can an adult 1 year old galah learn to talk?

[ceejay]

hi im new to this fourm and i bought a year old galah not knowing he was a year old as i was told he was 13 weeks old however i have had him vet checked and found out he was at least a year old he has come a long way since ive had him about 2 months my question is will he ever learn to talk? he is doing tricks and is starting to bond somewhat and is so much better with letting me touch him. i was just wondering if because hes an adult is it too late for him to learn to talk. thankyou ceejay

[Robyn]

I have answered this question in your intro.

Sheldon is still only classed as a young parrot, he won't be an adult until he is 3 or 4 years old. So he is very much trainable it's just going to take time.

To teach a bird to talk you just have to talk to them all the time. For example when you give him his food you could say dinner yum yum & when you leave say thank you. When ever i give my birds their breaky they now say yum yum it's good & then when i close their door they say thank you. But you have to do it every day. But don't jumble him up with to much. By the way the more silly you pronounce the words the better a parrot likes it. My parrots do silly very well.

I think by this time next year Sheldon should be saying a few sentences.

I have a pair of Eckies, Precious & Gypsy both talk very well. Precious has picked up calling my name because he heard visitors calling me.

It will happen. You just have to be patience.

[ceejay]

thanks for the advice im not in any hurry for him to talk i was just wondering because of his age was it too late for him to learn. i also wanted to ask about molting i have noticed that hes been losing a few feathers latley in the past few days hes definatly not plucking them as i am a stay at home wife and im with him all the time but i also noticed this morning he wouldnt eat does this have anything to do with molting? i dont even know if he is. hes very chirpy and seems ok in that aspect but for the first time he wouldnt eat this morning he just siths at the top of his tree prech and sleeps. ive never seen him do this with refusing to eat anything i just recently had him ver ckd and all was fine had a worm ck ect and vet gave him a clean bill of health about 3 weeks ago. any suggestions or advice? i dont know how to tell if hes molting or not can you give me a list of signs and symptoms as the net is very veg about the info on molting cheers ceejay

[avinet]

Most parrots moult in the summer so he could well be starting a moult at present. Moulting doesn't normally make any difference to their appetite, so that is not an explanation for him not eating this morning. Just keep an eye on him through the day and I would expect he will be eating as normal at some stage.

If he doesn't eat, and he remains sleepy that an be an indication that something is wrong, and if he isn't eating and is still sleepy tomorrow I would be making a vet appointment. If you do go to the vet be sure to take some fresh droppings along for the vet to look at.

Do you go to a bird vet? Most vets are good with dogs and cats but know little about birds, so it is important to use a good bird vet - if you let us know where you live we can possibly recommend one in your area.

cheers,

Mike

[ceejay]

hi mike yes the vet i take him to is an avian vet he did eat a little this afternoon and was a bit more active than this morning. however i just wonder if it has something to do with his new tree perch we got him its very large in size and gives him more freedom to climb and such than just sitting on a straight stand perch. since yesterday when we brought it in the house he loves it so much but until then he was eating as normal. but all he wants to do now is stay in that tree instead of playing and wandering around the house as he usually does what do you think?

[Robyn]

How is Sheldon this morning?

Perhaps if we had more information on how you get along with Sheldon. I mean you haven't had him all that long.

I think if your bird isn't sick then maybe he feels safe up in the new tree stand. Have you considered attaching some food & water dishes to the stand so he has easy access to food.

[ceejay]

hey mike well yeah i did think of that with the dishes but i found out that the tree was not good for him to be in i am american and my husband is aussie so i relyed on his knowledge of trees because i dont know ive only been in australia for 2 years . the tree was a camphor tree on instinct i looked it up and found out it was poison to birds. i removed it of course. he was fine last night he ate a bit and was active and did his training as usual this morning however the same thing he wont eat and is not very active but he is chirpy and seems fine its just that he wont eat like he was in the mornings he waited until 4 pm before he ate anything i cant figure it out im puzzled. he dosent act sick and he is active in the evening just not the morning. hes preening as usual and he did get on the window sil as usual and walk back and forth chirpping then back to his stand and preening and sleep then he was chirrpy after a bit of a nap but still hasent eaten his food is on the perch hes on in bowls but he refuses it even his fav corn on the cob he hasent touched it. maybe a vet visit is in order i just took him like 3 weeks ago had a full checkup and the avian vet said all was good what do you think?

[avinet]

I think it might be a good idea to go to a vet - he may well get it out of the system in a day or two but I think I would not be taking the chance if you have a good vet available.

Nothing like pets to keep you poor

cheers,

Mike

[ceejay]

vet checked yesterday ran a few test blood test ect nothing abnormal everything is fine vet suggested i change up his diet a little to 50/50 seed and pellett he ate fine not sure what the issue was being as though all his test came back just fine thanks for the help cheers ceejay