Talking Cockatiels?

[BirdbrainJan]

I've read too that it's more about the ritual attached to the words than rote repetition. If the bird learns the meaning behind a word (that closing the blinds means night-night, for example), then they're more likely to use those words. That's what we're trying anyway! Good luck, let us know how it goes!

That said, Scooter has a very strong inclination to talk and GCCs are thought to have a low aptitude in general. We didn't even particularly try very hard, we just talk to him and he's picked up quite a few phrases.

Go Scooter! What kinds of phrases has he picked up?

[Pagez]

Hi. My SIL breeds cockatiels. She says the males talk well. They start after they about a year old, which is quite a common time frame for parrots in general. We are going to pick up one of here hand fed babies when we get back from vacation. My daughter has named him Max and he comes from a long line of talkers. We are VERY excited to bring him into our home, whether he talks or not (: ~Page

[JadeW]

That's awesome news! I was wondering if Cas would be one of those tiels that didn't talk, but I'll stop my worrying about teaching him until he does hit that one year mark

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Go Scooter! What kinds of phrases has he picked up?

"Scoo-scoo"
"Pretty scoo-scoo"
"Pretty bird"
"What's up"
"Up!"

I also think I have caught
"Hello"
"that's enough!"
"Hey you"

And there are other things he is saying that I can't parse. I can tell the rhythm is meant to be people sounds but I can't work it out.

He also wolf whistles and does a "Phwisht! Phwist!" shrill summoning whistle.

When excited or desperately seeking attention he sounds like a squeaky dog toy, but that might actually be a natural noise for him.

[CheekyandMalolo]

When excited or desperately seeking attention he sounds like a squeaky dog toy, but that might actually be a natural noise for him.

Very high pitched squeal?? Our GCC does that first thing in the morning, climbs down to where she can see me under her blanket and squeals at me. So nice to wake up to. Not.
Cheeky's not vocal at all! She makes a small chirping noise, which gets louder if she wants to be somewhere or is pissed off, and has her squeal. But that's it. She's about 5-6 months old now, we're hoping as she gets older she'll vocalise more.
My partners Tiel doesn't shut up! He just talks talks talks. He says "Hello Ella" but in his own chirpy voice, you wouldn't hear it if you didn't know it. He also copied the Princess Parrot's vast repertoire of Aus Parrot whistles. Quite interesting when you see your Princess Parrot doing a Cocky screech or a Kookaburra laugh.

[Rrrma]

Beware what you ask for... of the few phrases my mom's cockatiel picked up... one of them was totally my fault and totally horrible!!!

He was on her shoulder watching TV with us and something came on that made me say "What the hell?!" and suddenly he goes "wuthehell" OMG! I can't believe he latched onto that! She says he still says it lol!

[Kaicho]

cockatiels whistle AND talk .... this is my 7month old cockatiel who whistles and talks to me. I handraised him since he was 2 weeks hatched. He has been talking and whistling since he was 3 months old... just ask my partner.






As you can see.... he does both. There are times where he won't whistle at all, and will say every word in his 20+ word vocabulary... and there's times when he will just whistle. Birds have personalities too, and they pick and choose what and when to use their talents.

[zazanomore]

Einstein will be 5 months on the 15th. (how did my baby get so old? )

Anyways, when I got him, the breeder told me that if I wanted him to start talking then I should not encourage whistling (not stopping him from doing it, just not whistling to him). And that I should use small words, use them with enthusiasm and use them repeatedly.

I really don't mind if my bird can sing songs, or do math, or tell me how pretty he is. To me, that is just icing on the cake. So, I decided, come what may.

I whistle to all my birds. I have music playing a lot, and I sometimes have the tv on.

I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that he can now say "hello".

Somehow, I've managed to find the shyest bird in the world! He only says hello when I'm not paying attention to him, or when he thinks I'm out of earshot. As soon as I start paying attention to him, he turns into a quiet, sweet little cuddle bug, who never says a word.

[ptuga72]

Somehow, I've managed to find the shyest bird in the world! He only says hello when I'm not paying attention to him, or when he thinks I'm out of earshot. As soon as I start paying attention to him, he turns into a quiet, sweet little cuddle bug, who never says a word.

Sounds like you've got a closet talker on your hands! Scarlet is a very good talker, unfortunately in order to hear her say anything other than "Hello" and "Come Up!" I have to sit behind a closed door and wait for her to not see/hear me

[Kaicho]

cockatiels talking? ... that's absurd.....


but seriously though, they are actually fantastic talkers. Here is my cockatiel (hatched 23 jan 2010) as he has gotten better at speech. In fact, today I recorded and posted his most recent video:



I made a clip of his vocal development a few months ago:



and for the short version:

Yes, they talk. If you have the time and love to put into them, they grow faster than a weed and pay you back in spades.