|
Our pet budgie “Marley” is becoming quite a talented talker. Soon we hope to have some video and recordings of him talking on this site, but in the meantime here are some tips that we think helped both “marley” and us during the teaching process.
Budgerigars are very intelligent, sociable birds and some become masters at mimicking there owners voice. I say some as for no apparent reason some budgies seem to master talking better than others.
Your budgie should be as young as possible, fit and healthy. Most people say that male budgies talk better than female (although I have heard many female budgies talk).
1. Although you should talk to your budgie from day one, I recommend that before you start to properly train your budgie buddy to talk, you make sure they are totally tame and very relaxed in your presence. They should step up and sit relaxed on your finger. It is impossible to teach a budgie how to talk when he's terrified of you.
2. Repeat the word you want the budgie to learn again, and again. But always pause for a few seconds in-between. Keep repeating it. But only for spells of around 10 mins .Try using it in context, as that way you may be able to teach the bird what it means. For instance, when you walk up to the bird, say "Hello" or when you leave, say "Goodbye". Of course, it's much more fun to teach your budgie more imaginative things!
3. Speak slowly , very slowly and clearly, ie. HELL…OH or GOOD…BOY rather than hello or goodboy (if that makes sense). when your budgie starts to speak it will be very fast , so by speaking to him slowly his words will be easier to understand.
4. Listen. When budgies first say a word, they often say it so quietly and quickly that you don't catch it amongst their usual gibberish.
5. Budgies “learn to learn” by this I mean that once he masters his first word the next will be learnt much quicker….then even quicker and so on, so once the first word is mastered move onto the next straight away. Soon whole phrases or even nursery rhymes could be possible
Lastly two things that I personally think are negatives whilst teaching your budgie to talk are:- 1.Mirrors….. I think the budgie mimics his reflection rather than his human buddy.
2.Whistling….. they seem to pick up whistles much easier than words and this seems to overpower there enthusiasm to learn words.
Paul O’Connor
|
