Teach Your Parrot To Talk
Of the New World amazons parrots, Yellow Napes, Blue Fronts and Double Yellowheads are the best talkers but only when they are exposed to words at a young age. Amazons that do not talk by the time they are a year and a half old may never learn to talk. By and large any young amazon parrot with yellow on its head is a good talking candidate. A few singular macaws are good talkers but most are not the best. When macaws, such as scarlets and blue and golds learn to talk they have loud and rough voiced and usually a limited vocabulary. Cockatoos can also learn to talk but, like macaws usually have limited vocabulary. Unlike macaws, they tend to have sweet soft voices.
Choosing A Parrot
Under no circumstances should you pick a fearful shy bird. Many mean biters, however, are wonderful talkers. The parrot should sit relaxed on the perch, not stiff or cowed back and frightened. A cowering bird will never learn to talk. Do not pick a bird that growls at you or rears back on its perch. Laughing and dilating and constricting their pupils are signs of aggression, not fear. The parrot should to come to you to be scratched cocking its head sideways.talk
If you have obtained a baby parrot just out of the nest, talking will come a lot easier. Start training as early as you can while the baby is still on formula. Birds of this age bond readily to humans and develop the relaxed confidence. Be gentle, kind and patient and these birds will quickly learn to trust and respond to you. They should be comfortable when being handled. Don’t expect a young baby parrot to start talking immediately. As long as they are “clucking” for food they will not talk. But exposing them to words and phrases at this early age primes them to talk rapidly when they are old enough. These babies will cock their heads, listen to you intently and recognize words even though they are too young to talk. By the time smaller parrots are 4-6 month old and larger parrots are 6-12 months old they will begin repeating words and phrases.
Turn off the TV and radio and stop any activities that may be a distraction. Have other family members and pets leave the room. Let in the sunlight. Birds key off of the emotion and gusto in your voice, not the word itself. So how you say a word is more important to the parrot than what you say. To teach a parrot to talk you need to be the center of the bird’s attention. A parrot that is learning will look and listen to you intently while you speak. It will stand high on the perch with an alert body stance. You may notice that its eye pupils change in size rapidly. Say the word in a loud clear voice with a slight hesitation between repetitions.
When teaching a bird to name objects pick objects that are small and colorful. The reward in these cases should be giving the bird the object. For example, if the bird correctly calls key chain, give the bird the key chain to play with. This technique works well with the word grape. Grape is apparently an easy word for parrots to say. Some other easy words are key, paper, box, corn, carrot, nail, water, treat, bean, and rock.
Parrots learn to talk better from high-pitched feminine voices of women and children. Once the bird is relaxed begin the lesion. Keep the training periods no longer than fifteen to twenty minutes at a stretch. Start with simple, short words and phrases such as hello and good morning. Hold the bird perched on your hand or finger about twelve inches from your mouth. You can also do this with the bird perched on a tee stand.
Resist the urge to whistle at your parrot, as this will hinder him from learning to talk. However, after he’s mastered a few words, it’s okay to whistle. Also, parrots do much better with a live trainer than a recorder. However, if you’re limited in time and feel it’s the only way to teach him, then keep the phrases on the recording clear and simple, playing it for only about 15 minutes at a time, twice daily.
Teaching your parrot to speak
1. When trying to teach your bird to speak you have to always start with imitative speech.
2. Choose a simple word, usually with one or two syllables, and start teaching your parrot that word.
3. Do not try to teach you parrot multiple words immediately because it will only confuse the bird.
4. Begin with a simple “Hi” or whatever word you want. The important thing is to stick to your chosen word.
5. Repeat the word firmly, slowly, and distinctly every few seconds until your bird makes a sound in response.
6. Reward your bird with a treat as soon as it makes a sound. The sound doesn’t even have to sound like the word you are trying to teach.
7. Repeat this process as you work closer to making it sound more like the word you are teaching. The parrot will eventually attach the reward with its imitation and will perform to get the reward.
8. Lavish it with praise especially for imitations that get closer to the sound you’re aiming for. Learning a new word can take just a few sessions for some birds while it can take a couple of months and even more for some.
9. Once your parrot has learned to repeat one word consistently then you can start on a new word and keep on doing it until his vocabulary gets bigger.
10. Do not jump to big words at once though teach your parrot simple words at first and go for bigger ones only after he has learned several easy ones.
Teaching your parrot to respond
1. If you wish to teach your bird to respond, teach it to imitate the response or the answer first.
2. Once it has mastered the response then its time to begin asking the question.
3. Prompt your bird to say the response and reward it for a proper answer.
4. Repeat the process until your parrot consistently responds with the right answer every time the question is asked.
Jun 10, 2009 | 0 | Birds
