Wont take food from my or anyone's hand!

[Lewis]

Hi everyone,
This is my main question really, i have owned Blue, my OWA parrot since 2005, this makes him 5 years old, he is tame and hand reared.
i have wanted to take training further with him for a very long time but he wont take food from my hands. he will take food from his feeding bowl when i am holding it.
is there a way in which I can further progress this so he will take from from my hand, as I would like take training a step further

hope to hear for some advice soon

[Michael]

First thing to try is discovering his absolute favorite foods and offering them by hand only. If that fails, try holding him without food for a few hours and then offering. You should start withholding food only for a few hours but if it is not working try longer and longer up till about 8 hours max. Of course return the normal cage food after he's taken food from your hand or after the max number of hours. Repeat this daily and build a routine of some basic hand feeding. A good time to try is in the morning. Don't give the bird food since it wakes up and offer some by hand. Eventually you gotta give it food but the night was a good span of time for it to get hungry and try taking some.

[Lewis]

Thanks for the reply,
so, at night should before he gets covered for bed, should I take the food out of his cage and offer some of his favourite foods in the morning?
His diet is:
Pretty bird all in one - Pellets
Mixed fruits banana apple orange grapes etc.
Mixed beans

i have avoided seeds as i have read in several places that it is like candy to a child

would introducing sunflower seeds be beneficial after he takes food from the hand, for training, or would sticking to his favourite food be enough?

[Michael]

Stick to his favorite food at first but then offering seeds by hand in moderation is a good idea. A few seeds a day is perfectly fine. The problem is when people offer so much seeds that the bird eats nothing else. Yes, don't leave food in at night. Then in the morning you can make several attempts at offering treats by hand between wake up time and up to 6 hours later before re-introducing normal food in cage. As I said, keep the number of hours without food smaller at first when you try and only increase them if it isn't working.

[Lewis]

Thanks for quick reply, i will start this straight away i will update when this changes

[Michael]

Just don't over do it and starve the bird. I can't stress enough how it's ok to keep them without food a little bit, but you can't do too much. I really worry about people taking this advice to the extreme. Also each bird is different how much hunger it can handle. So for a parrot that has always had unlimited food it could be traumatizing. This is why I suggest increasing the duration without food a little each day as you attempt to introduce eating from hand.

[thegreatkatsby]

An Amazon not motivated by food?!??! Unheard of!

[Lewis]

Well Blue loves his apples!!

i have been taking food from his cage at night, trying to hand him segments of apple in the morning, and still nothing

he is still very willing to take it when it present the apple in food bowl...

so i have tried to present the bowl with my hand holding the apple just in front of the bowl and still he doesnt want to know......

i have been trying these things for several days, and just had not moved any further forward.

i feel like im doing something wrong

[ptuga72]

You can also start out using a spoon then gradually decrease the distance from the spoon to your hand, until you get down to only using your hands. We're doing this with our ekkie as she bites any hand that comes near her when she is out of her cage.

Also try eating with the bird (just make sure you each have your own portions)

Good luck, it's hard work and it may take some time. Keep trying, eventually Blue will come around

[Lewis]

Well after looking like i will have no progress, two days ago blue started to touch the food, and yesterday, he took two chunks of apple from me. YAY!!! now lets see how today goes. then i will start making the apple smaller.

i have seen the spoon type method before, but with two wooden perches, acting as extensions of arm. you can teach your parrot to step up and enjoy petting that way too. if you would like to know more about it i will post it in more detail if you would like.

thanks for the replies