Post by pamt726 on May 14, 2018 17:34:39 GMT -5
Hi: I'm new to the forum and just brought my 12 week old Quaker parrot, Lil Pea, home. I had originally purchased him when he was 9 weeks old, but it appeared that he had an issue with his leg, so I had him checked out by my vet. The prognosis was that it could be a congenital defect or "splatter" leg, so I returned him to the shop. The owner had him checked out by his vet, and we determined that he needed a 21-day calcium treatment. After the treatments, the limp was gone, he held onto the perch much better, so the owner sold him to me again. I was advised to make sure his diet was high in veggies such as squash, sweet potatoes, etc. That's the short history of Lil Pea.
He's a very affectionate bird, wanting to just snuggle on my side while I stroke his head. I am now interested in any information, suggestions, etc. anyone has on getting him to say "Hello." I'm spending about 10 minutes a day with him close to my face while speaking to him.
Does anyone have any experience on teaching them to talk? Am I starting too soon?
Thanks
He's a very affectionate bird, wanting to just snuggle on my side while I stroke his head. I am now interested in any information, suggestions, etc. anyone has on getting him to say "Hello." I'm spending about 10 minutes a day with him close to my face while speaking to him.
Does anyone have any experience on teaching them to talk? Am I starting too soon?
Thanks
You're not starting too early to encourage Lil Pea to imitate speech. Of course, you can't expect instant results. Most parrots like tp practice new words when no one is around before saying them out loud in front of anyone; Lil Pea may do that too. The best way to encourage a parrot to imitate speech is to talk to the parrot a lot, not just when you're trying to teach them something to say. The more human words they hear, the more likely they are to want to say something themselves. Frequently repeating the things you want the parrot to say is a good approach, but training sessions should be kept fairly short. Using words in context helps too; for example, if you want Lil Pea to say "good morning," only repeat it to him when you first greet him every day. Though some parrots never learn to mimic human speech, many do, but it can take time and lots of repetitions before there are any results. 
