Lisa Shea Forums Parakeets General Parakeet Chat How do you know if your bird is trying to talk?

Andi makes some funky noises and when she's chattering ill say hello to her or something and she'll kinda copy tha inflection of tha word or whistle or something which is real exciting! and lately she's been making noises when i talk. right now she's sitting on tha computer and im repeating hello but she only makes sounds when im saying it? does that mean she's trying?!?!

hi kiddo...

what i think is going on is what a few of our birds do with some of us is like ..when i go to put cappy to bed he will jump on the front of the cage bars and wait for me to nuzzle him and kiss his beak and feet and fuss over him...tell him goodnite and a few other loving things he recognizes and he twitters an sort of does lil noises like a mate would do to each other when showing love and trust...he will let me rub nose to beak and does what your describing. Mates will do this also when preening each other.

so i think where females "not all but mostly all" dont talk or say but just a few words is she is showing her affection and trust of you which in itself from a female bird is HUGE...believe me on that one...

what she is doing is when you talk to her is acknowledging you by sort of saying ..."i love you too" and "i love being with you because i can trust you"...like i said...THATS HUGE...most females are very standoffish...

however, seeing how she is doing that...i think she MAYBE wanting to learn the language and if you keep talking very slowly and cleary when you do speak to her with saying only one two word phrase over n over ...she just may as yet learn to say those words...because she certainly is letting you know ..she thinks of you as a BONDED MATE. In short you have accomplished what many have not with her...so be very very proud of yourself AND her.

dont be discouraged you have done wonders to accomplish this from her... and IF she never talks...i cant tell you enough how proud you should be that she is THAT comfortable with you and does this for you ...so you will have to accept that and know..for her...she is letting you know this is the best she has to give you in a BIG way...

but keep trying as you never know...when she does talk it will be OMG and wont be any doubt only shock that YOU DID HEAR WHAT YOU HEARD giggle...

im still trying to get Cappy to do what a lot of other birds will do for their keepers which he did only when he was a wee baby and i first brought him home...and thats...let me touch and sorta touch his head like a mate does when preening...he has had on a couple occasions a rough time where i HAD to handle him and of course as we all know keets are not fond of grasping situations...so i think thats why he stopped letting me do that...but in every other way...he is a joy and shows trust in different ways...he just isnt the acrobatic clown that some have with their birds or doesnt get into cute little mischief situations like most other birds either...other than trying to fly into my fridge when i open the door cuz he knows thats where the goodies come from

so essentially i call him boring...giggle..and delight in listening to others tell their stories of their keets when they become lil rascals.. he is a real chatter box tho for sure and says a ton of different things...and can crack me up when he says certain things at just the right moment...

you...got yourself a wonderful wonderful female...and like i said...be really proud of what you have accomplished to get that from her...ill say it again ...ITS HUGE...

im sorry for this long post but im really impressed..this shows how much gentleness and patience you have given to her and not pushed her and let things go at her pace and have now won her over TOTALLY into what would be a female showing submissive behavior to a mate. It also has helped that she is THE ONLY bird you have to get this from her and what many should learn ...they are not bored or lonely and dont need another bird to make them happy...just lots of toys a large cage and someone like you...

Wow! thats alot better then wut i was expecting! haha i had no idea? she lets me as of yesterday rub her cere and she closes her eyes and does tha lil chatter. i cn put my finger directly on top of her head and she'll fluff her feathers and i thot it was kinda funny but i cn basically grab her head and jus rub it for her haha but she doesnt pull away or nothin and wen i let go her feathers r al stuck stickin up! haha its so cute and she jus looks at me like y'd u stop?!:)

Well DONT grab her head geeeeeesh lol and be careful when she starts to get pin feathers on her head cuz if you rub against the feathers that will be a BIG OUCH to her...

Haha i dnt literally grab her head! i jus rub her face and her neck at tha same time! and i no i make sure i preen those for her if i find one haha

may i suggest you dont say things quite like that then as you never know who is reading this and they may try to GRAB a keets head and that would so not be a good idea,.

I dnt grab it i jus ddnt no how else to describe it. she loves it tho and not all keets r tha same so if ur reading this DO NOT TRY THIS! unless permission is granted from tha bird itself:)

Yes, LOL get permission from your bird first. I like that. I am jealous of how Andi lets you fondle her. Chippy would get all assertive and like "What the heck are you doing??" on me if I tried to scratch his head. But he talks a blue streak. I have noticed when he is first learning a new word or phrase that I'll hear a garbled version of it first. It will sound like English mixed with bird. But then like Illusive said, one day you'll hear it clearly and you won't believe it! And then it comes out again and again and again. It isn't necessarily when you're talking with her, it'll be when she's just having a nice conversation with herself. But she'll use it to greet you and to converse with you as well. Chippy is learing "I'm SO happy to see you." He's got half of it down, but I know the other half will come. It's so funny when words and phrases mix up and form new phrases. That is so cute. And for some reason at sundown, he speaks more English. He is settling down and putting himself to bed I think.

Ya haha it wasn't easy either getting her to let me touch her head at all!8 months to be exact haha she would tighten her feathers and flinch away al crazy and look at my finger like Who tha heck do u think u r?! haha

i saw some1's conure liked there beak to be scratched and i was like lemme see if she likes it and i tried then i started rubbing her cere and then she realized and accepted me i guess haha cuz thats wen she started doin tha soft noises.

she's been making those wierd sounds wen i talk to her for a while tho hopefully she'll be one of tha "rare" talking females:)i have high hopes haha wen i say hello she makes a low sound with like 2 sylables i guess idk how to describe it but it dnt sound much like tha word other then that haha