Wing clipping and basic training

[Msaad]

No, but i need help with my problem, i have him its been 1.5 month, everyday he have a playtime for around 1-2h he stay on his cage, or fly to the couches. He is target trained, i can play with him him, touch his wings, we play a lot, we do everything together, when i go out, he is me. But refusing my hand. :/

[Eric&Rebecca]

Have you tried adjusting the position of yourself or your hand. Perhaps something about the hand disturbs him. For example, my parrotlet will only step on the back of a flat hand and will bite hard on a finger. Also bear in mind your body language when approaching the bird are you standing, higher, lower, sitting.... all of these could be a reason/something he doesn't like. Again you have to remember you are asking him to do something, for example your happy to jump into a swimming pool right? But if I said you had to jump into a swimming pool from a cliff would you be so accepting?- this situation is what your bird is going through, something about the way you are approaching him to step up is like asking him to jump into a swimming pool from a cliff. My parrotlet is still a bit off with stepping but we will get there. 1.5 months isn't that long considering that background the animal. If you're still having the problem in 6-8 months maybe consider there's another issue here but in the meantime just be patient and listen to advice given

To the clipping question by the other poster:

Clipping your bird just forces your bird to accept you because they can't fly away- that's no way to build a bond with a bird. Would you kneecap a small child to stop them from running away? Or change something fundamental about their nature just so they will do something correctly?- No, so why do it to a bird? Birds are flying things and should be able to fly. I don't see how that is an argument that doesn't hold water, that's changing nature, you might as well cut a cat's leg off to stop it running away.

The whole 'my bird will break its neck if its not clipped' theory is not entirely true, there is again research on this about how there's a chance of about 1% of this happening and a much greater chance of the bird hurting itself BECAUSE it's clipped in the first place either by self mutilation, keel bone injuries or not being able to get away from dangerous situations, often resulting in fatalities. It's the owners job to ensure the safety of the bird not the owner to clip the wings to have less to worry about.

So many psychological problems occur from clipped birds, this is printed is perfectly objective articles to people who aren't anti clip or pro clip so there's no ambiguity there. It proves how far more birds develop psychological problems from being clipped, particularly Greys, cockatoos and cockatiels.

I just cannot and never will understand clipping as a method of taming. The only time I would ever lightly (NOT FULLY) clip my bird is if they had a health issue that prevents them from flying safely much the same as I would put a human in a wheelchair if they had difficulty walking. When considering clipping think would you remove a leg from a dog, cut your own child's tendons... then why clip a birds wings?

[marie83]

You have had him such a short time the poor things probably still settling in. Please stop trying to force him to step up and go back to basics, right to the very beginning. Clipping wont help you, it will just remove the parrots choice to fly away from this scary hand that keeps appearing in front of him and he may well learn to bite instead.

He sounds fairly tame so you can probably get through the first few stages fairly quickly.

Just sit outside his cage with the door shut and talk to him.
If he gets comfortable with that then start offering treats through the bars (don't take them to him, let him climb the cage to get to them).
When he is taking them successfully for a while then open the door and let him come close to it to get the treats.
When that happens attach a perch to the outside of the cage by the door, the next thing you do it ask him to come on to the perch to get the treats.
At this point you can use your arm as an extension of the perch and gradually lure him to the end of the perch, then on to your arm, rewarding every time he makes progress. This should make him comfortable with how you feel underneath his feet, sturdy, secure etc.
Next you can put your arm in front of the perch and offer the treat just far enough away so he has to step across on to it, be careful to hold your arm at an appropriate distance and height as Rebecca has already told you.
Once he is fully trusting in this, then you can retry the step up training but you need to make the rewards good enough for him to be motivated. Also offer your arm rather than your hand as It will feel more secure to him.
If at any stage he becomes uncomfortable go back a stage or two and start again.