Scared bird

[stunqu]

Hello!
Me and my parents got a couple of lovebirds about 7 or so years ago, and since I was young, about 10 years old, I didn't have much interest in interacting with them. Since then, one of them passed away, and we were left with only one.
Over the years, being the stupid little kid I was, the only interaction I had with the bird was looking at it through the cage and sometimes slapping the cage for amusement, and the bird has seen me as a threat ever since. Note that this happened only a few times over maybe the first 3 years we had them. After that, every time it saw me it just ran back in the 'house' my dad built in it's cage, hiding from me.

Recently I've tried to gain it's trust, giving it seeds through the cage and onto a platform my dad also built in it's cage, and, surprisingly, it will shyly come out and eat some, but if I get my open hand near the cage it will stop and stare at me scared. I tried to feed it one seed at a time, through the cage's bars, with my index and thumb holding the seed, it sometimes gets the seed but other times it tries to bite me. Thing is, I don't know if it's worth the effort, because so far I haven't seen any major progress, if it'll eventually trust me enough to be comfortable with me and maybe even sit on my hand, and I want some advice on how to proceed with the taming process and if it'll actually stop hating me, eventually.
I have 0 experience with birds and bird taming, by the way. Everything I tried was what I thought was best to do and mostly instinct.


Also, the bird is comfortable with my dad, it won't sit in his hand or stuff like that, but it always chirps and plays around in it's cage while he's near it. We let the cage's doors (two of them) open regularly, and let it wonder around the house as it pleases. I've also attached a picture of the cage to better visualise what I'm trying to ask. You can see where it hides from me and where I put the seeds I mentioned earlier.
https://imgur.com/a/iCjOT8Q

And sorry if my english isn't the best, I'm not a native english speaker.

[linda040899]

Welcome to Lovebirds Plus Commnity! We are happy to have you with us and your English is just fine! We have a number of members whose first language is not English! :)

Birds learn through experience and this lovebird remembers interactions with you. However, behavior can always be modified, again, with experience. :) Your instincts are leading you down the right path. It has to be a slow process and let the lovebird come to you, as your dad has. I would start by just talking to him/her and letting it realize that your behavior towards it will no longer be aggressive. I'm currently working with a new parrotlet and I've had to go through exactly the same process!! Some parrots just don't like human hands and I suspect that yours could be one of them. The cage is his home and hands are seen as intruders. In the wild, birds can simply fly away from perceived danger but captive kept ones don't have that "luxury" so it becomes fight instead of flight. Thus, you can get bitten.

What you may find is, that since this lovebird no longer has a companion, it will look to humans for socialization. Lovebirds are very social so my thoughts are keep working with the lovebird and see what happens. Just remember.......patience!!!!!!

[stunqu]

Welcome to Lovebirds Plus Commnity! We are happy to have you with us and your English is just fine! We have a number of members whose first language is not English! :)

Birds learn through experience and this lovebird remembers interactions with you. However, behavior can always be modified, again, with experience. :) Your instincts are leading you down the right path. It has to be a slow process and let the lovebird come to you, as your dad has. I would start by just talking to him/her and letting it realize that your behavior towards it will no longer be aggressive. I'm currently working with a new parrotlet and I've had to go through exactly the same process!! Some parrots just don't like human hands and I suspect that yours could be one of them. The cage is his home and hands are seen as intruders. In the wild, birds can simply fly away from perceived danger but captive kept ones don't have that "luxury" so it becomes fight instead of flight. Thus, you can get bitten.

What you may find is, that since this lovebird no longer has a companion, it will look to humans for socialization. Lovebirds are very social so my thoughts are keep working with the lovebird and see what happens. Just remember.......patience!!!!!!

Thank you! I'm happy to be a part of this wonderful community!

So, quick update, just after I posted this thread I let the lovebird out of it's cage and fed it some fresh apple while holding it with my fingers, and to my surprise it ate! I have tried to palm feed the apple to it, but without success, I guess it's too early for that, I'll try again in a few days, hopefully with better results. I'm happy that our relationship took a step forward.

Thank you for the tips, I'll definitely make good use of them. :) I'm sure me and my parrot will be good friends in less time than I expected.

[linda040899]

This is really great!!! The key is patience, patience, patience! When you think you've run out of patience, look a little bit harder!!! :)