So Alex has picked up the habit of "crying" about EVERYTHING. It's safe to say that at this age, he can be a bit of a crybaby. His "crying" sounds very similar to the "feed me" sound that baby cockatiels make when they're about to be fed, but it's usually quieter than it is during mealtime. I'm probably encouraging the behavior by giving him the attention, but the noise convinces everyone else to start making noise, and doesn't take long for it to get pretty loud in the house.

I usually try to get him quiet by calmly shushing, whispering, etc., and while it does calm him down, he is never completely silenced. He would just cry more quietly until I'm out of sight. Then he eventually shuts up. Today though, I tried something different.

I decided to hum a little tune to him. Not only did he become completely silent, but he was calm enough for me to put him back in the cage and walk away without him making another sound. To top it off, he wasn't the only one who was calm in the end. Alex was calm, Lucy was calm (I made a ballsy move and ended quarantine early once Lucy was healthy enough), Dudley was calm, Joey was calm... Even my mom's finches, who are the least tame and the most flighty looked like they were falling asleep.

So I guess I've discovered a mysterious power to calm down the entire flock. My horrible singing/whistling/humming skills seem to be enough to pacify them. They all stayed quiet until guests came over, but I calmed them down again, and Alex stayed quiet until around feeding time.

Yay!! The humming probably helps calm you down too (it's hard to hum when you're freaked out lol), and when the humans are calm the birds tend to be calm too.

Little Alex might be crying for attention because he wants reassurance that someone is there to take care of him. He's had a lot of trouble and upheaval in his young life, and if he gets attention when he cries it tells him that he's safe. After he's weaned he'll gradually become more independent, and if he's still crying for attention at that point it'll be best to gradually back off from rewarding the behavior. But don't worry about it too much for now. It'll take time for him to learn to be confident.

That's probably true. Though, he started crying when I took away the wrist strap on my camera that he was chewing on. I think at that point, he was just wining.

I'm hoping he will at least be a little more independent, though I'm enjoying his clinginess right now. When I have him out with me, being near me isn't enough sometimes, so he just clings to my chest. He's so sweet.

He and Lucy started out a little weird. Lucy didn't want much to do with him, and he had a habit of trying to play with her tail feathers. It didn't take them long to get used to each other though. Now, if I do so much as leave one in the cage, they'll start screaming for each other (though, more on Lucy's side than Alex's side).

Lucy also has a habit of trying to steal whatever Alex's is eating, directly from his beak. I don't know why she does this. If there's bits of carrot everywhere, and Alex picks up a piece, Lucy is interested in that specific piece alone. It's pretty funny to watch.

Lucy hasn't gotten to the "choose other bird over me" stage yet. I hope that is a stage she won't get to. I would think they would be busy with each other, but instead, they seem to work together in driving me insane. At least they get along, I guess.

Of course, I can't get Alex to be quiet when it's almost mealtime, which is a little inconvenient, since that's when he's his looudest, and when everyone else likes to join in on the screeming-choir. The best I can do is distract him.

Lucy was already bonded to you when you got Alex so she's not likely to choose him over you. If he turns out to actually be a boy they'll probably become mates, but she'll still be close to you. It's always looked like Shodu likes me more than she likes Buster, and I think she only goes with him because he can give her babies and I can't.

I sing my birdies a lullabye as I cover them for the night. They seem to really like it.