Carolyn Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 After weeks and weeks Mika has finally got all 4 basic colours down pat. When asked to find one he walks around and either stands on it or trys to pick up or push it towards you. We will be starting next week to start to introduce other colours, as we started with the four primary ones. I am so excited with this little guy, he may not be able to talk yet, but is learning. He will be 8 months this month. Ahh how time flys, Carolyn & Mika Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaMary Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Wow, Carolyn - that is terrific! I didn't know you were working with him on this - you must be so proud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Carolyn that is fantastic!!!! Mika is a genius!!! Please keep us posted on the progress!!! Luv Mika's picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Carolyn that is fantastic!!!! Mika is a genius!!! Please keep us posted on the progress!!! Luv Mika's picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Well that Mika is a smarty pants isn't he, I am impressed Carolyn with what you have accomplished with him, good going there girl, what colors will you try next? Thanks for sharing that picture with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolyn Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 I will be working with orange, black and white next then going on to pink and purple. We are working on the alphabet but again he doesn't talk yet but WHEN HE DOES lol if he cant say it he can spell it:laugh: I find that keeping him a very busy bird is keeping him out of trouble and he looks forward to our learning sessions as much as his playtime. We spend 30 min a day on learning every day. Carolyn & Mika Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toni Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Thats wonderful Carolyn.Im jealous.Alcazar wont even count and he hears numbers 5 times a week.I even say numbers to him and he shakes his head no.Good job Mika!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Wow, very impressive Carolyn!! Mika is one smart cookie. :-) Let me know when she's ready for some beginners quantum physics. At her rate, just a few months away. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherStrella Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 How do you keep his attention? I've tried teaching/training various things with AnnaBella but she won't sit still long enough for me to work with her on one thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolyn Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 We practice in the dining room, I cover the table with a plastic cloth (solid colour) used only for training. No other toys or treats are there, and then I just use unshelled sunflower seeds, which Mika no's are in a container that only I have, when when we started there was only 1 block on the table the red one (so not much to play with except the one block) then just kept showing it to him and telling him red block and gave him only one seed. I keep moving the one block around the table and keep repeating it. He plays with it, but everytime I say red block he gets one seed. After a week I introduced the blue block, kept on telling him blue block each time I picked it up and he got 2 seeds, then back to red block, one seed. At this point he started to get the idea himself that if he picked up or started to push one around I told him the colour and he got the treat of one or two seeds. I just keep going from there, we now have dropped the reward for red, blue and green he only gets for yellow (2 seeds). We just keep going over this time and time again mixing it up now. After the training is over the container of seeds are gone and so is the table cloth till the next day. He never see's the seed container or any sunflower seeds unless we are training. So he has started to put 2 and 2 together. I found that when we work there are no other distractions around, no people, no music, no dog or cat. No paying attention means you get to see the treats, but get none, they go back into the container. Carolyn & Mika Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherStrella Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Cool...thanks so much for giving me the step by step directions. I'm going to try this with AnnaBella. Thanks!!! Karma... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
she Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 I am very impressed. I think I will try this with Charlie. MIka is a beautifull bird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchroedersJen Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Did you use a clicker or just treats to teach him? I am having trouble teaching Schroeder a ton. He picked up the whole go potty thing so easially it gave me false hope. Since then.....hes been a bit difficult to teach. What food reward are you using? I am looking for new exciting training treats that are small and tasty. My fid gets over treats quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raiderbabe Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Wow Mika makes Malibu look like a dummy He is almost 8 months old also and I have not taught him anything like that...I guess I'm the dummy Congrats on the new trick...can I just ask though what other things have you been teaching? Malibu doesn't talk yet either just whistles constantly and makes a whole bunch of funny noises. I would like to start teaching him new things but I really don't know what because I have never owned a bird before. Also, what other treats do you use? He did love dried banana chips and would do anything to get one and now he spits them out at me....:ohmy: is this normal? I don't even know what to use anymore?<br><br>Post edited by: Raiderbabe, at: 2008/12/05 00:16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaxtersMom Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Carolyn, I can't believe you didn't tell me this:ohmy: . I had no idea you were teaching him colors. That is excellent. Mika is such a smart little guy. I haven't tried to teach mine anything, they are all older of course and not sure if they would pick up on it either. How long did it take him to learn the primary colors? What other things are you teaching him or going to teach him? Tell Mika I am very proud of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolyn Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 As Mika has a no seed diet, the very best treat for him is sunflower seeds, for training I use the ones not in the shell because I dont want to give him anything to play with while we are training. And they are small enough that they don't fill him up. We have only been working so far on colours so far but we do play around with numbers, like showing him 1 object then add another and telling him 2 then adding a 3rd. right now we go no higher then 5, we use plastic bottle caps for the counting. Carolyn & Mika Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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