My african grey won't step up to my hand :(

[f_ammari]

First, many thanks for the great site and all the tips and articles.

I have owned my african grey (Fluffy) for almost two month. He's around 7 and a half months now.

I am following the tips in the basic taming techniques in trainedparrot.com (http://trainedparrot.com/Taming/) and now I'm at the stage of target training outside the cage.

So far my bird will:
-Get out/in easily from/to the cage.
-Eat from my hand without fear (he runs quickly towards my hand once I get my fingers close)
-Follow the stick everywhere to hear the clicker and get the treat.
-Even let's me scratch his head, neck, and back.

My problem now is that once I put my hand between him and the stick, he would never step up to my hand to reach the stick. No matter how hungry he is, no matter how yummy the treat is (he loves dried corn), no matter how patiently I wait with my hand extended in front of him... he would never step up

Yesterday I tried to get my hand closer and closer to get him to step up, he bite me 3 times until I bleed

Please help me, I love Fluffy , and really wish he would step up and become more trusting.

[GlassOnion]

Greys take a long time to trust. I'd say, lower your expectations and be patient. In time, whether it be months or years, he will come around. But for now, you need to keep working on building that relationship and drop the expectation of being friends right away.

[donald1954]

Hi

We have 2 hand reared Cags and 2 parrent raised. One of them is Toto, when we first got him, he was paniking, he nearly fell of his bars when we entered the room. He was injured twice, and we thought, ok, Toto, we leave you alone for a little while. What we did was, we situated a little bowl in our aviary, called him by name and put a piece of walnut in there from the outside. One week, and he came running, when we stepped back about 1 Meter. 1 Week later he had to tip my finger before he received his nut. He is my tamest bird now, very relaxed, very loving. Just be patient, it will work fine, he just need a little bit of time.

rgds don

[Polarn]

Ive had polarn here for a month, well tomorrow it is a month actually.... he still wont step up when i ask him, i can lure him up on my hand or arm if im laying on the bed or the sofa and holds it flat against it... however I figured today.. if I am at a distant and holds up my hand and a treat in the other (cause i know that he knows I want him to step up on my hand to egt a treat) he comes flying to land on my hand, weve been doing this all day today I call out "come here" and he flyes and land on my hand (even if i only hold out one finger he comes landing on it), i give him a treat and walk him back to the cage door and ask him to step off, he steps off. then i walk away ask him to come, and he comes flying, this he does without hesitation but still if i walk up to him hold my hand infront of him and ask him to step up, or use the same command as when recalling he wont step up, no matter how big of a treat I grab, but if I walk away 3 meters he will come straight away... havnt tried that earlier than today, but im guessing a couple more days of that he might actually figure out stepping up isnt too bad either... but he does come to me to hang out sitting on my leg or whatever when i watch TV, if your still isnt coming to you to interact, play with some foottoys, beg for a treat or whatever he might need to just get used to you and figure no harm will come from coming up right next to you to begin with.

[donald1954]

When you ask him to step up, how do you hold your hand? Remember that birds like to climb, try to hold your hand about 4 cm away from him and about 4 cm above his feet. Make sure you dont touch his chest, we want him to do it on free will. I offer my birds my flat hand and as you are doing freeflight lessons already, it might be a good thing to try. However you have done a pretty good job in that short time, patience and baby steps, that is what I learned out of my training procedures.
I am looking forward to hear from you, how you are getting on.

Kind rgds Don

[Polarn]

absolutely agree on the not touching the chest, I am in no rush to get my lil amazon to be completed, he will live for a long time and eventually he will learn, I just as soon as i figure out he is comftible with a behavior or act that I like i reinforce it, for example the flying to land on me, then i reinforce it with a verbal que and a treat, i dont really care (truth with modification) that he wont step up yet, eventually he will, same with not allowing me to scratch his head yet, I've ony been allowed a couple of times (by him bending his head down for a scratch) I've figured after enough times of him asking for a scratch he will get more comftible with it. But I am extremely happy that he will come when I call him since that is something i really wanted him to learn, but I thought that would come much further ahead. the only goal I've set (did set when I got him) was for him to be social with me and feel really comfy around me in about 6 months from arrival (he is a parent fed parrot), since i decided when I got him that I definitly want two birds, but felt that I might have an easier time taming one at a time, well one first then use Polarn a little bit to help me to get the second bird feel comftible with me. anyways I am highjacking the thread somewhat... But what i wanted to say take slow steps with your grey, if he wont step up find out other things todo with him, I got little catballs with bells in that polarn enjoys sitting on the bed playing with. peices of lego etc... if he is eager to learn, teach him to pick out a specific color out of a couple... or turn around etc, i beleive the more behaviors they have learnt the more familiar they are to training and the easier it is to get them to do something new (like step up, even though I thought this would be the first thing after targettraining that I was gonna be able to teach mine... but nope)

[donald1954]

Hi

yes, it took some time with Toto, but when I look back, how he was, when we first got him,
that is a 200 % change. He ist very calm, gentle, you can touch him all over. He ist natural bread.
My two femals are handfed, but in no way they act like him. All in all, from the start it took me about
2 1/2 month, training every day about 15 minutes. He is 1 year 8 months now. The youngest. His brother had a better start, but he is not as easy to handle. So, with patience, you can do everything.
The problem with our aviary is, when one is out, the rest of them are out too. I had to train them all together, worked fine. We do it on a playstand. No it is easy, I can go with them in every room. But again, the others follow. LOL Never mind, it works fine.

Rgds, Don

[f_ammari]

Thanks for enriching this topic....

As you said, I'm trying other stuff with him now. For example, he now makes a unique sound when I stand in front of him like a small greet.. I treat him for that as I feel he recognizes me

Still doing target training for now... he's more comfortable with the stick and me around.

The thing I can't understand is how he trusts me to allow me to scratch and touch him, still when I put my hand in front of him he would still bite

Hope with time he'll come around.

[dorp]

Thanks for enriching this topic....

As you said, I'm trying other stuff with him now. For example, he now makes a unique sound when I stand in front of him like a small greet.. I treat him for that as I feel he recognizes me

Still doing target training for now... he's more comfortable with the stick and me around.

The thing I can't understand is how he trusts me to allow me to scratch and touch him, still when I put my hand in front of him he would still bite

Hope with time he'll come around.

Lower your expectations and accept the parrot for what it is, a wild bird.

[gabbagabbawill]

Lower your expectations and accept the parrot for what it is, a wild bird.

Dorp, please don't troll this forum and post things which you know nothing about. A pet parrot is far from being a "wild bird". The fact that it is being kept as a pet means that it can never be released into the wild, nor should it. Responsible pet bird owners can and should provide the means necessary to take care of, tame, and train their pet. Pets offer many things to their owners including a means to relieve stress, companionship, and longer, healthier lives. Yes, it is scientifically proven that having pets can lower blood pressure and lengthen a persons life.

Thanks for enriching this topic....

As you said, I'm trying other stuff with him now. For example, he now makes a unique sound when I stand in front of him like a small greet.. I treat him for that as I feel he recognizes me

Still doing target training for now... he's more comfortable with the stick and me around.

The thing I can't understand is how he trusts me to allow me to scratch and touch him, still when I put my hand in front of him he would still bite

Hope with time he'll come around.

Have you tried offering him a treat just out of reach so that he has to step on your hand in order to get to it? This is how I trained my conure to step up the first day I got him. It makes it so that he has to do something else with his beak other than bite you, and he has an incentive to stepping on your hand- getting a treat!