Behavioural problems
Behavioural problems often arise in parrots because owners are not told about the bird’s full range of needs when they acquire their bird. Self-plucking, nervousness, biting and screaming for attention are often caused by the bird being frustrated and misunderstood. But with suitable reward-based training you can certainly prevent or reduce these problems. Parrots are not domesticated creatures and even captive-bred birds retain all their wild-type behavioural needs. In the wild, parrots live as pairs within a large flock but captive parrots often live alone, are caged and denied flight.
But as your bird’s behavioural needs can be met, then the bird is less likely to develop problems. The key to this is keeping your bird’s beak and brain busy while also ensuring it is trained to accept some ‘requests’ from you. People often express surprise when their bird develops behavioural problems such as self-plucking or screaming. But given the conditions in which many birds are raised and the poor advice sometimes given on parrot care, it’s more surprising that some birds do not have behavioural problems.