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Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Want to teach your bird talk? Learn about and discuss methods for training birds to vocalize and mimic different sounds on cue.

Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby Cali » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:36 pm

I just got my Senegal baby and I'm on a steep learning curve. Can anybody give me the very basics on teaching them to talk? Is it the same way you teach a baby- by talking to them and naming things?

Do you need to be consistent and use the same words over and over again so they will learn them? Like if you are going to say "Good morning" don't say "Hey birdie" the next day so they will eventually learn "Good morning." Or do they just pick up whatever they're going to pick up?

Thanks!
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Re: Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby laducockatiel » Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:53 am

A good way to teach parrots to talk, is greeting them with a word e.g hello, hi etc. Always use this word when greeting him and he will soon learn it. It will probably take 1-2 weeks.

Good luck
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Re: Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby MandyG » Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:35 am

There's no guarantee every bird will talk, especially senegals that aren't known for their speaking ability. The best way to try to teach them is to be consistant, speak to them often, and put emotion in your voice. Most birds pick up on 'Hello' first because they're excited when you come home, many people say that their heightened state of emotion encourages them to pick up on those words. Label items and events and be consistant with them (i.e. "Do you want an apple? Mmm, apple! That's a good apple! Do you like the apple?" or "Wanna come out? Step up! Good bird!").

My parrot always says "hello" when I open the door, "come in" when someone knocks, "wanna come out" when he sees me and he wants out, "step up?" or "wanna step up!" when I approach the door, etc.
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Re: Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby Cage Cleaner » Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:49 pm

Snipped
Last edited by Cage Cleaner on Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby nagelsan » Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:50 am

True,

our african grey was raised by a male, his wife didn't do anything with him, so i hear him talk with a mans voice all the time, and children voices.
Now, because i'm mostly home, he lookes at me sometimes and talk with my own voice! :gray:

My senegal doen't talk yet, she will be one year next week. :senegal:
she starts whistling different ways now, i talk to her all the time.
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Re: Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby Naurthon » Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:35 pm

My Senegal doesn't speak. He was a rescue, and about 5 or 6 years old when I got him.

With my two other boys, they learn mostly from me repeating things over and over again. My Grey sings "how sweet it is to be loved by you", "I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning. Like a whirlpool it never ends", and "we all live in a yellow submarine", which I taught him just by repetition over time. Other phrases he's picked up from a single repetition: "brraaaaiiinns" (yes, I have a zombie parrot! LOL), "grrr...arrrg" from the end of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". (Oh yeah...and that one time daddy said a naughty word while playing computer games with Dante in the room. Dante picked that up instantly. Thankfully, he's dropped it.)

I'm teaching him to count from one to ten right now. In a week he's learned all the numbers except 4 and 7, but he doesn't always say them in order.

He has picked up a lot of other words that he hears my partner and I using, especially routine things like "breakfast is ready" and "mmm mmm mmm looks good".

I think your best bet is to just talk to your bird a lot and see what it picks up. Since my Senegal doesn't talk, I've started working with him just to respond with a whistle when I say hello. At least that way we'll be communicating.
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Re: Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby unie64 » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:24 pm

hello my name is pauline i have a blue crown conure her name is mago
she says hello and what she mimic my finches she aslo can laugh growl she is very funny when she starts too laugh

my green cheeked conure who is kik has picked up magos laughing kiki says her name kiki

trying too teach mago good nite and good morning
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Re: Teaching a bird to talk 101?

Postby liz » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:46 pm

Welcome to the forum both of you.

I believe that they learn like children. They copy what they hear but then learn what it means. The same words used for the same thing begin to make sence to them. When they get control of the word they will learn to use it in other ways.

My first shock with rehome/rescue :amazon: Rambo was when I was calling our Lola dog. He helped me call. Then he turned to me and said "Lola not c'mere". Since then he has learned to use the word won't.
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