Teach Your Parrot To Talk

By Super Admin

Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 10:04

One of the reasons humans love parrots is their ability to talk and communicate effectively. We love their vocalization, their splendid feather colour and the hooked beak that add to the world of fantasy. However many parrot owners out there may be groaning with rage as they must have found their parrots dumb and speechless or highly irritating. Well! then you may have not follow the right technique. Here is all that you would love to know about these witty creature to train them into a perfect communicator that adds fun and entertainment to your lonely life.

Pick The Right Breed
If you want to own a parrot just to see it talk then opt for the right breed. There are more than 320 species of parrots, but less than one-third of those typically available in pet stores are considered good talkers. One of nature's best impersonators is the African Grey mainly because they have the uncanny ability to speak in voices that sound very human. They have been known to learn hundreds of words and sounds and to mimic specific voices. Other breed topping the list is the Yellow-naped Amazon. It is skilled at talking, singing, whistling and laughing.

Parakeets (budgies) ringnecks, alexandrine, plumheads, cockatiels, conures, lorikeets and lovebirds have spotty records as talkers. Among them there are always exceptional individuals that learn to talk well. However it is quite difficult to teach. At the pet store make sure to choose the bird that constantly babbles and chirps at the shop as it is most likely to learn to talk faster and clearer than the rest. Experts state that male parrots are good mimickers than the female.

Getting Ready:

Keep the parrot in a room or a garden where families often tend to congregate as this will help it to get exposed to lots of human activity and sounds. Make sure the atmosphere is quite relaxed with proper light, airy and colorful and plenty of food snacks as these are all things parrots love to treasure their eyes with. If you are stressed out or unhappy the bird will be too and it won't learn to talk. Give the bird a few weeks to get used to its new surroundings before taking it out or attempting to teach it to talk. Give it plenty of attention if it is not shy. If it is shy, concentrate on taming it before attempting to get it to talk.

Parrots are flock birds that are normally part of a large group and are constantly interacting with the birds around them. Therefore Interaction with humans is the key rule to train parrots

Begin teaching your parrot to talk when it is 4 to 6 months old at the latest.

Hold a 3-4 minute conversation with someone about a word you would like to teach your parrot. For instance if you would like to teach th parrot the word 'toy' then have a conversation about some toy. Make sure to place significant importance on the word toy. When your parrot finally picks the word then reward it with its favourite food or a toy to play.

Talk with your new pet about everything you are doing. Explain everything to it as if talking to a toddler, but avoid speaking in a child like voice.

To have its attention at the best hold the bird in front of your mouth.

Consider playing recordings of words you want her to learn for up to 15 minutes at a time. Don't play it for long as it can cause boredom.

Don't let your bird hear sounds or words you don't want them to mimic.

Teach the bird to talk before teaching it to whistle, as whistling can interfere with learning words.

Create specific daily training sessions for specific phrases you want to teach. Select a period when your bird is the most expressive, and keep the lessons no longer than 15- 20 minutes.

Don't make bird to learn too many phrases at once. Experts suggest to teach the new word only when they have mastered the old.

Teach by association. Use the same basic phrase for the same task. For instance, teach it to request food, by the same request phrase, such as "want," "Want some chilli, want some fruit," and so on.

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Article Published On: Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 10:04 [IST]

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