will my macaw ever talk?

[phearcat]

We have had our Hahn's Macaw now for a few weeks. Very sweet bird, never caused us any problems so far. We are home with him every day and he gets loads of attention and love, good food.

We speak to him a lot, he is a vocal bird especially because we have a couple of parakeets in the other room which REALLY gets him squaking a lot LOL.

He is about a 15 months old, and even though he was at a pet store for a year the owners took very good care of him, they feed him good food, gave him love and let them out of their cage most of the day. We are doing the same, although our Hahn's is probably outside his cage a good 16 hours a day.

Will he learn to talk a few words? How do you know when they are ready to speak or will they just belt out a word. His brother Macaw at the pet store (unsold) has recently started talking, our guy is not as assertive as his brother and a couple weeks younger and a tad smaller. In any case, considering how much we work with him I am wondering what the chances of him learning to speak, learn tricks etc.

He is an awesome bird and we love him to death but he doesn't seem to imitate us. His brother would have been clearly the better talker but he was also quite aggressive and we wanted to get the nicer bird.

 

[Dee]

It is much too soon to tell at this point how good of a talker he will become. You could try leaving a tape on with the repetition of certain words or sounds, but only he will know when he is ready. Good luck!

 

[rover]

lol, it could take a while. My b&g macaw said nothing for two almost three years. Now he is kind of talkative. Just started out of the blue when it started.
I think it is perseverance mostly and don't change words until he speaks. concentrate on one thing like hello first nothing else to he says it. Good luck.

 

[BrianFLA]

Hi Phercat,

This could fall squarely in the "be careful what you wish for" catagory.
Some birds talk more than others, but if you remain dedicated to speaking the words you want them to learn, eventually they may suprise you.

You might also be surprised at the words they pick up that you weren't even trying to teach them.

I almost don't hear it anymore, but when friends hear my birds talk they die laughing. The usual bird speak is: Oowwww, STOP IT, Shut UP, BAD!!Pretty Bird, and of course the obligitory HELLO! and my favorite, I LOVE YOU!

Over the years I've also watch the vocabulary come and go, things they don't hear regulary will fade, just like memory.

Also here's a trick, if you want to expidite the process, us a paper cup with the bottom out of it or a tissue roll, or something that will give your voice a bit of a sharper, megaphone sound. They seem to record that a lot faster than just the spoken word.

Good luck!

Brian

 

[Spiritbird]

Having a parrot for talking is not a reason to have a parrot. No all of the birds will talk. We all love it when they do but you should know some do not. Good luck and have patience.

 

[rubymac]

"so here's a trick, if you want to expidite the process, us a paper cup with the bottom out of it or a tissue roll, or something that will give your voice a bit of a sharper, megaphone sound. They seem to record that a lot faster than just the spoken word.

Cool idea! I'll halfta try this. She has a good vocab but really trying to get her to say "I love you".

 

[Darius]

teach them like you would your child when you offer somthing like an apple or a nut say what it is tell them what your going todo like get them fresh water or give them scritches my birds all have huge vocabularys and this is how I teach them it also teaches them to talk not just mimic they will answer and ask for what they want by name its the best way to teach as far as I'm concerned.

 

[antoinette]

Hi there !!!!!
You guys are doing great don't stop OR give up.
Some tips on how to teach a parrot to talk.
This method worked for us.
Mishka is now 2 years old and saying over 150 words.
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Good luck