Does Not Talk When Outside Cage

[makmarie]

I have an Opaline Blue Quaker Parrot. He will be a year old on August 22. He is VERY social when he's inside his cage, he talks and sings anytime he's in his cage. However when we take him out of his cage to socialize with him, he doesn't talk as much... Every once in a while we might get him to say his name, "Stitch" or "come here" or "peekaboo" or "beep" or on a very rare occasion "step up". Other than that he doesn't say anything... He will shake hands and give kisses and make fart noises, but he doesn't talk when he's outside of his cage. I'm not sure what we should do as he is almost a year old and he's very vocal other than when he's out of his cage... We talk to him all the time both inside and out of his cage, but it doesn't seem to have any effect... Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[clark_conure]

In the cage he entertains.....to get out of the cage. Once out, no reason to. Try treats to escalate the vocalizations.

 

[makmarie]

In the cage he entertains.....to get out of the cage. Once out, no reason to. Try treats to escalate the vocalizations.

We can try that, however he isn't the biggest fan of treats... The only thing he seems to take is unsalted chips.. But we can try that! Thanks for the advice!

 

[HeatherG]

Sounds like my Quakers, past and present. My Lucy would talk and talk in her cage, but away from her cage, she was usually silent. Would occasionally say “goodbye” if you waved goodbye to her or we, or the new person, were departing. She was more likely to talk before a person she knew well (ex: saying “gimmee kiss!” In front of my father-in-law). I note that her favorite phrases were the ones she MIGHT say while away from her cage.

If we had guests, she was a huge ham and kept everyone laughing. Even people like the internet guy. Loved the attention.

Now I have Willow who occasionally talks quietly IN his cage but not outside of it. He says “come’ere” or gives kisses when I ask for a kiss while he’s in his cage. I sometimes hear him talking softly in the morning while I’m not awake. Blows kisses if I walk past his cage.

I think it’s about feeling secure and wanting or being ok with attention and observation, and that’s why they talk more in the cage or ‘at home’. If your bird discovers that she enjoys performing, likes being the center of attention, maybe she’ll do it more. That’s when Lucy would talk. Only when she felt like it.

I wonder about rewards for talking and if that would get a bird to talk more. But mostly I’m working on Willow’s confidence and trust as I think that security will help him to talk more.

 

[chris-md]

Yep, rewards will fix this. This is nearly identical to the concept of closet talking: talking when no one is around. It’s an attention getting device the bird uses. It’s begging for attention. Give attention, talking stops.

By rewarding the talking, the bird learns to talk not for attention, but for treats. Net result is the bird will start talking more as a form of treat begging, regardless of where they are.

This fixed a big part of my birds talking issue (he was a big closet talker).

Reward reward reward. Whatever your bird seems to be a reward.

 

[HeatherG]

Can you explain how to use rewards to get a bird to talk?

How can I show Willow that talking is good and will get him a treat or kisses or praise if he hardly ever talks?

For example, I put Willow back in his cage (to sleep) an hour ago and he blew kisses as I walked away. But he’s in his cage, and it’s dark and he’s supposed to go to sleep.

Or I’m trying to get him to step up and in midst of this excitement (he protects his cage) he says “come’ere”. Should I repeat what he says? Say “good bird!” and grab a treat for him?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[chris-md]

Clicker training and histrionics!

Just means you have to be prepared, have a clicker and treats nearby for a couple weeks. When a desired whistle or word is spoken, click and reward. Come running hysterically with all manner of praise.

 

[HeatherG]

Ok. Clicker. I don’t have one. I guess I will get or buy one. Thank you.

 

[clark_conure]

I talk to the birds a lot then treat when they kinda try to do human vs. bird.

 

[HeatherG]

We have been watching talking bird YouTube videos and talking back to the videos to try to imitate the model/ rival idea and get Willow more comfortable making noise. It seems to be helping. He has been laughing, and has been noisy in the mornings before I’m up.