My cockatiel Lucy isn't the most social bird so when I got her, gaining her trust was a bit of a challenge. I began with feeding her foods straight from my hand, and as a reflex, I asked: "do you want it?" When I offered. I didn't quite realize until now that it has been quite helpful in the long run. She is somewhat of a picky eater, so getting her to eat things I want her to eat is a challenge on its own. However, she is willing to try anything if I hold it in my hand, and asked: "Do you want it?" She would be hesitant with some foods more than others, but would still almost always try it, and more often than not, would go ahead and eat it.
I realized that this is because she learned that: if I asked her if she wanted what was in my hand, then that meant whatever in my hand is food.
Though this method may be ideal for new birds, I believe it's possible for birds you've had for a while too. Start with foods it knows and likes, and every time you give it to them, say something along the lines of: "want some?", "Want it?", etc.. Use the same exact phrase every time you give them some food straight from your hand. After they get used to hearing that phrase and corresponding it with getting a treat, try it with foods they haven't had before, or refuse to eat. It may take some time first time around, but eventually, they will start to believe that any new food you give them while asking the phrase is edible, and possibly even believe that it's something good. After that, they should recognize said food as something to eat, and eventually eat it on their own.
I didn't realize until now that what I did with Lucy could be used as a training method to get a bird to try new things. I'm going to try it with my much pickier eater, my pionus Dudley. I would suspect that depending on the bird, it will take some much longer than others to actually try new things with this method.
If you have any thoughts on how reliable this method may be, I would be glad to hear it. Also, if you have used a similar method, feel free to share and make suggestions.
). It's one of the tricks I always tell people to use to get a bird to try a new food (I say the name of the food and then "it's good!" like: "Banana. Banana is good! It's good!" while I eat some of it while standing in front of the bird). It doesn't really matter what it is that you actually say (I call it the food 'mantra'), to the bird it's just a sound that means "This is good food for you to eat" and, once they trust you to give them only good food, they will try new stuff when you say it.
They can tell what annoys you, and do it for fun. They're really good at sensing emotion and such. They can tell when you're actually ignoring them, or pretending to ignore them. They're just like that.