How do I gain my sun conures trust?

I received him just about a year ago from a friend of my cousin. He has never trusted me or anyone else, and I have been told that this parrot has been neglected/abused and use to live with others of his kind.

He is about six years old, so he's 14 in bird years

Anyway, he will sometimes bow his head and fluff up when I try to pet him, but a majority of the time he will bite me or run away.

Is there any way to gain his trust? Handling often seems obvious but is not always an option for me.

I have a sunnie too! He's 7. I got him when he was a little over a year old. I don't really have any helpful information about your question, just some thoughts.

For one, its not surprising (unfortunately) to hear of a sunnie being rehomed. Too often people are captivated by the colors and don't do their research. Sunnies are NOT a beginner bird nor are they for anyone who doesn't have enough time on their hands.

I do believe any bird can be tamed, its just that some take a lot longer than others. One piece of advice I can offer is this- if you can find out what things were done where he used to be you can have an idea of what not to do. For example, if his cage got hit with a broom regularly, he'll act up whenever he sees a broom and if you are using the broom- he'll then associate you with it.

Skittles will often freak out over 'new things'. I recently got a tablet and he wasn't happy- the lights and noises got him going. I 'introduced' him to the tablet and even put some treats on top of it to show him its okay and things are better now.

I can only offer this- patience cannot be stressed enough. They WILL pick up on frustration. On the plus side, sunnies are VERY social creatures who don't like to live in isolation, so you do have that going for you.

Maybe you can leave his cage door open during the day and wait and see if he'll come to you (ONLY if you are around to supervise and there are not any dangers (open windows, doors, other pets etc).

Try using treats. Chances are his previous owners probably locked him up alot with the cage covered. Skittles is free-flighted, but that's only because of my lifestyle. I make adjustments so that he has 'free flight' time daily. Since I'm usually home, he's usually out.

Unless you know firsthand what the abuse was you can't actually always guess just by a reaction to x. Birds and other animals have different ideas sometimes to what is adversive and not.

Also, fear periods and unexpected paired events can also lead to fear; ie mom was sweeping by the bird cage just as a fire truck laid on its horn to move traffic- now there is a fear of the broom with no actual abuse etc with the broom.

As long as you are attentive to your birds body language and don't abuse or purposely scare him you should be fine

I usually advise clicker training to build the foundations of trust