourhood.
When selecting a type of bird to keep as a pet, the amount of noise the bird is likely to make should be given serious consideration. If you have a bird that you or your neighbours think is noisy, there are a number of steps you can take to reduce the amount of noise:
- Try placing a towel or blanket (don’t use a polyester fabric as it does not breath) over the cage, making sure there’s enough air flow. The cloth should be thick enough to block out the light of day as this should lull your pet bird back to sleep. Do not use a cloth over the cage as an automatic response to noise. Only use it at night, or when you’re trying to sleep in the morning. Keeping the bird covered all the time can make them unsocial and even neurotic
- Most birds will become quiet in the dark. Remember to turn off any lights around the cage or aviary
- Be slow-paced and comforting. Your bird might be getting nervous or upset and moving too quickly can aggravate this. Check that there are no other disturbances around the bird, such as early morning machine noises or an ability to hear other birds waking up outside
- Talk quietly to your bird. Birds will often quiet down to hear what you are saying
- Birds may learn to make loud noise as a means of getting your attention. If you yell at your bird when it is loud, it may think the two of you are just yelling together in harmony. Birds don’t find yelling as irritating. Instead, remain indifferent as you hush your bird and don’t make eye contact
- Boredom can cause your bird to be loud. If the bird is caged too often, the cage is too small, the bird is secluded from people or has too few toys the bird may start to “scream”. To relieve this, try moving the cage and rotate the bird’s toys regularly to keep it entertained. Also, use a variety of swings, shredding toys, foot toys, appropriate chewing toys and bells as amusements for your bird
- The simplest way to reduce noise is to give your birds lots of attention. The more play time it has with you, the less noise it will make when you are trying to relax
- Be sure to reward your bird when it is behaving quietly. Food treats such as apple slices or plain popcorn (without butter, salt or other seasonings) is good for this.
Complaints regarding noisy birds can be lodged using the online form Noise – make a noise complaint.