Will hand feeding help tame lovebird?

walterbyrd · Jul 4, 2012

I have heard that you should not try to train using food.

But, the only way I can get my lovebird to come anywhere near my hand is with small treats.

She will take the treats from my hand, if she can reach them, but she will not touch me, or let me touch her. If she cannot reach the treat in my hand, she will bite - hard. Once she has the treat, she runs away to eat them.

I think she bites as a way of communicating "hey! Move your hand! I cannot reach the treat!" If she can reach the treat, she won't bite.

I seem to have reached a plateau with this technique. She will take the treat, but that's it. :green1:

robear1991 · Jul 4, 2012

Try taking her food out of the cage every evening and hand feeding her in the morning. If she doesn't eat from your hand right away, be persistent and try again every hour until she finally nibbles from your hand. If she is taking treats from your hand she should feel hungry enough to do it eventually.
Feeding her from your hands will show her that your hands bring good things, like nourishment and affection.
Do not move your hand or take the food away when she bites. Do not leave the food in her dish when she bites. Be persistant

lene1949 · Jul 4, 2012

walterbyrd said:
I have heard that you should not try to train using food.

But, the only way I can get my lovebird to come anywhere near my hand is with small treats.

She will take the treats from my hand, if she can reach them, but she will not touch me, or let me touch her. If she cannot reach the treat in my hand, she will bite - hard. Once she has the treat, she runs away to eat them.

I think she bites as a way of communicating "hey! Move your hand! I cannot reach the treat!" If she can reach the treat, she won't bite.

I seem to have reached a plateau with this technique. She will take the treat, but that's it.

I don't know where you have heard that... Using food (treats) is the only sure way to train an animal...

Have you tried clicker training? Especially targeting... If you teach your bird to target, you don't get bitten, because your hands will not be near the bird... Then when she has got targeting down pat, you can target her back into her cage...

This, of course, also takes time and will not happen overnight...

Oedipussrex · Jul 5, 2012

i tried this with a couple of lovebirds i had a few years ago, they were happy sitting on my hand, but they weren't getting anywhere, i didnt want to clip them, and their cage was small while they were inside, so we put them in an aviary outside because we thought they'd be happier since they already had each other.

It seems they were actually a little tame. lol. because one time they accidentally escaped the aviary, but the first thing they did was fly back into the house through the open back door. XD

emmil · Aug 2, 2012

You just need more time. I had a bird like that but now, still a selfish bird, she will hop on my shoulder/hand or my camera with or without food. She'll come & go as she likes, my only problem now with her is to remove her from my shoulder now if I want to leave my colony cage.

MattSox · Aug 15, 2012

I agree with Lene, I believe food is the best way to train an animal. I still hand-feed my dude (he's still a baby), and notice he's even more friendly and calm than he was when we first brought him home. I'm also using sunflower seeds to teach him some dance moves.

walterbyrd · Dec 23, 2012

I got Lucky to sit on my shoulder. And she will even jump on my forearm. But, she started climbing down to my wrists, and tearing at the skin there like she wanted to rip the skin from my bones. Nothing I could do would stop her. I blew in her face. I pushed her beak off my skin with my other hand - did not hit her just pushed. No matter what I did, she went right back to biting.

MonicaMc · Dec 24, 2012

Are there any toys or anything she loves playing with? Especially foot toys? If so, you could try distracting her with toys before she has a chance to bite?

Will hand feeding help tame lovebird?

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