Having a few birds will usually not limit your ability to train them to talk but more than a few could hinder your progress. If you only have one parakeet, trick it into thinking it has a friend by placing a mirror in its cage. This will help it develop and practice chirping. However, you should take the mirror out of its cage before you start teaching it how to talk, so that your bird focuses its attention on you. [2] X Research source
The goal should be to build up trust between you and your parakeet. Don’t force the bird to interact with you if it doesn’t want to. If the bird is scared of you or ignoring you it is just a sign that the time is not right or that you are moving too quickly. It is not a sign that your bird will never bond with you.
A good time to train your bird is first thing in the morning. You can even start repeating words for your bird before uncovering its cage at the start of the day.
Note that parakeets are best with the consonants d,t,k,p, or b. A simple phrase like “Hi, how are you?” won’t help because it is hard for your bird to say it. If you don’t know what word to teach your bird first, consider teaching it it’s name. This is a word they have probably heard before, so the sounds should be familiar to your parakeet already.
