How to get Paco COMPLETELY use to petting?

[skate0199]

Hey guys, I have my budgie Paco and I've had him for around a month, he's super chill and adorable. I've already taught him the basics like step up, wave, and turn around. What I want to know is: how can I get him to be comfortable with petting, he lets me pet him gently in the back but he hesitates, how can I get him to be completely used to me so I can pet his head and check his wings and what not?
Thanks guys, p.s. Paco says hi

[liz]

Start with touching his feet. When he is used to that touch his chest then move to under the wings. I am still working with Myrtle to touch her on top of the head and back. She lets me kiss them but does not like hand touches on head and back.

[LPolliard]

Have you tried cuddling first? Chico use to dislike head scratches. But through cuddling I was able to gain enough trust to bring my finger to his head. I think cuddling can make a bird feel more secure as it seems similar to nesting. Now I think he tolerates head scratches. I don't think he enjoys them.

[GlassOnion]

Birds don't like to be pet, generally. Budgies are NOT cuddly birds in that sense. They will enjoy head scratches in the opposite way of feather growth, but they are not dogs and its unnatural for them to be pet. Don't force it on him. Instead, work on head scratching because that's how they preen each other in the wild.

[Pricey_boy]

My lorikeet use to be a bit funny with me pettin him but over time holding him and grabbing him he slowly got use to me holding him and I can now lift his wing and he'll lay on his back in my palm

[Polarn]

about the "completely used to petting" the thing is that as mentioned before birds arn't really made to be petted. their still not domesticated (well in europe I think the agapornis, tiels, and budgies are considered domesticated, anyways) and not being domesticated means they have their natural instincts and fysiological responses still in function, think about it... in most cases, if your bird wasnt wild caught, the chances are really good it's parents were, and if not them its grandparents are definitly more likely than not to have been wild caught.

Anyways the petting (besides places he/she cant reach himself, eg. the head and neck) is really only ever done on one occation in the birds life in the wild, and that is during mating seasons, thats it (in most species) thats the only time they ever really touch each others other than the head. SO, the issue is that when petting a bird on its bodie etc your telling it that your its mate and your gonna go make babies, this will quite frequently increase some other activities such as nesting and biting on things to get shreds (for the nest) and they will usually try anything like the trim around your house, the phonebook etc etc.
Also by becoming the birds mate in this way you increase the odds of making it a "one-person bird" and it will be more prone to bite people coming close to its human partner.

Now for hens, and for some reason the smaller birds are more prone to experience these problems, there are a long list of medical issues that can arise from constantly living with your hormones up at mating levels, where they really would only be in the wild maximum once a year sometimes even more seldom, birds like Macaws quite often only mate every 4th year because they can't find nesting places couse all the trees big enough is being removed (this is slightly off topic but loosing nesting sites is probably a bigger problem, right now,preserving wild parrots then the catching of them) Anyways they live with hormone levels too high constantly and they expect to breed and they will become sexually frustrated if they do not for example start laying eggs (smaller birds are more prone todo this) and eventually get exhasted and the body wont cope with the egg after egg after egg and she will become eggbound.

For the Males they have less medical issues from raisingthe hormone levels however they will quite often become agressive and frustrated bird, unless (as is quite common with cockatoos) they actually start having sex with your hand/arm, and cockatoos are actually known to have ejaculated by masturbating up against you like this, however their biting items and collecting nesting materials get alot worse AND if they manage to build a nest or are given a box to nest in or whatever then the male cockatoos hormone levels goes even higher because his job is done (setting up the nest) now he wants some action! And since cockatoo breeding pairs given a nestingbox before the hen is ready quite commonly results in the male ripping off the females beak or legs or even kill her out of frustration from having the nesting box ready but her not putting out. and this is a well, unnatural, natural behavior... it is unnatural because this never occours in the wild really where they search for a nesting place and work on it, but its natural in the way that the behavior of abusing the hen isnt really taught from somewhere its basically hormone controlled and the response to the hens hormones not being high enough yet is to kill her to be allowed to find a new partner...

Anywyas this is a long post and I'm sorry for that but I think it is worth having a read on things like this (meaning do a google schoolar search or something on hormones and birds etc etc, never stop reading) I also know that this wasnt really what you were looking for in terms of an answer, but i do hope you find it somewhat interesting.