Parakeets or budgerigars (budgies) are easier to take care of than larger parrots and are very friendly and interactive birds that can learn a large vocabulary, sometimes including sentences or words used in context. Although most pet stores list the budgie's lifespan as 6-8 years, the fact is that with proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, budgies can easily live to be 12 or 13 years old.
There are several important factors when choosing a budgie to make sure you get a bird that will talk.
- Choose a male bird. Mimicry has its roots in displays for impressing potential mates, so male budgies are far more likely to talk than females. Male budgies will have blue or purple ceres (the nostril shield above the beak) and females will have brown ceres.
- Choose a baby bird. It is much easier to teach a baby bird to speak. Look for budgies with black rings across their feathers that stripe the head all the way to the beak. If the head has no stripes, the budgie is an adult.
- Buy only one bird. If you buy two budgies, they will only speak to each other and never bother to learn the human "flock's" language. If you want a companion for your budgie, wait until he begins to speak, and then add another budgie or a different type of a bird like a canary. (The benefit of this is that you will have the budgie mimic the canary as well.)
Whether a parakeet is hand tamed or not will not make a difference in its talking ability. Budgies are easily tamed and what matters is the intelligence level of the bird and how friendly he is.
Look for the following signs to see if a budgie will talk when he is older:
- Stand near the budgie's cage and observe him quietly. Does he take an interest in you? Is he fighting his timid instincts and looking like he wants to approach you? If you are feeling really keen, bob your head up and down a little bit as sign of parakeet friendship. Does he respond?
- Does the budgie try to impress you by doing tricks? This is a key factor in finding an ideal talker. Talking parakeets will try to interact with you despite other budgies in the pet store cage. Some of the most common tricks are skin the cat (the bird stands with one foot on either side of a cage corner and then ducks his head under his feet), swinging, or playing with a toy in the cage.
If the parakeet does not have any toys in the pet store cage, you can still observe whether he will be a good talker. If the cage is lined with paper, some budgies will go and peck at it or lift it over their heads in an attempt to show off. Sometimes a cage is lined with pellets, and a budgie will throw them around or arrange them for you. Whatever the budgie does, make sure that he keeps looking for your reaction to his antics.
Parakeets make excellent companions. They are less messy and noisy than bigger parrots and require less care, but can have wonderful vocabularies if the birds are carefully selected.
