Teaching a Parakeet to Talk
The key to teaching a parakeet to talk is to have the parakeet think
it's part of the "human flock", and therefore that it needs to communicate with its human friends. If you have a mirror in
the cage, or other parakeets, it will see parakeets around it and want to talk like them (i.e. chirp). So step one is to have
your young parakeet on its own, surrounded by humans that talk to it.
Human Speech
you can Teach your Parakeet to Talk if you're patient and your parakeet is interested in learning. Male parakeets
are easier to teach than females, and young parakeets that were hand raised are the easiest to teach. Don't worry if your
parakeet doesn't learn to talk, not all do. Your parakeet will still be able to communicate to you in its own warbles and
fweeps.
Once your bird is finger-trained, you can let him out to explore his
new world! Make sure ALL doors are closed and it's even good to make a special sign to hang on each door saying DO NOT OPEN.
You want to make sure it's extremely clear that a bird is loose so that the door stays shut. Birds love to fly! And now that
your bird knows his home is the "safe place to return to" and also that your finger is the place to fly to, you can know that
his explorations of the room will end with him returning home again.
Keep loud noises down. Talk normally, so the bird isn't afraid of the
silence. Birds get VERY paranoid when it's completely silent, because this normally means (in the wild) that some sort of
predator is around. So play soft music, talk quietly amongst yourselves and keep an eye on the bird. Eventually he'll realize
that he's not going to be eaten. He'll start examining his cage, maybe taking a bite of food or a sip of water. He'll explore
his new little world and see that really, it's not that bad. It's actually kind of nice.
Once your parakeet has gotten
over the initial fright, keep him reminded that you are a part of his new world. Don't run to the cage, don't make loud noises.
But wander over and talk sweetly to him. Tell him he's a good bird, a pretty bird. Parakeets love words with 'hard' sounds
in them like K and B and T. They learn those words very quickly. If your parakeet was hand raised, he may already be ready
for finger-sitting, but if you got a bin-o-budgies bird, it may take a while. So spend the next two weeks focusing on this,
because this is key.
The younger the better, as in all things that involve learning. Get a
hand fed parakeet if you can, at a very young age. That is when it's still learning how to communicate, and talking "human"
will be a valid option for it. While male parakeets tend to talk better than female parakeets do, both can certainly talk!
Birds learn best in the morning, when their mind is fresh and ready for
new information. If you use a towel or cover over your bird's cage, talk to them for 1/2 hr before you remove it each morning.
Repeat the same phrases loudly, slowly and clearly. Parakeets do best with hard letters like K and T, so the traditional "hello"
is actually sort of hard for a Parakeet. "Cutie" would be much better! Parakeets tend to mumble and to talk quickly, so the
more slowly you talk, the more normal it will sound when the bird starts to repeat it.
Have patience, and eventually your parakeet will start to answer back
to you! Once they get the hang of it, they'll learn more and more quickly as you go. While you can try taping yourself and
playing the tape, the parakeet really needs to learn that this is a way for you and it to talk to each other. So it works
best if you physically talk to your parakeet, and that you do it often.
Parakeets can also learn to mimic other sounds around them. They can
learn to chirp like a cell phone, whistle a short tune, and much more!
