Cockatiel Afraid of Hands

[egenlauf]

Here's the scenario, I have had my cockatiel Spike for a couple of years now. He is still very afraid of hands and I don't know what to do about that. I trained him early on step up and he does that fine but only once he is out of his cage. When I want to take him out I open the door and he climbs out onto the top of his cage and then I have him step up from there. He will step off my hand back into the cage with no problem. However, if he is in the cage and I try and get him to step up he runs to the back of the cage, if I try and touch him he will usually nip at me. When he is more relaxed or distracted I can pet his beak, but if I try and touch his head, feet, body, anywhere else he screeches and tries to bite. He will take food from my hand and will step up all day long from hand to hand. It really bothered me that I was in a pet store a month or so ago and they had tiels there that were so friendly and were letting me rub their heads and play with their head feathers, I would love to have that kind of relationship with my tiel but I just don't know what I am doing wrong. I have only recently really started trying to work on him (maybe a month or so) before that I just assumed he had some trauma with hands previously and was dealing with the fact that i would not pet him like the other birds.

What i have tried:
I have been trying to touch his head after rubbing his beak, if I can get even a slight touch on his feathers I will tell him "good boy" and give him a sunflower seed (he loves them and will mow through a ton if I let him). I have tried even at one point when we toweled him to clip his nails to pet his head while he was wrapped up in the towel and he pitched a fit. I do have a clicker and he will target for me.

[egenlauf]

Thought I would bump this up to the top and see if anyone can give me some suggestions, I would love to be able to get to the point of giving my tiel scratches and pets like the other birds.

[marie83]

I think some birds will never want to be petted and cuddled. Who knows what goes through their little heads really though. Harlie blows hot and cold, some days she wants to come out, other days she will accept a short head scratch but this is very rare, then other days she cowers in the back of her cage like just after I first got her. On that note though she is a million times improved from when we first got her but it has taken us 5 years to get to that point, she used to flap round wildly if we even came in the room.

I would suggest going back a step and putting your hand as close to him as he will let you rather than touching him, click, reward, repeat. Gradually move closer and closer as he becomes more comfortable til you can touch him for a brief second. Slowly slowly leave your finger on his head for increasing periods of time. When he is entirely comfortable with you just touching try a brief scratch. He may learn to enjoy it or he may not either way I bet he has a million good points about him even if he isn't a cuddly bird. Just take things slow and dont try to push things too quickly.

[Grey_Moon]

I would stop trying to handle him at this point.
Just hang out--use lots of treats.
The goal you should be working towards right now is trying to get him to eat at least close to you, then eventually from your hands.

[egenlauf]

Oh he will eat out of my hands all day long, sometimes I think if I kept feeding him sunflower seeds he would never get full lol. Once he is out of the cage, he will step up and at least until he gets bored of me he will hang out on my shoulder. After a little bit of trying he will let me touch his beak, but that is as far as he goes without sqawking at me and biting. If i feed him in his cage he will come to the front of the cage for food and take it from me. If I then try and put my hand out for him to step up, he will run to the back of the cage. He will come back in a few mins for more food but if I put my hand out he will run. When he is out on TOP of his cage I can typically approach, tell him to step up and put my hand out and he will step right up. I have tried putting my finger out and then putting a sunflower seed back further so he would have to step up to get it from his cage and I tried to wait him out for like 30 mins and he still wouldn't come near it.

[marie83]

Oh he will eat out of my hands all day long, sometimes I think if I kept feeding him sunflower seeds he would never get full lol. Once he is out of the cage, he will step up and at least until he gets bored of me he will hang out on my shoulder. After a little bit of trying he will let me touch his beak, but that is as far as he goes without sqawking at me and biting. If i feed him in his cage he will come to the front of the cage for food and take it from me. If I then try and put my hand out for him to step up, he will run to the back of the cage. He will come back in a few mins for more food but if I put my hand out he will run. When he is out on TOP of his cage I can typically approach, tell him to step up and put my hand out and he will step right up. I have tried putting my finger out and then putting a sunflower seed back further so he would have to step up to get it from his cage and I tried to wait him out for like 30 mins and he still wouldn't come near it.

Just keep trying, I know its frustrating but you will get there in the end.