Asking for food by food name

[Tsali]

Has anyone taught their feathered friend to ask for specific foods by name?

Tsali's highest value treat is cheese, which he ONLY gets one or two grated shreds when I need him back in his cage speedy-quick. I remind him which door we left open and put the cheese in one of his food dishes and he flys to his cage and climbs in speedy quick. I ask him "want cheese?" before putting it in his food bowl. He KNOWS that the word cheese means his most favorite treat, but he has yet to say cheese. His second favorite treat is a sunflower seed. I always say sunflower before giving them to him. He has never asked for one, not yet at least.

I think it would be neat to teach him food names, but I also know that it could be a disaster if he asks for banana and we our out.

 

[Scott]

I haven't tried this, but it seems Tsali is an ideal candidate!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Tsali is enough of a smartie-pants to do it, I betcha.

The Rb's fave treat is the green chile, of course. I don't think he thinks of them until he sees one. You know he's not the sharpest axe in the shed. When he sees one he pretty much goes into Valkyrie-mode, so I'm adept at keeping one handy and hidden until I need to toss it into the cage.

How would you train that? Maybe show him cheese and then wait and let him stew a bit? Is there somebody who could help with that back-and-forth call/repy technique for teaching speech? Maybe even pass the cheese back and forth?

 

[DRB]

Perjo isn't speaking yet, but I always tell her what food I am givign her, I do say want a treat but I do tell her what the treat is.

 

[Tsali]

What I am doing is similar to the way I taught Tsali his phone number and email address. He understands the difference between his phone number and his email address and the vast majority of the time he responds correctly -- that is if he's talking.

So what I am trying is to catch him during his talking time and I ask him, "Want ______?" I will eat a tiny bite in front of him and say, "Yummy _______!, ummm good". And ask him again, "Want ______?" This time I give him the food, and make a huge big deal out of it. YUMMY Sunflower! Good boy! It took several months to teach him his phone # and email addy, so I kinda figure it is going to take a long time for him to learn food names, 'cause when he sees the food item, he gets really excited.

I just think it would be AWESOME if he could just tell me what he wants to eat - at least treats. After he gets asking for treats figured out, I'll start with his favorite veges and fruits. I see an unlimited potential to teach him meaningful things that could help enrich his life.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Well... I'll make a case for trying peppers.
Peppers are a great source of vitamins AND they're easy to offer, in many sizes.
Common wisdom is that parrots have such poor taste and smell that hot peppers really excite and stimulate them. And they're very healthy (lots of good green and great nutrents)! So I give the Rickeybird lots! The only downside... when he eats a pepper, then preens, then wants to cudddle, it's a very incendiary experience.
I buy several kinds...
Poblanos, to stuff the end between the bars tightly (above a perch) so the Rbird can nibble at his leisure.
Jalapenos and Serranos, to toss into the cage's snack-bowl, to trick him into entering so I can shut the door. There's no such thing as a chile that isn't good for them. If he absolutely does NOT want to go back into his cage, a big fat Anaheim will always do the trick.
I posted a video of the bird eating one in the thread about beak flavors, and you can hear me sneezing!

 

[Tsali]

Sigh.... Tsali isn't a fan of peppers. I offer different varieties to him freqquently, sometimes he will nibble at them, other times he tosses them out of his cage.

Will keep encouraging him to eat this healthy snack.

 

[cnyguy]

Scooter the CAG will sometimes ask for spaghetti, something she learned in her former home. She seldom eats the spaghetti if I give it to her though. Since she's been with me, she's learned to say "Would you like some toast?" Both Scooter and Ralph the QP like a little cinnamon toast now and then. They both recognize the names of certain foods, even if they don't repeat the appropriate words.

 

[RavensGryf]

When Raven sees vegetables coming, he says "vegetable". Sometimes he's extra excited, and says it in an extra high pitched voice "vegetable!!" with the last syllable long and drawn out. It's hilarious. I have no idea why he uses that tone of voice, because I don't say it like that lol.

"Vegetable" is also a homonym... Raven also exclaims the word vegetable in a more stern sounding loud voice as a threat word. Get your fingers away when he says this! He says it when he's mad. It's his cuss word haha. I have no idea how that came to be but it's super funny to hear.

 

[Tsali]

Raven sure has learned that "vegetable" is an all purpose word. Maybe he just likes the way it sounds.

 

[MySweetJess]

My CAG would say "Wanna a piece a chee?" Apple, he'd say. To some kids playing outside he would talk to them on the window sill and would say "I'm gonna make some spaghetti." I heard one of the kids call to her Mom "Hey Mom he just asked us if we wanted spaghetti."

 

[fayah]

I read in the alex papers and generally agree via my behavioral science background a good way to teach requesting behavior is having modeled behavior acted out in front of your bird. Have your bird's attention to you and a volunteer. Have the volunteer say "want cheese!" Then give him/her the cheese instead of your bird. It will cue the bird into second hand learning the request. The way you are teaching it you are only associating the word want cheese w the presence of cheese which doesn't work as strongly to teaching him that he can induce a behavior from you

 

[LeaKP]

Oh my Nigel says green bean, his favorite. I'm afraid I will be running all over town to keep HRH happy...

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Dr Irene Pepperburgs Grey,Alex,would ask and knew what corn was..



Jim

 

[wrench13]

I just read about Alex's training method. Salty does talk a bit, recognizes me and Geri and will say hi to us. A few other words. But I am going to try that modeled behavior with him. He's so smart learning tricks, I'm sure he will catch on with this. Thanks Nigel.

 

[DerTier]

not a grey, but i taught (more like he figure it out than me teaching imo) my roommates green cheeked conure to say "num nums" which happened to be whatever fruit or food I was bringing him to enjoy, and "apple" for when he would get a piece of apple

He also knew he'd get a ride to the kitchen to watch me cut up the apple for him, so that might have been a fun motivating factor for him

 

[wrench13]

Oh no doubt that all parrots are pretty smart, some just show it differently then others, even within a species. Just think about the rainbow of people within ours. Why would not parrots exhibit this wide range of abilities? Nigel certainly has some abilities in talking for sure. And good training never hurts!