Can older african greys be taught to talk??!!! please help I BEG YOU!!! :( 10 points!?

Question

ok..well we have just gotten this African Grey Congo parrot and he is 7 years old.. he was abused from his original owner.. the owner was very rich..and had adopted 4 chinese children..and those kids put Gus the Cag in the oven.. plucked his feathers off..ect.. finally the lady who keeps and breeds all these birds..begged the lady to bring him back..so it can get away from them.. the owner finally brought him..to the store and left.. Gus..has plucked his whole body.. we took him in 3 days ago to just see how he is.. and the first day he was TERRIBOLE!! he bit and did some haha suciadle jumps.. and was not talking or anything btw we havent heard him talk at all...

the second day he was nicer.. he let us bring him out..but he was soo scared of my sister who loves himand was the one who brought him home.. but he came to me he would be on the floor and when I brought my finger close to him he would put his head down for me to scrach him.. he really likes it when I play the piano..he listens to it..and watches my fingeres somtimes..

he still strugles with us bringing him out of his cage we have to force him out.. he doesnt let us pet him.. unless he does his lil head bow for me to scrach is whole head.. and everything... and we kiss the top of his beak..and I get to kiss his head when he is leting me scrach him..

do you think he still can be tought how to talk..and learn tricks..such as lying on his back!??? that is my long life dream to teacha bird how to get on his back... and do think he is a good talker.? I mean I sing to him and talk to him.. but he doesnt do any.. do think we can still teach him how to talk??

Answer 1

Please, try to put yourself in this birds situation. He has been terrible abused, neglected, tormented with every reason in the world not to trust humans. No doubt from from where he came, not fed a healthy avian diet either, plus I think reasonable to suspect, not kept clean.

He certainly has not been loved or made to feel secure and safe.

For now, forget if or not he talks or will talk. Think of the bird and relieving his stress level, which no doubt is cause of his plucking habit.

Be a friend and be one he can trust. Before birds will talk or be trainable, or be happy they first Must Feel Secure, with us and with everything in their environment.

Actually this bird should be with an experienced African Grey owner.

Instead he with you and your question is concern weather or not he will talk, when the better question is he healthy; physically and mentally.

All new birds should be talked to and observed carefully for any health problems and also for us to learn the birds body language, before we handle them. Trust in built with time. You observe the bird and the bird observes you and you learn about each other. This step is important and should not be rushed.

Cage size large as you can afford, with bar spacing for a Grey 3/4" no larger for his safety. Healthy foods daily a must to rebuild his health.

A fresh, quality seed mix, organic pellets like Harrisons or Scenic and lots of washed, fresh vegetables and healthy avian cooked foods.

Never fed sugar, salt,avocado, chocolate, caffine, apple seeds, fruit pits, milk, or any food that contains mold.

Kale, Watercress, Dandelion Greens, Broccoli, sweet red pepper's ( or green or yellow) Boc Choy, corn, green pea's, green beans, carrot,garlic, celery and other fresh vegetables served chopped amd 5 or more mixed into the salad, which you can add chopped or whole almonds to, or grated hard boiled egg ( no more than twice weekly for egg) also can add apple, berries, grapes( wash and slice in half before feeding to inspect for mold, mold kill's birds fast)

You can use frozen mixed vegetables, run hot water over them to thaw and warm, drain and serve as is. Also some fruit daily.

Also Greys need more Calicum than other avian species, so feed cooked and cooled sweet potato or Yam 2 or 3 times per week. * the greens listed above also provide some calicum.

Cooked Brown Rice added to cooked beans like pinto and vegetables mixed together make a healthy meal for birds - serve warm, but never hot.

These foods will help this birds health including his body's ability to heal his skin and grow healthy new feather's.

Buy a good water spray bottle. Wash out with plain water, spray that out to rid the new bottle of any chemical's, then refill with plain water, turn the sray on mist, hold the bottle up high over the birds body and sray so the water drifts down and onto the bird. This will help clean his feather's and skin and it feel's good adding needed moisture.

He may not like it at first, so talk to him while sraying in an up beat tone of voice. Making things fun for the bird helps build the relationship between bird and human. After all You are his protecter now, he deserves to be able to trust you - -and like and have fun with you.

Get him healthy and make him feel trust in you so he will feel secure and the talking ability will come easy and natural for him - Talk to him alot and often when you are there, even from other rooms talk, he will hear you....and he will talk. Make it fun.

Check out these web sites for information also -

http://www.birdchannel.com/

http://www.birdsnways.com/

Do searches for information online type in African Grey

Question's of me - [e-mail]

Answer 2

it is harder to teachh them at an older age

Answer 3

mabe  keep trying :b

Answer 4

Since it is older It will be a lot harder, but it is still possible, my mom's grey didn't learn to talk until it was 12 years old!!!  so don't give up.

please help:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 5

Just let him adjust, the poor thing is traumatized. Give him some time.

Answer 6

You probably can, it helps if you say the same thing at the same time off day over and over again. Not all birds do talk though. I had three and only one talked. He loved making kissing  noises.  

Answer 7

At 7 he is still a child. give him time to heal and with lots of love he will have a huge vocabulary some day.

Answer 8

This bird is going to take a lot of time and effort on your part.  You may not ever be able to get him to stop picking his feathers...it can be extremely hard to impossible to stop this habit, especially when it was caused by stress and abuse.  All Greys have the potential to be excellent talkers, but I have been around a few that have never uttered a word.  They can be easily taught to talk, but some chose not to.  It usually only takes a few days for them to learn a word.  You must repeat the word (or short phrase) over and over.  Make sure you have his attention, stand in front of him and repeat the word.  Only do it for about 10 min at a time because birds have very short attention spans.  Some birds don't mind laying on their backs, but many don't want to do it because it is an extremely vulnerable position for a bird to be in.  You are going to have to learn this birds trust first, and this could take awhile to do.Give him time to adjust to his new surroundings.  This could take several weeks.  Greys can be very nervous about new things.  Introduce new people and new things to him very gradually.  In time he may speak for you, but don't be disappointed if he doesn't.  He will still be an awesome pet.  

Make sure to feed him a pelleted diet, this is much healthier than seeds.  You can feed him table foods, as long as they don't contain added sugars or salt.  Dairy food may cause diarreaha because birds are lactose intolerent.  He can also eat meats.  They love cooked pastas.  Don't feed any avocado, chocolate, apple or peach seeds, any caffeine, alcohol or carbonation.  Please read my profile

Answer 9

p**p

Answer 10

chinese kids can be terrible....