Talking to your Bird

[Sulphiria]

It depends on the bird for me. Our cag i talk to in different ways depending on what we are doing. If we are playing, its my usual playful voice, if hes being mean, its a stern voice. I have to admit when hes being a complete sweetheart, i have been known to baby talk, although i have yet to hear him use the same tone. The quaker doesnt seem to like the higher pitch when being talked to, she favors deeper voices and mimics them easier. The lori i use a higher pitch that she seems to respond better to. The tiel and conure dont talk...yet.

 

[luvmytooo]

It varies for me, when we're "wrestling", basically me tickling him and avoiding his sharp beak I tend to baby talk. However when I sing to/with him, whistle to him, teach him words (I always teach a new word in a regular tone) it's usually normal tone.

And then there's what I call "Birdy shrink" time, where I basically monologue and cue him for his time to respond in a normal fashion like we're having a conversation when I am frustrated or upset about something.

I often talk to him when I am performing mundane tasks as well, and I do that with the dogs too. Basically my animals are just furry or feathery people to me.

We have "voices" for each pet we have, lolol. But no baby talk .
My hubby does it too , it's quite entertaining !
I should set up a recorder one day , but that probably could be used against
us somehow , we are all a little certifiable at times
But heck , it's fun and the animals seem to enjoy our silliness . :54::54:

 

[RescueMe]

I tend to converse with my birds in a normal voice, then when being playful I have kind of a sing song voice. I can't say that I never baby talk, but its rare. I speak with different voice for each animal. When I had my english bulldog he "spoke" with a lisp which was silly and fun.

 

[evesta]

I mostly talk normally, although a bit higher pitched. I say lots of silly thing though, for my pets and human babies. But I have a weird habit of making "voices" for my pets and babies. All my pets have voices and we have conversations. lol, I know I'm nuts

 

[Customcasket]

I don't really do the whole "baby talk" thing unless I'm goofing around with them. For the most part it's a normal voice. Occasionally I'll have an "excited" tone to my voice and it makes everybody hyper. I try to avoid that. With my one Budgie, Spooky, I try to always talk to him in a normal voice because he mimics very well. My mother doesn't use her normal voice when talking to him, but she doesn't baby talk either. It's more of an overly happy voice with him and you can hear it when he speaks.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7rdFsXq4Cc&feature=plcp]Are you my good boy? Spooky the budgie talks - YouTube[/ame]
It's kind of quiet, but that's what Spooky Burd sounds like when he talks. The "be a good boy" and "are you my good boy?" is said in the same tone of voice I use when I talk to him. The "NOOOO" is also said in the same tone of voice I use with him when he's being bad. One of these days I'll get an video of him talking instead of a video of my bedroom wall while he talks. He's so camera shy and shuts up when he's talking and sees a phone or camera. He's such a pretty little bird and should be shared with everybody

 

[solobaby]

i just use a softer voice

 

[Molcan2]

We talk to her like she is normal. She usually joins in on our conversations and we include her. I don't talk baby talk to any of our animals. Interesting post, never really thought of that.

 

[Mayden]

I guess I sometimes speak in a baby like kinda voice when we're fussing over him. "Who's a good boy, what a pretty little boy!" But more often than not it's just normal or "excited".

If Merlin's being good or wanting to play then I'll just put my pitch higher etc "GOOD BOY MERLIN!" because he seems to get much more excited and happy about things then. But when he tries to speak he is trying to copy the normal voices we make. "What'cha doin?" "Mer-lin" "Hello".

 

[BillsBirds]

Thank you all for responding. Interesting topic, and answers.

 

[cnyguy]

Most of the time, I talk to Ralph in my usual tone of voice, but he loves it when I use silly voices, whether they're high-pitched and squeaky or low and growly. If I speak to him in baby talk, sometimes he'll bob his head to get me to keep doing it-- or sometimes he'll respond by saying "funny Quaker."

 

[lene1949]

I don't use baby language to any of my animals... I use a higher pitched (excited) voice to say 'good boy/girl'.. I use a lower (calm) voice to say 'gentle/no'.. But mostly I use my 'normal' voice..

I always spoke to my kids in proper language, because that's what I was aiming to teach them... I think I succeeded, as none of them talk baby talk... They're only in their thirties.... lolol