Talking Parakeet
Training a Talking Parakeet
Some people love the idea of having a talking parakeet. It is important to keep in mind, however, that not all parakeets talk. While there steps that you can take to encourage talking, if you get a non-talking bird you must realize that it may never talk and you must be willing to live with that.
It is not fair to the bird for you to get rid of it because it will not “perform”. If you are dead set on having a talking parakeet, then you should buy one that is already verbal. That is the only way to guarantee that your parakeet will talk.
If you have a parakeet that is not talking, below are some things that you can do to try and encourage that behavior. Keep in mind that some parakeets will begin to talk without any type of effort on your part. Also, male birds tend to be a bit easier to train in this way. That is not to say that female parakeets cannot be taught to talk, just that it generally takes more effort on your part.
Alone Time
If you have more than one bird, it is a good idea to bring the one you are trying to train to a separate room during your lessons. This will help the bird’s attention to stay on your voice rather than you having to compete with the other birds in the room.
Some say that it is also helpful for the room in which you teach the lessons to be dimly lit and for you to be out of sight (but, obviously, not out of earshot) of the parakeet.
What Words?
Some words are much easier for a talking parakeet to say. Generally, words with hard syllables are the easiest for your bird to learn. That explains why words such as “pretty” and “baby” are common among parakeets who talk.
When choosing which words and phrases to teach your bird, try to stick to words that meet the criteria of having hard syllables.
Repeat Your Lessons
It is recommended that you take the time to have a fifteen minute lesson with your bird each day. Many of the lessons are going to be repetitive. In other words, you will probably want to repeat the same lesson until the bird picks up on the phrases.
Instead of you having to sit in the room repeating the same lesson day after day, just record your lesson. That way you can play the lesson for the bird while you go about taking care of other things.
Memory
Once your bird has learned some words, you can begin to teach him what those words mean. For example, you can hold up a cracker and say “cracker”. If you repeat this many times a day over the course of a couple of weeks, the bird will learn to associate the word with the object.
Teaching your bird to talk requires patience and consistency. It may also end in disappointment should your bird never pick up the skill. While having a talking parakeet is fun, remember that your bird still needs you even if he won’t say it.