teach your parrot bird to speak

To own a talking bird, it is preferable that you purchase a hand-reared young bird between the ages of two and six months. Older birds will not learn as quickly and wild or untrained birds will be more difficult to train as they have already become used to the ingrained sounds in their heads. If you can only buy an adult bird, you will need a lot of patience to train it to speak, as it will take much longer, but it is not impossible.

Your bird’s ability to imitate the words spoken by humans largely depends on the species, your bird’s character, your technique, and how tame your bird is. You will need to work on taming your bird first and building its trust in you as its master before you can train it to talk, so you have to work on that part. You will know that the bird is ready to be trained to speak if it is calm and looks at you confidently when you approach it.

The African Gray Parrot, Greater Indian Hill Mynah, and Javan Hill Mynah are perfect talking birds because they are easier to train and very competent. The tonal qualities and pronunciation can differ between these species, but in general they are the most popular birds among bird lovers.

These birds can live for many years and bring you lots of joy and companionship as you build your vocabulary and work on your tonal quality. Parrots can assimilate more words and be able to retain them since they have a stronger memory than others.

Train your bird to talk every morning before removing the cage cover. Repeat a word or phrase over and over again and make it a ritual. Your bird will be able to focus on sounds in the dark and will try to respond to you with the same sound it hears. Do this also at different times of the day and especially during feeding time or when you give him his favorite treat. When the bird gets used to this, it will use the same sounds to get your attention while you are out of sight when it is hungry or in need of attention. When you hear this, respond with the same words as the statements, but stay away from the cage. When the bird tries to make a different expression, add other words and phrases. This indicates that your bird is ready to learn new words to add to its vocabulary.

You can also use a recording to train your bird to speak or imitate sounds. Most bird parks use this method as a form of training, as each bird trainer has a different tonality or pronunciation. Make a recording on tape or CD and use words and phrases clearly. If you don’t have a good voice, have someone do it for you or buy a CD at a bird store. Play the recording at different times of the day, as this is sure to have a big impact on your bird.

If you are making your own recording, don’t put too many words and phrases on it as the bird has a small brain capacity. Have you ever heard of the phrase “bird brain” that is used so often on people? Expose your bird to a few words and phrases at a time and be patient about it. Your bird, if it is a parrot, can live for over forty years, so what do you have to lose? If you intend to introduce new words and phrases, do so on another recording on tape or CD, and incorporate the oldest words on this new recording, as well as a revision form. This works great for keeping the above words permanently in your bird’s vocabulary.