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How to teach my cockatiel to whistle/talk?

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20K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  ilovetiels  
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#1 ·
How do I teach my cockatiels to whistle/talk? I keep whistling the wolf call over and over and no deal. Any tips would be appreciated
 
#2 ·
They say to teach them to talk first, if they learn to whistle first they won't talk

Its all about repetition Every time you walk into the room/house Tell him hi, every time you leave say Good bye or Bye and so on

Don't use CD's they'll learn the words but Won't comprehend them and use them correctly


How old is your tiel? are you sure your tiel is a male? Normally females are the quiet ones of the tiels , the males are the talkers/whistlers/mimics
 
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#3 ·
I have 3 tiels. 1 is about 2 yrs old. We were told that he is a boy and his name is guy. The other 2 are about 6 mths old. I named the very vocal one Rascal. He is not tame at all. The last one is very quiet and I named her Molly. I am trying repetition. Hopefully, will see something soon
 
#4 ·
Do you know the mutation of Guy (its weird typing that I went to school with a kid and his Given name was Guy :) ) and is Guy the 2 yr old or the 6 month old?, even at 6 months old if its a male he wouldn't be very quiet, I have four 5 month olds and only one is Quiet (her name is Sadie she is a White Face Cinnamon Pearl) her 3 siblings I wasn't sure of their gender because 2 are Pearls and one is a Cinnamon Pearl All 3 of them have been singing to me every morning when i walk in the birds room for at least a month now, and Sadie is the only Quiet one in the entire cage they're in (there is 2 other males in the cage one being the babies dad)
 
#5 ·
You are meant to teach them to talk first but since yours hasn't started wolf whistling yet, its not to late. I just loved the wolf whistle so thats what I taught Earl, every time any of my family came in the room they would wolf whistle and also every time they leave the room. And after a lot of patience one day he came out with a wolf whistle that was a bit weird but now he can do it perfect and doesn't shut-up doing it once he has started! :rolleyes: Good Luck!
 
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#6 ·
aww same with jojo he learnt the phone by himself (how nice of him) he can wolf whistle and i have been teaching him the dr who theme and he has nearly got it,

he can mumble jojo and what sounds like pretty boy, (and i have never taught him pretty boy)
 
#7 ·
There's no deal because they don't learn to talk or whistle just within a snap of the finger. It takes time for this, teach him to whistle first, whenever you past by his cage, whistle to him, same when he's out of the cage. Talking might be a bit harder, depending on the bird really, some teach themselves to talk, and suddenly they'll say something and you'll be like "WHAT!?". Do the same as when you teach him to whistle talk to him when he's in and out of the cage.


As exciting as it may be doing this, it can't happen in an instant, so you can't expect anything to happen too quick. He may even talk before he can whistle or the other way around!
 
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#8 ·
Before I brought Cocoa home there was cockatiel who was always doing the wolf whistle. I was wondering if Cocoa would learn it. But Cocoa is almost 3 months old and has been very quiet until recently. My oldest son and I whistle to Cocoa all the time. I started with only two whistles but decided to add the wolf whistle seeing my oldest son was teaching Cocoa to whistle it. I live the Chickadee sounds so I am teaching Cocoa those in a whistle. A few days ago Cocoa started to whistle its version of the wolf whistle. Now you can clearly hear what its whistling. My husband wants it to learn the Andy Griffith whistle. I just think its amazing to listen to Cocoa trying different whistles. If Cocoa never talks, thats OK with me.

Cindy
 
#10 ·
my boyfriend wanted our Quaker to learn the Andy Griffith tune because we'd watch the show and Billy(the quaker) would get all into it, dancing but the tune just wasn't long enough

He talked me into finding it online and downloading it (it was like 30 seconds long) and I burnt it on to a CD( i think its on there like 90 times or something i know its on there A LOT, but i refused to waste a cd for a 30 second clip) and he played it in the birds room Every day all day for 4 months or so - It drove me completely insane and I am glad to say NO ONE learned it not the Quaker and not the tiels ( who i thought would pick it up before the Quaker did) Because if a Single bird whistled that tuned all day I'd have to run away from my own home I couldn't live with it LOL

But I have watched them on You Tube and he caught me doing it and that was the other thing that made him want me to burn it to a Cd LOL NOW i watch You Tube with headphones on!
 
#9 ·
Tiki is 17 months old, I say the same things to him every day and whistle some. I have had him almost 4 months, one day a couple of months ago he just started doing this little medly of sounds, some I think is outside birds he heard when the weather was warm and I had the windows open, he included the wolf whistle and what sounded like pretty boy... the rest is non discript. But cute. Then I have Torch who is about 4 months old, he makes plenty of noise, but just tiel sounds so far. Just takes time I think.
 
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#12 ·
I guess it depends on the bird, Frankie was only 9 weeks when he learned the wolf whistle. A week later he was singing jingle bells, and now he has started to talk at almost 12 weeks old. You know birds, they are STUBBORN if they don't want to do something on THEIR terms!
 
#13 ·
I can't remember how old my tiel Saffron (he's nearly 2 now) was when he first whistled but he learnt to talk first.
He says wanna scratch, what are you doing, hello, and sometimes he says where's your ball (we have dogs). I'm dreading the day when he learns a few other words that are often used around the house! :blink:
He can wolf whistle and he makes up his own variations of the tunes he's learnt from us. Honestly, once he gets going he has such a beautiful song.
Anyway, it's all about repetition. Don't give up, you'll get there in the end, it just takes time.
 
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