pionus talking

do your pionus talk? how old were they when they started talking? how many words do they say? if their around 4-5 do they ever learn new words?

im curious cuz my boy is a rehomed/rescue and he says some stuff its kinda hard to understand unless hes mad he mostly say pretty bird, pretty boy, birdy and thats about it his old owner said he spoke more words but it doesnt really matter im just curious if he'll learn more along the way. he does do good at sounds though he does a lot of those

Hi Coral1,

I just got a 6 months old Blue Headed Pionus baby a few weeks ago. I don't know the sex, but I call "him" a boy and his name is Poe. He learned to say " What are you doing?" on the second day with us. My husband and I didn't care whether he talks or not since I know Pionus are only known to say a few words if not at all, but when my husband was asking him what he was doing, he learned to say it. In the beginning, he would only say it to my husband so I was jealous! I finally heard him says it about a week later, but only once. Poe still asks what are you doing? Only to my husband daily basis. I've also seen him "practicing" often. He mumbles to hisself and sometimes mumble something to me too, but cannot really understand it. He repeats it a few times but when I don't understand, he just looks away like " ehh forget it" kind of attitude and stops...

He also made a whistling sound which I once made to him to get his attention, but only once. More than week later he imitated the sound which completely surprised me.

Now that I know he can talk well, I want to teach Jim something, but so far nothing else...

aww marty practices sounds and stuff when he thinks im sleeping lol!

Bleu says "pretty bird" "bird" "hi baby" whistles and honks like a car. I dont know where she learned it all, but i know the way to teach a bird to talk is one word at a time. then once they've got those words, use them together quickly as if they were one word, then when they get that, slow it down for them so they say it as 2 words.
ex.
step 1 - bird
step 2 - pretty
step 3 - prettybird
step 4 - pretty bird

and always give treats! bird is 1 syllable so it'll be an easy start pretty is 2 syllables so it'll take a little more work. that's how it was explained to me anyways! haha

Hi Andrea,

I have a question! My baby Poe, she ( now I call her she because Vet checked her penvic and she suspects that its SHE) would not take any treat from me. She is comfortable with me to the point she snuggles up to my neck and make me, I mean really force me to scratch her for hours and she comes to me for comfort when something spook her, but she would NOT take treats from me! When I offer her a treat, she would make surprised noise GHAA and runs away from it. So, even though i want to teach her some tricks, I cannot motivate her to do so with foods.... Any advise??

coral1 said:

do your pionus talk? how old were they when they started talking? how many words do they say? if their around 4-5 do they ever learn new words?

im curious cuz my boy is a rehomed/rescue and he says some stuff its kinda hard to understand unless hes mad he mostly say pretty bird, pretty boy, birdy and thats about it his old owner said he spoke more words but it doesnt really matter im just curious if he'll learn more along the way. he does do good at sounds though he does a lot of those

Click to expand...

My WC Pionus arrived as an 8 y.o. He talked - mostly saying his name, doing an evil laugh and one or two other phrases that I could recognize. He also muttered under his breath a lot, so I think his vocabulary was bigger than I knew. Apparently, they repeat/retain the vocalizations for which they are rewarded the most.

He picked up a couple whistles from my husband & he also took a phrase that I say & made it into a unique little whistle/song to call me when he wants attention.

His vocabulary has changed/increased since then to include phrases he hears from the articulate Amazon & equally articulate African Grey who moved into the home after the Pi arrived. I think he is saying the words/phrases he perceives as earning a reward for the other birds.

There are some sounds that are harder for them to make than other sounds, or perhaps the sounds or words are less interesting to them. In any event, I haven't gotten him to articulate some things I've tried to teach him. But I often hear him running through his repetoire in a soft, sleepy voice when he goes to bed at night.

So in my opinion, a 4 or 5 y.o. Pi can pick up new sayings & sounds.

Kiwiwade said:

Hi Andrea,

I have a question! My baby Poe, she ( now I call her she because Vet checked her penvic and she suspects that its SHE) would not take any treat from me. She is comfortable with me to the point she snuggles up to my neck and make me, I mean really force me to scratch her for hours and she comes to me for comfort when something spook her, but she would NOT take treats from me! When I offer her a treat, she would make surprised noise GHAA and runs away from it. So, even though i want to teach her some tricks, I cannot motivate her to do so with foods.... Any advise??

Click to expand...

I suggest trying different types of foods? let her see you eating a food then offer it to her (as long as it's bird safe! like fruits and veggies!) Reward with scratching too! whatever works! We just recently discovered our birds LOOOOOVE Nutriberries! It's the ONLY food my conure will refuse to drop and our new Pi (5 years old) LOVESSSS them! As far as we know, it's the first time s/he has ever had them

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for the tip! I give her nutriberries too and she just seems to break them apart but not really eating. She likes peanuts so maybe I will try that....
She got her step up and off down right away and right now I am trying to teach her to touch toys on command and drop them. She touches with no problem, but dropping is different story.... She would, only if she doesn't like it, but if she likes the toy she will turn away from me so I wouldn't take it from her. After all, I am in "her" flock. She is the boss!