Budgies that talk

[curvybird]

I'm gettin me sister a budgie for her birthday, she wants one that talks, how do I know which ones will ??

[welshlibranr]

My mother always had budgies that talked, she alway said you must have a young male bird, and talk to him lots and lots, seemed to work for her, they chattered away all the time......................good luck with it.....................welsh

[wildwood]

AS above. You need to teach it to talk by repeating words over and over again. They are not born talking.

[Andyvon]

I have 2 budgies which are a year old now and I was given them by aunt who has bred budgies for 50 years.

If you want a budgie that's entertaining you must buy a male as they are chirpy, playful and chatter all day. Hens can almost be described as 'egg machines' and are usually inactive and very quiet. My hen spends most of the day asleep with her head under her wing and and I used to think she was ill but my aunt assures me that's what the typical female is like. The male spends all day chattering and playing with toys and only really stops to have a snooze before he's off again. He's also very noisy and chats with the wild birds who come to the window. He's even picked up their calls and produces lovely songs. I don't know what the hen sounds like as she's never made a noise since I've had them! My aunt says that's not unusual.

If you're going to buy a companion bird for your sister then make sure it's a male. You can tell as the cere (the bulge with nostrils) on top of the beak is blue in males and brown in females. Most buyers want males unless they are planning to breed so males are scarce. Consequently, many dealers will try to palm a female off on you as they have plenty and people don't want them except to breed. If you buy a female by herself she'll just sit in the cage all day and do little but sleep.

Secondly, a male will only talk if kept by itself. Budgies are highly social and feel an overwhelming instinct to interact with others. If you keep one by itself then it's forced to accept the owner as it's mate and it will start to mimic them. People find that twee but I think it's so sad that a creature is so lonely that it's forced to do that. That's why I have two birds who are company for each other as they preen, interact and twitter away to each other. Two birds together will never mimic but at least they aren't lonely. Mimics are desperately so, so do consider two birds for your sister.

[redman41]

Make sure the Budgie you buy is not Deaf, otherwise he will not understand a word you are saying !! LOL

[angiealf]

On the contrary Andyvon. I had a female budgie years ago and she wouldn't stop chatting, she could say her name, tell everyone to shut up, Hello, goodbye, good night and loads of other things. I now have a male and although he chatters away in budgie talk there are no words, I talk to him every day but nothing but sqawks and tweets come from him.