Training a Budgie

The first step in teaching a budgerigar to talk is to teach it to perch on your finger without fear. This essential training is known in the budgerigar world as "finger taming"; it is the first major step in teaching a budgerigar to talk, but several months may elapse before it actually starts to do so.

After the budgerigar has been given a couple of days to settle into its new home, and when it is taking interest if you talk to it, you are ready for finger taming.

Each day, in the late afternoon when the light is fading, put your hand into the cage and lightly scratch the budgerigar's head, talking all the time to the bird in a quiet reassuring voice. Do not try to hold the bird or cover its head with your hand.

When your budgerigar is used to the scratching—don't be in any hurry: allow a few days for cementing your friendship in this manner—and it appears to enjoy this, try to get it to perch on your forefinger by pressing the finger against the bird's lower breast just above the perch on which it is sitting. If the bird is ready, it will hop on to your finger, but, if not, it will flutter into another part of the cage and you will have to continue for a little while longer.

When the bird is finger tame and whenever you have a spare moment, get it to hop on to your finger and repeat one word, such as its name, or just a couple of words such as "pretty boy". One day the bird will quite suddenly and clearly repeat the word.

A budgerigar is a mimic and cannot put words together to make up a meaningful sentence, so stick to one word until the bird is perfect or it will only speak a jumble of disconnected nonsense.

Once started, the budgerigar will soon become a real chatterbox, and, provided that you take the lessons slowly, there is no limit to what it can be taught or will pick up for itself. Budgerigars have been known to bark like a dog and to imitate the voices and accents of several different people living in the same house. Other budgerigars can clearly repeat dozens and dozens of sentences, including their complete address and telephone numbers.

Hints For Talking Birds

It is a waste of time trying to teach a bird over eight months to talk. If you want a cheerful chatterbox, you must start with a young budgerigar.

Budgerigars that are to be taught to talk must be kept on their own, out of sight and sound of other birds. Ignore the old-fashioned idea of putting an older talking bird in with a young budgerigar to act as an instructor. This often has the opposite effect and the older bird may revert to bird noises instead of mimicking human speech. The younger birds copy sounds and their natural interest in other birds will lead them to concentrate on bird talk to the exclusion of all else.
In the early stages of training, lessons will be much more successful if there is no mirror in the cage. Mirrors are immensely attractive to budgerigars and they will spend hours chattering away to themselves instead of listening to their teacher. By the same token, plastic imitation birds that fit on to perches, should not be installed in the cage until the budgerigar has learnt to talk.

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