Why hasn't my IRN started talking?

[IagotheIRN]

So I've had my precious Iago for about a year now. Almost 6/7 months to be exact actually. And according to the guy I got him from, iago was about 7 months old back then- which means he's around a year old now.
He whistles really well and does the kiss sounds really well too. But he hasn't quite started talking. I started playing a recorded clip of m voice saying 'hello! Hello! Pretty bird!' Before he has dinner. But that didnt really work out because after the first few sessions he escaped his cage and climbed onto the area where he eats and started eating before I came back to feed him myself! So now I just serve him dinner and play the recording in the background. I don't know if that's working though.
He hasn't gotten a ring around his neck yet either, but I'm not too worried about that right now because I've heard it can take upto 2 years to appear. So do they start talking once their ring comes in? Or is it my teaching method that needs to be altered?
Any helpful advice would really be appreciated!

[SCB 22]

Some ringnecks talk the hind leg off a donkey... others never say a word. I never did anything special to teach all of mine, except for talk to them daily like i would a person, good morning, how are you, naughty bird, or as my one bird says "hello angry baba" as he is a grumpy boy. Are you certain it is male? I know males do tend to pick up talking easier than females. And all of my males have learnt to talk between 8 to 12 months... Also - it can take up to THREE whole excrucitating years for the males ring to come in... I have lutino who only got his after his third birthday... i was really starting to wonder if they hadnt somehow got his sexing wrong!

Hope this helps!

[Skyes_crew]

I've used recordings for tunes for my cockatiels, but never my other birds. I just talk around them. A LOT!!! And like SCB 22 said. Some never talk. But usually what happens is they store it all up and you'll start to hear them babble quietly when they get sleepy. The first word you hear may be when he's sleeping so listen carefully. Then one day it'll all come out when they feel more confident that they can say it. Repetition is the name if the game

[Donovan]

My bird is not a big talker either.

I tried. I always said certain things at certain moments that he should be able to figure out but he never really repeated them.... with one exception

When I would give him a treat i would say the word 'treat'
when he would take it I would then say 'thank you'

hoping to teach him to ask for treats and then say 'thank you'

one day i'm sitting around and he lands on my shoulder and says 'thank you' clear as day. I assumed he meant 'treat' so i gave him one. He never repeated it again.

However recently I said peek a boo to him and he went nuts. He loved how it sounded. And has started saying it alot. Still he's not a talker though. He's more of a Youtube parrot video kind of bird.

And a whistler. I can teach him a new whistle like nothing.

[lola13]

Lola whistles and kisses. Shell meow like she's saying hello. She's only 13 months old.

[pattiB]

Gracie is 4 1/2 months old. Today I heard her babbling little sounds while all tucked up in a sleep. It was so very cute. I'm hoping she will be a talker and we are working to steer her that way with repetition. But if not, she's still a bundle of joy to have around. She IS very vocal when we talk to her. She babbles her 4 1/2 month old babble back, and we talk back and back and forth. We'll see. If she doesn't talk I'm sure we will have her whistling the Lakme' Opera before too long! And I would NOT mind that one bit. I'm a musician and would love to have her whistle many beautiful tunes.

[ellieelectrons]

Not all birds will talk. I have a female and a male and both talk to a certain extent. We're just about the only ones that can understand them though! I haven't particularly tried to teach them to talk myself though. I find the types of phrases they pick up are those that they associate with something and usually something pleasurable. For example, my Charlie learnt "gimme a kiss" - he then cranes his neck and makes a kissing noise and "another one?" simply because he likes it when we do the "gimme a kiss" ritual (beak to the skin on the outside of the lips).

Janey learnt to say "wotcha doin'" because her fav person (my husband) would say it to her every time he comes near the cage.

Janey has learnt that "beautiful, beautiful bird" is something you say when you're happy. So... after she's been away for a few days if we've been on holidays, the minute we bring her through our front door she says, "beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!"

The only advice I can offer is to use consistent terminology when you do positive things for your bird and see if they pick it up that way?

Barbara Heidenreich also has an instructional DVD(or maybe it's an ebook) on teaching your bird to talk. I've never seen it but it might be worth a look at www.goodbirdinc.com I've been happy with other of her resources I've purchased.

Ellie.

[Doodlebug]

I guess our wonderful birds are kind of like us lesser humans. Some of us don't ever shut the heck up, some of us don't really like to draw attention to ourselves. Some of us say absolutely anything to get attention, some of us only talk when we need to. Some are social chatters, some are moany old buggers and only like to grumble. You get mute ones, ones who have tourrettes, and ones with beautiful colourful expressive words.

*Am now wondering how an IRN that has an owner with Tourettes would be, maybe I should Youtube it lol*

Ones things for sure is that even if our birds never speak, or only a few utterings and mutterings, they still communicate in their own ways, and they are a delight to watch and interact with. I shouldn't worry too much about the talking, just say as much as you can to your bird and one day who knows, it may answer you back like a rude teenager and then the fun will really start lol

[BirdCompanion]

I have 2 beautiful ringnecks - one blue female and a lutino male. Both of them are a year and a half old and they both talk. But the male talks yer ear off while the female says only a few phrases.

Gabby Renee, the female, says 'what you doing' and 'where's your piggy'. Her favorite toy is a stuffed dog toy that squeaks, and it's a pink piggy with easter bunny ears. So, that's where the 'where's your piggy' came from. She now has a big birdie tent full of little stuffed animals and she treats them like her babies. All of them are 'piggies' to her. She will attack if anyone goes near her 'piggies', LOL.

Chauncey the male says tons of things and also will have a conversation with you. He also makes up his own conversations. I taught him to say 'what the duckie say? quack quack quack quack quack'. So, he will be saying stuff like 'what you doing quack quack quack come here quack quack' and so on. He loves peek-a-boo, too.

I have 6 other birds who are just 2 years old. All of my birds talk - my 2 parrotlets, my sun conure, my whitefaced-lutino cockatiel AND my 2 female SPARROWS.

My take on why a bird talks is that if the bird associates the words and phrases he hears with something he really enjoys, he'll work hard to learn those words and phrases. If there's nothing pleasant he can associate the words with, he will not speak them.

Just like Donovan said about when he said 'treat' and 'thank you', his bird associated 'thank you' with the treat.

The other thing I noticed is that the birds will mimic something like sounds they enjoy. Gabby Renee perfectly imitates the squeaky sound of her 'piggies'. And even the sparrows whistle a little of the Andy Griffith Theme when they hear the other birds do it.

My recommendation is: don't try too hard to get your bird to talk. Rather, focus more on enjoying the bird's company, and talking will come naturally after a while.

Good luck!!

[sanjays mummi]

Sanjay picks up whistled tunes more than words, hence "Colonel Bogey", the Marsellais, and the theme tune to "Shaun the sheep"

[IndiesMommy]

I'm the proud mommy of a 8-9 month old IRN, Indie is my baby boy. So far
he babbles a lot. Can Almost make out "What doin". Wolf whistles, tries to say his name and hi babyand is mimmicking our Guinea Pigs and us, like the sounds we make
Along with the well known IRN screech.. He also babbles and will let out a long quiet whistle in his sleep.
Still working on biting, was not hand tamed real well, we have had him 1 month.
If he flys from his cage to the bed he'll step up no biting, but anywhere
else and he nips. He is getting better. I can't imagine my dsys without him.

[Keyme2014]

Hi all, I have one ring neck that's always saying kiss kiss or peekaboo and other words too. Then another that says absolutely nothing apart from squawking off course. But some talk some don't, to me I love them equally.

Mel