Stepping up for parrots who WILL NOT

[chustibabu]

Hi. I have an African Grey for about 2 months now. It is not scared of my hands, it lets me give her a head scratch whenever i want, also feeds from my hands very nicely. Isn't afraid of me putting my hands inside the cage. But she just would not step up on my hand or finger. I have tried a lot. She would immediately put her head down as i get my hand close to her (expecting/wanting a head scratch). If i keep food in left hand and keep my right hand just above her so it has to step up on my right hand to be able to get the food, she would try and stretch her body to the max to reach the food, but would just not even try to step up on my hand to get the food. She doesn't even want to come out of her cage much. If by mistake she gets out, she immediately walks back inside the cage. I have even kept her hungry entire day and then tried to train her to step up by offering her favorite food in another hand and one hand in between her and the food that she would need to step up and get the food, yet she would just not even make an attempt to step up the hand. She would just stand very close to the hand, but not step on it. If i try to move my hand closer to her, she would immediately put her head down and expect/want a head scratch. Please help how to make her step up and also make her want to come out of the cage. Even if she comes out of the cage, she would just hang on to the outer part of the cage, but not get off it at all.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum! How long have you had her? How old is she? How long have you tried to get her to come out of her cage and to step up? Have you bother to actually bond with her? If so, what did you do and for how long? What do you feed her, where (inside her cage in a bowl?) and at what times? Depriving her of food was the wrong thing to do. These are highly intelligent animals and they know very well that they depend on you for food so, when you deprive them, they blame you -and with good reason, right? Is she clipped? Was she hand-fed as a baby or parent-raised? Does she fly or is she clipped? If she is clipped, what kind of clip is it?

It might sound like a lot of questions but the replies make a difference in what the advice would be.