Table of Contents
- What Age Do Budgies Start Talking?
- Are Male Budgies More Likely To Speak Than Females?
- What Are Common Budgie Sounds?
- Things To Consider Before Teaching Your Budgie To Speak
- How To Teach Your Budgie To Talk
- Other Parrots that can talk:
- Can African Greys Talk?
- Can Cockatiels Talk?
- The Recap
Budgies can talk if you train them. However, budgies or parakeets are not going to speak naturally, so you need to consistently speak to them on a regular basis.
You will have to set up a routine place to teach your budgie to pronounce and speak certain words. In general, budgies are incredibly vocal, depending on their mood your budgie will sing songs of joy or sorrow! The more time you spend with your budgie the better grasp you’ll have of their well-being!
In this post, you will learn how budgies talk, the different sounds budgies make, and how to teach your budgie to talk.
What Age Do Budgies Start Talking?
As a general rule budgies should start learning to talk before they reach 1 year old (If you want a higher success rate) Usually, if your budgie is older than one year and lives in a cage with several other budgies, the chances of them learning to speak drop dramatically.
The earlier you start teaching a budgie to speak the better as while they are young they are still in a stage called the “imprinting phase” This will be the easiest time for your budgie to pick up and learn some cool new words!
Other factors that affect your budgies’ chances to speak are gender! Male budgies are more likely to speak as male budgies are just more vocal in general.
Budgies are very vocal creatures always singing and chirping with each other so when their human companion is around, especially during the imprinting phase they will learn to speak to you in your way!
“Something to keep in mind”
“Budgies don’t have the vocal cords to sound exactly like you or me, however, they will be able to mimic easier words. Don’t be discouraged when you aren’t having a conversation with your budgie companion.”
Are Male Budgies More Likely To Speak Than Females?
Usually, male budgies have a tendency to learn things quicker than female budgies. As a general rule for most birds, males tend to have quicker reaction times and learn quicker. Cockatiels for example. Female cockatiels are less talkative than their male counterparts. If you want a slightly easier time of things, a male budgie would be what you’re looking for.
However, if you do not have time or energy for the process of training your budgie to speak or respond to gestures, it might be worthwhile finding a breeder who has already taught their budgies to speak and respond. This will save you some time although it might raise the price a bit.
What Are Common Budgie Sounds?
Without question, you will learn the different sounds your budgie makes and what they mean for your budgie, Whether they are happy, sad, or just trying to get your attention. Learning what each sound your budgie makes is important to make sure your budgie remains happy.
“Here are some of the sounds you’ll hear and what they may represent“
- Talking – Budgies interact with each other by talking in many different ways. Usually, it is in a broad range of sounds, chirps, chatter, trills, and contact calls to name a few.
- Whistling – Usually, budgies whistle when they are happy. You can normally get your budgie to whistle along to a song or with you as a bonding tool!
- Screaming – Screaming normally indicates fear, distress, or pain so try to keep an ear out for this one.
- Singing– Singing is a great indicator that your budgie is happy, when your budgie is singing you must be doing something right!
Things To Consider Before Teaching Your Budgie To Speak
When it comes to teaching your budgie to speak, there are many things you can do to help make the process a bit easier.
Here are a few things you can do and why:
- Make sure your parakeet is happy.
- Ensure that the timing is right.
- You are teaching your budgie simple words, not complicated ones.
Why Ensuring That Your Budgie Is Happy Is Important
Have you ever tried to learn something but you just weren’t in the mood? The same can be said for your budgie. Making sure your budgie is in a good place and willing to learn is important. Other things that can impact your budgies’ mood can be cage size, bad diet or just being unwell in general.
How To Tell If Your Budgie Is Happy?
When your budgie is happy, they will sing, whistle, chirp, and clamber in/out of the cage as well as bathe regularly. It’s usually quite easy to tell that your bird is happy. Especially if your budgie has a friend, as they will play together.
However, if your budgie is visibly sick or showing signs of being unwell, you should seek advice from your vet or visit them as soon as you can as budgies try to not show signs of weakness instinctively. Usually, if you can tell your budgie is sick then they may be sicker than you think.
Why The Time Of Day Is Important When Teaching Your Budgie To Speak
The time of the day when teaching your budgie to speak is essential! Birds, specifically budgies, are more receptive to learning earlier in the morning. The reason behind this is when they wake up after a good night’s sleep, your budgie will be more alert and more receptive to taking in more information as opposed to later in the evening when they have worn themselves out and are ready for bed.
*Early In The Morning*
The best time to teach your budgie to speak is early in the morning just after their first meal of the day. This will be the best time as they will be full and ready to try to communicate with you.
Why Teaching Your Budgie Easier Words Is Important!
Much like children learning to speak, Smaller words are easier to mimic and get used to. Using smaller words will be a much faster way to get to your goal of speaking to your companion.
Here are a few pointers to help you along the way!:
- You should speak to your budgie in a calm, loving tone as if they are your child, your budgie will pick up on frustration and tone changes. Start with their name or bird/birdie something that will be repeated regularly.
- Give them an easy name, one without multiple syllables.
- Name the things around their cage and say them every time you use them to create familiarity.
- Every time you leave the house say “Goodbye” and vice versa “Hello” every time you enter or see them for the first time.
- The same thing can be said for “Thank you” Every time you give them food, water, or treats.
- Birds struggle with vowels, so teaching them words with consonants (D, K, P, B, or T) will be easier for them.
How To Teach Your Budgie To Talk
Budgies are great pets and learn quite fast. If done right can turn them into great companions for many years. With proper training, your budgie will be a skilled talker in no time! However proper training requires consistency, timing, treats, and positive reinforcement.
It takes time to get your budgie to talk, but once you’ve reached the milestone, you will have a deep bond with your bird for many years!
Follow these steps to get your budgie speaking:
- Build a bond with your budgie.
- If you have multiple budgies, Separate them for some time (This will speed up the process)
- Place their cage closer to where humans will be hanging out.
- Try to understand your budgie’s behavior and mannerisms (This will help you understand when they are ready to learn)
- Say individual/simple words to your budgie.
- Move on to short sentences when you feel they are ready.
- Respond to your budgie with positive reinforcement and repeat words when they try to speak them.
Why Building A bond With Your Budgie Helps
Probably the most important part of the process is creating a strong bond with your budgie. The stronger the bond the more effort your budgie is going to put in when trying to communicate with you!
Here’s how you can create a stronger bond with your budgie:
- Spend as much time with your budgie as you can.
- Spend time in the same room as your budgie just doing activies (Watching t.v, reading more of my articles, etc.)
- Within time, your budgie will be confortable with you in close proximity which is important.
- Hand taming is a great milestone when it comes to understanding how close of a bond you have with your budgie.
Here is a great article to Tame your budgie! “How To Tame A Budgie (A Helpful Step By Step Guide)“ This article that I have written will give you some great tips for how to get your budgie comfortable enough to be on you!
Why Seperating Your Budgies Helps Them Learn Faster
If you have more than one budgie, they will prefer to interact and communicate with each other more frequently than you.
It’s not be all and end all if they are kept together, it’s just the likelyhood of them learning to speak drops significicantly. It will be more challenging for you to imprint on your budgie if they have another budgie to connect with.
Try having one budgie at a time in the house during the imprinting phase, this should increase your chances tremendously.
Why Placing Your Budgie In Main Activity Areas Is Important
Having your budgie around people throughout the day will help them mimic your sounds and pick up on words much easier and you may find that it helps shorten the time it takes for them to pick up harder words! Pick a room like the dinning room, family room or where ever the most people tend to gravitate towards.
How Long Does It Take For Budgies To Talk?
As a general rule, it takes roughly 3-6 months of cosistancy to train your budgie to speak, although depending on the age of your budgie determines how long it takes or even if they can speak.
A three to four month old budgie will learn much quicker than a budgie that is 2 years old because of the key imprinting stage during their younger days.
How Likely Is It For A Budgie To Talk?
There is no guarentee that your budgie will talk. If your budgie is one years old, they are less likely to speak as well as every year you wait the likelyhood drops dramaticly.
However while babies sitting in the cage they are constintly listenning so use this time and get talking to them! Rememeber to use small easy words!
Other Parrots that can talk:
Can African Greys Talk?
African Greys, just like budgies budgies have a great nack for picking up words and being able to vocalise words and phrases. This makes African Greys a great medium-sized bird and grey companians for many years.
Can Cockatiels Talk?
Like most parrots, cockatiels can talk. Althought cannot learn as many words as budgies/African Greys. Although cockatiels can’t learn as many words as other parrots, they can still learn simple words such as “pretty bird” and Hello”
The Recap
If you’ve made it to the end and are now reading the recap! Thank you. In this section, I like to cover the article’s highlights and go over the necessary information!
Here is sa great article from wiki how to help show the process of teaching your budgie to speak!: How to Teach Your Budgie to Talk
Any Questions you have relating to this article or just for me in general, leave a comment down below in the comments section.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert. Some parrots may react differently to different fruits. Please make sure you always slowly introduce a new food into their diet and keep an eye out for any adverse reactions. If your pet does start displaying symptoms of an adverse reaction, please contact your vet for advice.