How to Train an African Gray Parrot to Talk

As satisfied bird owners can attest, teaching a parrot to talk takes patience but is well worth the effort. Parrots are talking birds and many of them can get quite good at it. Start out with the word "hello" and keep repeating it until your birds has learned to say it in a clear tone of voice. DO not move on to other words until it has learned the first one. Take one word at a time and only move on to the next when it gets it right. Remember to reward it with treats and positive words and gestures. It is actually no different that when teaching children how to talk.

To teach an African gray parrot to talk, train the bird in an area without distractions, use a clicker and treats to praise cooperation and repeat lessons twice a day. Avoid stressing out an African gray parrots or it may back off from talking.

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Parrot Toys and Treats

Toys for parrots provide a better alternative than to have your parrot chew up your furniture or curtains. Parrot toys also give your parrot safe items to investigate instead of exploring dangerous household items, such as cleaners. Remember to always praise your parrot whenever you see him or her playing with their toys, as this will reiterate to them that playing with their toys is a good thing.

Parrots are highly intelligent animals. Toys are important to parrots because they help achieve two things: they keep the birds mentally stimulated and they provide some form of exercise that allows the parrots to expend their stored-up energies.

The most important thing to remember when providing toys to your bird is not to overwhelm him by giving him all the toys at once. Three toys at a time would be good but please remember to ROTATE HIS TOYS or he will just end up getting bored and unhappy with them. If he seems tired of the toys he is playing with right now, replace them with new ones. Keep the ones he lost interest in and reintroduce them to him after three months or more. By this time, he would have forgotten about these and would get all excited about them all over again.




Remember, taking care of parrots is like taking care of little children. It can be fun yet challenging at times. If you are patient and you care enough for your birds, you will be rewarded with the joy of having a loyal, loving and playful bird in your midst. It doesn’t take much to make your bird happy — just a little attention from you and some nice, motivational toys.

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Teaching your parrot to speak

So what Parrot talk?
As the buyer in the above joke correctly suggests, not all parrots talk. This is true of different species and different birds within a species. For example, African Grey Parrots are known to be excellent talkers but that doesn't mean that all African Grey Parrots will talk. Hopefully your only reason for purchasing a parrot is not because it can talk. Parrots have so much more to offer than talking and you would be cheating yourself and your parrot if that is your only reason for getting a parrot. For the most part though, many parrots learn to speak at least a word or two even without formal training.








Teaching your parrot to speak

• Choose a simple word, usually with one or two syllables, and start teaching your parrot that word.
• Repeat the word firmly, slowly, and distinctly every few seconds until your bird makes a sound in response.
• Do not try to teach you parrot multiple words immediately because it will only confuse the bird.
• Reward your bird with a treat as soon as it makes a sound. The sound doesn’t even have to sound like the word you are trying to teach.
• Do not jump to big words at once though teach your parrot simple words at first and go for bigger ones only after he has learned several easy ones.
  

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