Introduction
The following article has been reproduced with kind permission from a post at
the Birdboards.com
website by Dave.
I have used and shared this method with many
other people and on the whole, it's worked very well. This method especially
helps people who are expecting their greys to talk at the age of 5, 6, 7 months
of age which doesn't always work. The voice box of the African Grey doesn’t
develop fully until they are nearly a year old.
This method also helps people who want to lengthen their older grey's vocabulary
and add phrases instead of just single words.
New grey owners are often disappointed that their birds don’t talk from day one
but there are things you can do which help them to get ready for the BIG moment.
It really depends on what age your grey is right now and whether your bird was
ever meant to talk. Some don't talk but makes loads of sounds.
If he already talks, but not much, then this might help. It applies to baby
birds that don't talk yet up to birds that are about 12 to 16 months old, which
is the rough time they start talking but this time line varies from bird to
bird.
You first need to know some basic body language concerning talking. If you're
close by and you're talking to him, you'll see that he tilts his head either to
the left or right. The reason he's doing that is because whatever he is hearing
has got his attention. He's very interested and is tuning into it intently.
From now on, you'll be doing that certain thing with him about 4 to 5 times a
day.
First off, NEVER teach him just one word in anything you say to him. Always use
phrases. Use whatever phrase you want. Have the phrase contain at least 2 to 3
words.
Each phrase has to said with high and low tones, never monotone.--examples---how
ARE you.---ARE you a GOOD boy---i WANT some OATmeal. HOW ya DOing etc. If the
phrase that you're using has a long word in it, break up that word into highs
and lows just like you see above with the words 'oatmeal' and 'doing'. The more
highs and lows you use, the easier it is for him to pick up on it. As time goes
on, you can teach phrases that have more words in it. You'll teach phrases
calmly, you won't yell out loud to him and you'll be doing these lessons up
close to him. You'll be teaching him one phrase at a time until he's familiar
with the phrase. Make sure there's no TV or loud radio playing as this will
distract him.
Attention Span
A grey will pay attention to what you're saying for approx 10 min give or
take 1 min. He's listening to you very intently for that 10 min span with his
head cocked to one side, staring at you. After he loses interest, he straightens
out his head and sometimes turns his back to you. The trick is to find out when
he loses interest.
What you need to do is stop the lesson while he is still very interested in what
you're saying. If it's a 10 min span then you will need to stop at approx 9 min.
Using the same phrase with the same inflections start with four or five
sessions, spread throughout the day each and every day for about a week. After
the first week you can cut it down to 3 days a week. Everything he'll learn will
be preceded by a lot of garbling. He'll focus that garbling and mumbling on what
you're doing and saying. When he finally starts saying the phrase clearly, work
on another phrase but also repeat the first phrase at times. The more you do
this, the faster he'll pick up on things. In the future, he'll be picking up
words that are said around the house and you won't even be teaching them to.
Also, in the future, he'll mix the phrases together which makes for a fun time
on your part. The whole idea here is to break the ice with this method.
What I can't do is give you any time frame concerning how long it'll take before
he starts talking. All greys are different and do things when they feel like it.
Older birds take
longer but only if they've never been given lessons or if the older bird is an
adopted older bird that has never been given lessons. The method works on older
and younger birds. Once a grey starts saying things, you'll find that because
the ice has been broken, the grey will be picking up things both major or minor,
very quickly without any help. There will come that day when the only thing
you'll look forward to is for your grey to stop talking so that you can get some
peace and quiet".
As well as you
think you know your bird, you can't put any time frame or limit on how long this
will take. You need to have patience and you need to be consistent with those
lessons.
Don't get discouraged. It does take time.------Dave
