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[Huss]

I have male eclectus. He is seven months old now. I've had him since he was two months old. What's the best way to teach him to talk. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[roxynoodle]

Honestly, I just talk to my birds all the time. And I use the same words and phrases a lot. Every morning I say good morning, hi, hello, and when I come home I say hi and hello. During the day I say whatcha doin? How are you? What's up? I tell them what I'm doing all the time. At night I say goodnight, you're a good girl/boy. I tell them I love you a lot, all day.

 

[lizardsmells]

I agree with Roxy. Just talk to him all the time. I talk to Kazi and he pretty much says the stuff he hears me say. (Which, when he's chasing a cat and calling it a little f-word, isn't so great.) So I hear a lot about what a good bird I am and how pretty I am. Haha!

 

[roxynoodle]

Lol, lizardsmells. We had a budgie when I was growing up that did the same. My mom was always chasing our Dalmatian for taking her dish towels and calling it a "F..er B..." and the budgie started calling the dog that as well. The only thing that could make my mom swear was that dog, lol!

I had a bf that was offended by Rowdy calling him a pretty bird. I tried to tell him it was a compliment.

 

[Tammy]

I agree with Roxy. Just talk to him all the time. I talk to Kazi and he pretty much says the stuff he hears me say. (Which, when he's chasing a cat and calling it a little f-word, isn't so great.) So I hear a lot about what a good bird I am and how pretty I am. Haha!

My six year old came crying into the room a few months ago saying, "Mommy Precious called me stupid" I had to explain he doesn't know what that means. My 9 year old says that all the time to her & he just picked it up. I do love when he tells my 9 year old to "Knock it off" & "Stop it" when she's arguing.

 

[roxynoodle]

I agree with Roxy. Just talk to him all the time. I talk to Kazi and he pretty much says the stuff he hears me say. (Which, when he's chasing a cat and calling it a little f-word, isn't so great.) So I hear a lot about what a good bird I am and how pretty I am. Haha!

My six year old came crying into the room a few months ago saying, "Mommy Precious called me stupid" I had to explain he doesn't know what that means. My 9 year old says that all the time to her & he just picked it up. I do love when he tells my 9 year old to "Knock it off" & "Stop it" when she's arguing.

Oh, poor baby! It's bad enough when your brothers and sisters call you names, let alone your birdie.

 

[Pedro]

I have male eclectus. He is seven months old now. I've had him since he was two months old. What's the best way to teach him to talk. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Huss, my your little guy has grown up fast. I have had some babies say Hello at 3 months, but as a general rule anywhere from 6 to 12 months. But also bare in mind that some don't want to talk.

The best time to get them talking apart from the everyday chatter i have with my bird, is of an evening, when all is quiet & you have your birds full attention. No distractions like TV, radio or noisy house hold.

I also have to warn you eclectus are closet talkers, they don't always talk face to face. So if you bird is out of sight he will probably be having a chat to himself.

 

[tlouiselle]

Make it fun for him. I had a game with my IRN where I would walk from one end of the counter to the other and duck down. He would run over to find me and I would pop my head up and say "peek a boo". I never realized how much Stewie (the eclectus) loved to watch this game. At 4 months Stewie started saying "peek a boo" out of the blue. He is 7 months and we are working on other words but "peek a boo" is his FAVORITE.

I also found that the best place for teaching my birds to talk is shower time. They love to sit on the shower in the steam from the water. They are chatty then so I use that time while I am showering to repeat words for them.

 

[Wulfgeist]

I agree with Roxy. Just talk to him all the time. I talk to Kazi and he pretty much says the stuff he hears me say. (Which, when he's chasing a cat and calling it a little f-word, isn't so great.) So I hear a lot about what a good bird I am and how pretty I am. Haha!

My six year old came crying into the room a few months ago saying, "Mommy Precious called me stupid" I had to explain he doesn't know what that means. My 9 year old says that all the time to her & he just picked it up. I do love when he tells my 9 year old to "Knock it off" & "Stop it" when she's arguing.

Wonderful..lol..my friend keeps calling Jasper a "Dumb bird"..I tell her she better watch it, he's probably alot smarter than she is lol. I would rofl if one day he turned around and called her dumb.

 

[Kokihi]

Tori, my GCC learned a whole bunch of phrases without me doing much of anything. Just repeat the words that you want your birdy to say a lot when you're around them. Ooh, and be careful not to say anything you -dont- want your bird to learn when you're around them.

You can even teach them to reply with a specific word when you say something to them. I'm working on this with Tori right now.
I'll say "Who's a good bird?" and he replies with "Tori bird!" then he gets a treat.