I have read in a few topics about Quakers that if you are wanting them to talk then it is best to keep them away from other birds that do not talk. I have 2 cockatiels and although one of them is just starting to say hello, it's VERY hard to understand at this point. When Sammy comes home do I need to keep his cage in a seperate room away from them so that it does not encourage him to just whistle instead of learning to talk. Or will it not really matter, cause I do have the tiels out alot during the day and talk to them. I don't know what to do in this case. I do want them to interact and get along. But don't want the tiels to encourage whistling more than talking.

Wow, this is a great question. I would also be interested in hearing the thoughts of others because the Lovies are joining us this week, and I am curious if I need to keep them seperated from the Q's after the quarantine period. My Frankie is an excellent talker, and Isabelle is getting very good. I would hate to impede their progress.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

i have (2) parakeets who only squawk all day and it hasn't stopped cricket from learning to talk. i thought he'd pick up their squawking noise but he hasn't. he's only 4 months old and just learning to talk so i'm keeping my fingers crossed i can understand more that the "good boy" he says!!

quakers mimick so its not uncommon to find one that will mimick another birds noises etc. Yet its not the enviroment as much as it is the human interaction that encourages a bird to talk. I should add this is just my opinion I havent read any scientific evidence. When I brought my quaker home the first thing he ever learned was the ed edd and eddy whistle because I kept cartoon network on for background noise and one day they were having a marathon of that particular cartoon. Pretty soon he started to mimick the theme and actually now he is pretty adept and can whistle it in its entirety. So it was the repetition and him hearing it alot that had him wanting to mimick it and the fact that I made a big deal about it when I heard him trying.

With that said if there are things you want your bird to learn just keep saying it to him or around him. Remember to not use things you dont want him to say as well because it seems like birds pick up stuff we dont want them to learn as well from hearing it often.

My bird shares a room with a sun conure and it hasnt interfered at all with his learning experience. His vocab is way up there too long for me to even list and I have found even tho my quaker is exposed to other birds that he no longer does much bird speak and prefers to talk as his method of making sounds. The only thing he really responds to the sun conure with is 'shut up' or 'stupid brains'.

lol

now I guess I should add if they are cage mates then its a different story and generally they will act different than birds that are in separate cages sharing a room.

I have had Couveigh since he was 3wks old. I was a breeder of cockatiels when he joined me. I had a stock of 30 breeders, plus their chicks. I also had some zebra finches and lovebirds. Couveigh has a vocabulary of over a hundred words, phrases and songs. So as you can see it didn't impede his learning at all. He first mimicked my giggle at 4wks old and said hello at 4 1/2 weeks old. He also has the cockateils mating song down pat! lol I now have 3 teils and him. Make a huge deal out of any attempts to mimic anything, whether its whistling, talking, sounds around the home.

This is a great question.......First off you want to quarantine your quaker from cockateils.....as mentioned in another post. Now onto your original question. I was owned by Kiwi, my qp for 4 yrs and then brought home a green cheek conure, Little Miss (Chit) Gidget, just in the last year Kiwi has not been talking much. He HAD a vocabulary of over a 100 + words. I have been working with him to try to get him to talk again. It seems like he makes "Gidget noises" Gidget can talk but her words are quite gravelly. I am hoping my Kiwi starts talking again...........

Just wanted to add my experience...

I only had one tiel when I brought my Max home. It was a female tiel, so not much whistling going on there. Over the years, I've added more tiels (and other birds) and Max has picked up their flock calls, but is still growing with her own vocabulary.

Personally, I think it is a myth that a bird will not learn to talk if taught to whistle first.

I was wondering a similar thing, i have a 7mnth old Alexandrine who is not very vocal. I just recently got a little blue quaker who is 5mnths old and he seems to be encouraging the older bird to vocalise.
Will they just talk bird talk together or will they chat with me? At the moment they are housed in seperate cages at night and play together during the day.
Does anyone know if i could eventually house them in the Alex's cage as is plenty big enough