How do you teach a cockatiel to talk?

Published by: admin 2009-01-08

the training book i have says you can teach them to talk but it doesn't
tell you how to.......

Repetition. You have to repeat a word over and over and over again, and eventually they might repeat it. If they do, make sure they get praise and a treat! There are some aids out there that can help too. One I have seen (though not personally tried) is a CD that repeats the same phrase over and over again. You are supposed to put a little stereo in front of the cage and put the CD on repeat. And my experience has taught me that it is extremely hard to train a Cockatiel talk. It's not like a parrot that can pick things up rather quickly. So far, in my 15 years of owning Cockatiels, the best I have gotten out of my babies is a sort of hello whistle; but perhaps that CD could do the trick. Good luck!

And here is a site that might help that talks about the CD:

www.birdtricks.com/how-to-speak.htm

Teaching a cockatiel to talk is extremely hard and take true dedication. My cockatiel says over 25 words as well as does some tricks, and whistles over 10 songs.

What did it take? I would repeat the word hello over and over and over again. I would do it for about 5 minutes, take a break for about 10 minutes, then start repeating hello for another 5 minutes. 4 to 6 times per day and it took 6 months for him to say it back. That was his first word. I always praised him well, so he learned his next few words on his own. He learned "Good boy", Good bird, and "Pretty bird" as well as birdie just from me praising him when he did something i liked. I don't agree with saying bad bird.

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The next word i taught him took about 4 months for him to learn, which was Bye Bye.

Most people do not have the patience it takes to repeat to a bird. What i did was i made a tape back then. My bird is 14 now, so didn't have what it took to make a cd back then. Anyway, i would make a tape. I would play tape myself saying hello for 5 minutes. I would pause between each saying of the word. After 5 minutes, i would play some light classical music he seemed to like. Then my voice would come back on. It was a 45 minute tape, so i only took 10 minutes inbetween with the music. I also took the time to do many of the training sessions in person.

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I also added in fun stuff like whistles and tricks for him to learn while i was trying to teach him his first word, that's why his second and third word were good boy. He learned to wave, dance, wings (he opens and spreads his wings), put a ball through a small hoop and...more. I was also teaching him different whistles like theme songs i like and thought were cute and some camp town songs as well. Keeping them mentally stimulated enough to actually want to learn is a big key. Also, spending tons of time with them is as well. The more you hold them and talk to them, the more apt they are to do what you'd like. They are smart birds, so get bored easily and keeping them locked up al lthe time with nothing to do is hard on them. Even when i leave the house i put on music for them. Nothing hard rock or rap as it seems to make him nippy. So i stick with 50's or 70's, light classical (the heavy classical makes him just as nippy). Keeps him happy.