Parakeets can perform a number of great tricks once you teach them how. In fact they can be almost as fun as dogs! Parakeets are intelligent birds that can learn a number of skills and tricks. Repetition and reward training are just some of the great incentives to get your parakeet to learn some wonderful tricks.
It is a good idea before jumping in and teaching your parakeet to fetch a stick or roll over that you first start out with hand training your parakeet. This is a basic training method and gets the parakeet familiar with you and you familiar with the parakeet. In a way parakeet tricks are just an advanced form of hand training.
Where to Start
Don’t just assume that your parakeet is ready to learn tricks right away. The first step to learning tricks is to hand train your parakeet so you can properly handle your bird. This is covered on our Parakeet hand taming page and concludes with learning to have your parakeet hop on your finger.
Once you have achieved the parakeet hopping on your finger move to training your parakeet to come to you when you call it. Maybe have it fly to you and land on your hand or head or shoulder. Sometimes it’s a good idea to put some seeds or food in your hand and whistle your bird over to you. Just remember to be calm, patient and talk to it in the same voice. Sometimes just doing a simple tap on the area where you want the parakeet to land will help improve the training of your parakeet.
Be Calm and Patient
As with any training of your parakeet it is always important to be calm and patient. Remember to always use soft soothing voices and talk to your parakeet frequently. Another great tip to remember is that parakeets do better when there are shorter training sessions then longer ones. Try doing 20 minute sessions instead of long hour long sessions. Not only will your parakeet learn quicker you will have more patience.
Food Rewards
We all love to get a reward for a job well done. Parakeets are no different. Use millets to encourage your parakeet whenever they have done a good job or performed a trick that you wanted them to. This will encourage them to do it again and again. If your parakeet doesn’t enjoy millets then find a treat they do like and get them to eat that one.
Parakeet Trick Ideas
Each parakeet is different and therefore the tricks they can complete are different. Some ideas for training your parakeet can include learning to climb a ladder, fetch an item such as a stick or piece of cotton, whistle with you, high five, wave or even play a bit of soccer. The possibilities are endless when it comes to teaching your parakeet how to do some great tricks!
