teaching older bird new words?

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BigChicken
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teaching older bird new words?

Post by BigChicken »

Got to wait until Saturday to get Norma Jean (IRN). We where approved for the adoption yesterday and found out more about her. She belonged to a lawyer that never held her. She was adopted and kept for four years. She was returned to the program because the woman said she couldn’t stand her cooing. (what an idiot) She should spend a day at our house, cooing? How about some piercing contact calls and "hello" yelling. Norma Jean has been in the program for six years now. P.E.A.C. had six IRNs at one point. Kept in a loving foster home, she gets held daily and has a wonderful and frisky personality. She woof whistles and sings a song that she made up. The lyrics are cookie "cookie cookie cookie….." I was wondering if any of you have tried to teach an older IRN (around 12) that had a small vocabulary more words. I don’t care a hole lot about parrots talking or not, but the training keeps their little brains active, and its a great way to bond. Any thoughts?
Lauren
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Post by Lauren »

Norma Jean sounds adorable. Hehe Love it when they make up there own lyrics! 'Cookie Cookie Cookie'.. *is good enough for me* :lol: Poor lil girl is finally getting the attention she deserves. Kudos to you!

Well, hes not quite 12 yet but my 7 year old doesn't talk well. He seems to understand 'my' commands and acknowledges them, but doesn't repeat back to me. He knows only a few words that he can pronounce clearly. They are not words I taught him to say either! He just.. came out with them. :roll: From the age of about 2 to 5/6, he did not learn anything new. But in the last year or 2 he has picked up some 'new' words thats he's heard for years. He is still hard to understand. Only people who have been around him often understand. He screams out most words rather than says them in that cute IRN voice so many others do. Only words he can say, nicely and not screamed at the top of his lungs, funnily enough is 'I love you' and 'Yeh Yeh Yeeeah!' in an annoyed tone when told off. Both of them do it. :roll: I don't care either whether he talks well or not at all. But I still repeat the same sayings to him so he associates the words with the action. I'm convinced he understands me. He knows the meanings of 'Kiss kiss?' 'Pat?', 'Uh uh No!', 'Bedtime, night night' 'Up up up' 'Come on' 'Shower time' 'Rorys home!' 'Where's Yoda?', he just doesn't say them. :wink: His vocab is small but even at 7 years he still surprises me. Never give up!
"Jibby aka Gilbert" Indian Ringneck 13 years "Charlie" Rex Rabbit 1 year
ringneck
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Post by ringneck »

I must commend you for your adoption. It makes me so sad that people buy parrots on impulse. I currently have 1 pet ringneck and one African Grey and I must say they can get loud. I guess what I am getting at is that I wish people could understand parrots are not quiet animals. They have been hardwired to scream for communication, in fact, their calls were probably designed to be loud because parrots are creates of the air. Their calls need to be loud so locating each other is not difficult.

I am happy to hear you are taking her into your home and giving her simulation. Nothing bothers me more then to see a poor ringneck locked to cage with no interaction—especially if it has gone through the imprinting stage to enjoy human interaction. Good for you!

On to the talking. Ringnecks can learn new words throughout their lives. My Archimedes has stopped for a while, but that’s okay. He just recently started saying, “hi baby, hi baby, hi baby.” It’s funny because he makes his voice really hi and gets so excited—I have to record it for you guys! Every ringneck is different. The key is to continue to simulate your new adopted ringneck and I am sure you will be pleased with the results!

Thanks for saving one ringneck! :wink:

Best wishes,

Imran
BigChicken
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Norma Jean is home!

Post by BigChicken »

Norma Jean is home! I picked her up yesterday afternoon. She was being fostered by the director of PEAC. Her flock is impressive, and inspiring. The first room had her two amazons. One was hanging upside down and talking and whistling up a storm. He stretched his foot out through the bars to shake hands, and then tried to pull my finger in to take a nip…GIS (Giggle in side)… She said he’s known for that little trick. The other one was quiet and calm. It had health problems when it was young and the previous owner wanted to send it back to it’s native home. The director stepped in, knowing it would never survive in the wild. It is now part of her flock, permanently. In the next room, more large cages. The first, a beautiful little Australian parakeet now in the adoption program. Its a species known for not doing well in stressful environments, he lost all of his feathers during the transfer. He is now doing fine, and fully feathered.
A beautiful conure that had its neck broken by one of its siblings was next. His head tilts slightly to one side. He has to sleep on a platform because he sometimes looses his balance when sleeping, but was quite active and looked happy.
Another red headed conure was in the program that was taken from a crack house. The woman who had him kept him in a room and just tossed in seeds because she was afraid of the bird.
Two love birds shared a cage. The first ones mate died, and was then paired with another one in the foster home that had a back that was crushed by its owner (I don’t know the circumstances). It seemed well and happy.
Next was a pair of cockatiels. One came from an elderly man who couldn’t care for it because his wife was ill.
Up stairs three more large cages, all with similar stories, although I can’t remember much about them, I was too busy looking at Norma Jean! She is a beautiful IRN, very soft colors, light shades of green. Because she was not held when young, she needed to be taught how to step up. She has a tendency to grab a little to hard with her beak when stepping up, so a perch is used to take her out of her cage. When taken out and given a few complements about her pretty feathers, she pined her eyes until they almost disappeared and then tilted her head way back and cooed. She loves attention after being in such a sterile and boring environment in her first home. She was never even given any toys.
I didn’t bother her too much once I got her home, we just talked to her. She was quiet, and then suddenly started her contact calls, climbing around and eating. We all watched a little TV. She sat on her perch nearest to me and pined her eyes and hunched her wings occasionally letting out a little chitter. The rest of the evening all of our birds where very quiet, and eye ballen’ her hard! By the end of the evening, my little brown throat was imitating her!
Lauren
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Post by Lauren »

Aww! Congrads on the new bub! :D Can't wait to see the pics of her! What a lucky girl to have a family like you.
"Jibby aka Gilbert" Indian Ringneck 13 years "Charlie" Rex Rabbit 1 year
Melika
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Post by Melika »

Congrats on your new addition. It takes quite a person to adopt a bird and I think you'll be just fine. You have the patience for it!


Many people who don't know any better say, "why breed/buy parrots? There are plenty to adopt out there". And there are plenty that need homes but they need serious work too. Average Joe can't handle that. You are to be commended (I thought I already posted something similar somewhere... maybe I did. But I have a bad memory when it comes to such things...) for adopting a parrot. Adopting cats, dogs, reptiles, rodents- all easy compared to parrots. They are so complex and individual.

Again, congratulations and thank you for opening your home to a needy IRN!
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I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
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