Budgerigars: How to teach them to talk
Many owners of budgies would like to teach them to talk.
But we must remember that this will require long and constant training. Often it takes more than one month.
It is not enough to simply turn on a tape or radio to make a bird start repeating words. Budgerigars perceive live human speech better, they learn to imitate sounds when communicating with a person.
It is believed that males are more capable of learning. But this does not mean that female parrots cannot learn to talk.
It's just that the learning process takes longer and requires more patience. Males usually remember more words and phrases than females.
Chicks and young birds learn to speak more easily. Teaching an adult parrot to talk is much more difficult.
If there are several parrots in the house, then teaching them to speak will be very difficult. After all, they will be constantly distracted by communicating with each other. Therefore, if the owner wants to teach his pet to speak, then he should have only one bird.
Training can only begin when the bird has already adapted to the conditions of the new home and completely trusts the owner. Training a parrot to talk should be done when the bird is in a calm environment and well-fed.
It is better to start talking to the bird when it is sitting close to the owner's face, for example, on the shoulder or finger. Of course, for this to happen, there must be no fear. If the parrot behaves cautiously, then the right time has not yet come to teach it to talk.
How to conduct training correctly
At first, you need to choose 2-3 words or phrases for training. It is desirable that these words contain hissing sounds. Birds perceive words with such sounds well. Each word or phrase should be pronounced 10-15 times, alternating. For example, pronounce the first phrase 10 times in a row, and then pronounce the second phrase 10 times.
The training sessions should be short, no more than half an hour a day, but should be held regularly. The bird's owner should clearly pronounce the words without changing the intonation. You can turn on some quiet, pleasant music.
You need to address the bird by name, call it with affectionate words. And after the lesson, you should reward your pet, treat it with a tasty treat.
When teaching a parrot words, do not cover the cage with dark cloth. Some bird owners mistakenly believe that this will make it easier for the bird to focus on the words. In fact, sudden darkness can only frighten the bird.
You shouldn't shout at the bird and get irritated. After all, parrots are sensitive to sharp sounds. You need to be patient. All birds have different abilities to learn to talk. On average, this process takes about three months.
At first, the budgerigar will repeat after the owner only individual sounds, syllables or endings of words.
This is normal, this is how the bird perceives human speech. After some time, the pet will be able to reproduce whole words and phrases after its owner.
Earlier we wrote about why a cat doesn’t drink water from a bowl.
