Trick teaching?

[ConureCrazy]

Do you guys teach your fids tricks? A lot of parronts do, but some people I know are against it. I heard it was 'mentally stimulating.'
My girls now only one each. Zora does 'falling bird' where she hangs upside-down on my finger by one foot and does a little chirp. :09: She will only do it on my hand though.
Bella does 'turn.' I think you know what that means. When I try to explain the 'turn' concept to Zora, she looks at me like I'm a crazy freak. Bella really freaks out at the 'falling bird.'
But anyways, just wanted to know what tricks (or amusing things you didn't teach) your fids do. I'm just curious.

 

[Mozzie]

My conures love to learn tricks. They can turn around on command, wave, dance, give kisses. They are real clowns! Peppers (Cag) just learned how to show her wings on command, she also gives kisses and dances.

 

[ConureCrazy]

Awwww I want to Drive over to Utah just to see them. I'm working on Bella to do turn on command, she has to see the treat first and maybe hear 'turn' 3 times before she puts two and two together and turns. Once she realizes she gets a treat afterwards she starts turning nonstop lolol. I call her my Bellarina.

 

[Trina]

Mine does, I think it is good for them..I would say its bad if you push it upon them.. that's how I get my time with him though I dance, play music and act like a fool in the AM my conure and electus are on the coffee table while I clean..My conure can play basketball that little basketball hoop is pricey though...

My conure will dance, hang upside down, play basketball, shake his head no or yes, wave and do turns on command

My electus I have not had her long and she is still settling in, I have taught her words and how to shake her head no which this was easier to teach since simply blowing on their beak prompts them to automatically give a head shake of no you just gotta train that natural behavior to a finger motion..she is now starting to dance a little bit.She can wave not something I taught she already knew it..she prefers to make burping and farting noises though she likes the laughter she gets out of my kids LOL. I am not really teaching her tricks because she is still on the shy side so i train the conure in front of her.

 

[ConureCrazy]

Oooh basketball... You got my brain juice flowing lol! I act crazy when I play with them too! You should have seen me once. I was hopping around spinning in circles with the radio on acting like a complete lunatic trying to get my Olly-boy to dance, when my cousin (who was staying over and knows nothing about the craziness of us parronts) walks in on me LOL.
About your eclectus farting... My sennie does that too, and no matter how old I am I will still chuckle a bit...

 

[Trina]

Ohhh she is funny she is more into talking then tricks LOL but Gitana today kept repeating I am a pretty girl, followed my i am beautiful , after her repeating that about 10 times my girl said thats conceded, next thing out the Gitanas beak was that's conceded. which sent my teen into laughter then she mocked the laugh and made a fart noise to get more laughs LOL

My conure loves the basketball, he has it down, i watched this video on making hoops of 3 different colors and the put the same color hoop over the same color peg, i think he could do this would be cool to..I haven't made the gadget yet for trying it out..

I to dance like a fool with the birds they love it, especially the conure they are clownish birds the more you act a fool the more they love it LOL

 

[ConureCrazy]

LOL, Gitana sounds SO funny! Yes, my fids love it when I dance around acting like a clown, LOL =)

 

[Mudkips]

I've mostly been too lazy to teach Birdy tricks - but one trick he accidentally picked up has really helped to break down the language barrier between us!

Whenever he really wants something, instead of screaming, charging or flapping wildy, he will patiently stand in one place and raise his left foot while looking at the object of his desire. The more he wants it, the higher his little footie goes!

It really was such an amazing thing to learn because being unable to move while asking for something also taught him the virtue of patience.

He does it all the time, and although he knows a few other tricks, this is the only one that has actually been useful every day. I guess it's more 'sign language' then a trick, but it still impresses the ladies!

 

[ConureCrazy]

Wow Mudkips, that is really handy! when mt GCCs want something they bob up and down, and if I'm too far to walk too, they get down low in the position to launch themselves into whatever they want-which they never do. Not real handy at launching off into their limited flight unless they get freaked and fly off my hand immediately.

 

[thermodynamic]

Do you guys teach your fids tricks? A lot of parronts do, but some people I know are against it. I heard it was 'mentally stimulating.'
My girls now only one each. Zora does 'falling bird' where she hangs upside-down on my finger by one foot and does a little chirp. :09: She will only do it on my hand though.
Bella does 'turn.' I think you know what that means. When I try to explain the 'turn' concept to Zora, she looks at me like I'm a crazy freak. Bella really freaks out at the 'falling bird.'
But anyways, just wanted to know what tricks (or amusing things you didn't teach) your fids do. I'm just curious.

I teach mine only tricks based on actions they like doing. None wants to lie on their backs so I don't teach that.

Rusty and Rosie both do somersaults, so I cashed in on that and the treats they earn keep them at a good weight.

I did buy some foraging toys from mysafebirdstore.com that will compel the birds to figure out how to twist the knob or open the door...

But toys like electronic ones that one can record their voice on to help train for speech or a desired response when pressing the right button I avoid because people say their birds break them...

 

[ConureCrazy]

Aw somersaults! None of my fids lie on their backs either which I'm pretty disappointed about because they would look so darn cute! Lol

 

[AFP520]

My conures love to learn tricks. They can turn around on command, wave, dance, give kisses. They are real clowns! Peppers (Cag) just learned how to show her wings on command, she also gives kisses and dances.

How did you teach show wings command?

Lucy loves to lay on her back.

 

[Lovelyloribeth]

Chichi lays on his back in my hand. He's adorable. I want him to do summersaults, but not sure how to go about it. I taught him to turn around in minutes, wave also. I don't think it would be hard. I just don't know how to get him to do it the first few times. Show wings on command would be awesome. I hear it's an advanced trick and can be hard to teach. I dunno tho.

 

[friedsoup]

I've had to teach as many as four trick per lesson because the bird was so smart he was anticipating the command and doing the response before I could get the treat ready so I would start with wave or turn around left then turn around right, High Four. Now envision a bird standing on one foot trying to turn left wave and giving a high four all at the same time while watching you crack the sunflower seed or peanut. We teachers aren't paid but sometimes the laughs make up for the low wage.

 

[Lovelyloribeth]

Oh I know. When I taught chichi to turn around I would take the rear and move in a circular motion and touch his tail the way I wanted him to turn. Now if I'm reaching for something or just moving by him he turns. Lol so I say good boy and grab a treat but I wasn't asking him to do it. Haha. He was just so excited to do it! Haha

 

[ConureCrazy]

LOL friedsoup, smart bird. Still working on turn with Bella.. Persistence is the key right? Everyday, I work and in about 20 minutes I finally get a half turn lolol. She still doesn't understand.

 

[Lovelyloribeth]

I kept tapping his tail feathers up by his but in the same direction until he made a complete turn one way. When he did he got a treat. Then I'd do it again. If he stopped I'd get him front right again and start over. Just tap that booty feather he will make it all the way around. Just say your command every time you use your hand command as well. that's how I did it. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[ConureCrazy]

I've never heard that before. I've been doing the ol' turn the treat around the head kind of thing. Hmm. Need to try that. thank you.

 

[Mudkips]

Yeah from what I understand, the treat should not be visible to the parrot till reward time, otherwise they see the act of you reaching for a treat as the signal to do the trick.
It definitely helps stop a lot of the confusion.

 

[ConureCrazy]

Ok, thanks guys. I wasn't sure if I was doing that right or not.
Argh Oliver just did a poopy on the keyboard.