Taming problems - new bird owner

[Lam]

Hello all,
I am a first time bird owner and have a lineolated parakeet. I have had him for three months. He is six months old now. In the time I have had him I have made no progress with taming him. I am trying to be patient but it is hard. He has only eaten millet from me a total of three times. I approach slowly, avoid direct eye contace but he remains scared. He goes to the corner of his cage and remains there until I withdraw. If I try to get close to him he freezes but then will fly away and sqwak at me. I don't know how to get past this point. I have also been unsuccessful in getting him to eat any food other than seed. Despite providing him a variety of vegetables to try and a little fruit he remains a very picky eater. Laslty, he shows no interest in any of the toys in his cage except his small mirror. He spends most of his time sitting in front of the mirror. Any advice or suggestions would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance for the help.
Lam

[Pajarita]

Hi, Lam and linnie, welcome to the forum.

Now, I think that, going by what you described, what you need is to 'tame' and not 'train' so let's go by parts. For one thing, a linnie is not a companion parrot, it's an aviary one so, although you can teach him to trust you, it will NEVER develop the kind of bond with you or any other human. You did not mention what it is that you want from him (not to be scared? to step up to your finger? to sit on your shoulder? what?) or what kind of light schedule he has been under - what you do say it's that he only eats seeds which tells me: a) he wasn't wean properly (most likely, the breeder's fault) and b) that, most likely, it's going through puberty. And, same as teenagers, if you did not 'raise' them right, they can get very difficult when the sexual hormones start flowing.

This is what I recommend:
1) change his diet. Gloop, a small piece of fruit and wet leafy greens at dawn and just a bit of a good quality budgie mix at dusk (and remove what is left over once he goes to sleep).
2) make sure it's under a STRICT solar schedule - linnies are like budgies, you need to be very vigilant about their light because they are VERY opportunistic breeders.
3) let him out to fly for, at least 8 hours.
4) stay in the same room as him for, at least, 4 hours a day and do not ask anything of him or approach him.

Do this until he no longer fears you (he will not fly away when you are near, his body will be relaxed and he will eat/preen/bathe in your presence). Then, start offering him safflower seeds in the palm of your hand but do not insist. Offer once, wait, offer twice and, if he doesn't take any, put them away and try again in no less than 2 hours (at dusk, when he is hungry for his dinner would work most to your advantage but, if he doesn't take it just put them in his bowl).

One more thing, your linnie can become tame and learn to trust and even love you but it will NEVER be happy unless it has a companion(s) of their own species because, as I mentioned above, they are not companion parrots, they are aviary, like budgies.

[QuakerBro]

Hi Lam, I had the same kind of problem when my parakeet would not eat anything but seed.
So, I only gave him fruit and pellets. Eventually, he realized that this was the only food he could eat.That's when he decided to eat it.

[Pajarita]

Please do more imn-depth research on quakers (all parrots, actually) natural diet and you will see that pellets are not and never will be the best dietary option for them.