Teaching Parakeets to Talk
The following information provides valuable tips and suggestions for teaching a parakeet to talk. Try these methods, and before long your parakeet will begin repeating words, sounds, and phrases. Your parakeet will become the center of attention in your household, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you taught your parakeet how to talk.
Care is Vital in Teaching a Parakeet to Talk
Parakeets that are well cared for are more likely to show an interest in talking and repeating sounds. A bird who is well-fed, watered, and provided with a mirror and other toys is a better candidate for speech training. Birds that are well-taken care of will want to learn to communicate with their provider and friend.
Which Parakeets are Easiest to Train?
Male parakeets are noted for talking, so if you want to have a parakeet that talks, consider adopting a male bird. This isn’t to say that female parakeets can’t be taught to talk, but generally female birds are slower to learn and attempts at teaching a female to talk might not be successful. Maybe female birds just don’t want to bother with silly tricks such as talking.
Keep in mind, not all male parakeets will learn to talk no matter how hard you try. Some parakeets learn to whistle, but talking isn’t a skill every parakeet wants to learn. Have patience with your parakeet, and someday he might surprise you. Many people who own talking parakeets didn’t work with their parakeets or try to get them to talk. The parakeets simply began talking, and the parakeets were probably just as surprised as their owners.
Some breeds of parakeets are more likely to talk than others. Although all parakeets have the potential for learning to talk, English, Alexandrine, Australian, Plumhead, and Ringnecked parakeets are most likely to learn how to talk. These breeds can also be taught to recognize objects and individual people.
Multi Bird Households
If you own more than one bird, you’ll notice how they communicate with each other. Single birds will communicate with their reflection in a mirror. Parakeets are natural communicators, and this shows that communication is very important to parakeets.
Parakeets are more likely to communicate with each other rather than their owners when they are caged together. If you want to teach your parakeets to talk, you’ll need to separate them during speech training so they’ll pay attention to you. Keep an extra cage for speech training lessons, and move your bird to another room where all is quiet before teaching him to talk. Lessons will be more successful because your bird won’t be distracted.
Teaching a Parakeet to Talk
Parakeets have an easier time repeating words with hard syllables, and some words are easier to say than others. “Pretty birdie” is a common phrase of parakeets. This phrase contains hard syllables, and this makes the phrase easy for birds to repeat. Think of creative words or phrases you want your bird to say, and repeat the words or phrases often.
To gain your bird’s full attention, darken the room where you’re training your bird to talk, and stay out of view while you repeat a word or phrase. Fifteen minute lessons three times a day are recommended. Don’t expect your bird to pick up a new word or phrase immediately. It can take many weeks before he repeats a word or phrase.
To save time as well as your sanity, consider recording one of your speech training sessions so you don’t have to repeat the same lessons over and over. Your parakeet won’t be able to tell the difference, and the lesson will be more consistent.
Object Recollection
After your parakeet learns specific words, you can teach him to associate the words with objects. Simply hold up an object, and say a related word your bird already knows. Repeat this lesson several times a day for several minutes at a time, and eventually your bird will say the word upon seeing the object. For instance, if your parakeet is able to say the word “treat,” show him a treat while saying the word. Eventually he’ll know exactly what you’re talking about.
