The right thing

[Shoegoo]

My little GCC is not flighted and will be 6 mos. old in a week. He's very timid about hands and won't let me touch him. Needless to say he hasn't learned to step up and there is no hope in sight. I have been letting him out of his cage just to give a little change. I don't know if this is good because the step up issue.The first time he came out he was very wary. But, each time he gets bolder. Today was his big leap, literally right off the dining room table onto the floor. Eventually I had to towel him and put him back in his cage. After that he decided to go back up to the top of the cage where he usually goes.

Could I be rewarding him too much and he could be training me to allow him to have his way. Should I be allowing this much freedom so soon
( I only had him 2 weeks ). Could I end up with a hand timid monster flying around without ever learning to step up.

 

[Puck]

This is just my opinion on it, but if I were you I would be practicing step up both IN and OUT of the cage. In other words, I would go ahead and let him have time out of the cage (you don't want him to be trapped in his cage all the time), but I would have some of the practice sessions be in the cage as well, mostly because it tends to be easier to convince them to step onto hands when they are in a confined space where they feel safe instead of chasing them with your hands around the top of a cage or wherever. Just put your hand out inside the cage, and when they climb on let them sit there for a moment, then let them climb back down feeling a little safer about hands than before. Make sure your thumb is tucked or, better yet, that they step up onto your fist to keep your fingers safe.

I can't tell you much about whether your bird is being rewarded with bad behavior or if he's just not getting the training yet, but I definitely wouldn't think of it as "no hope"! I am sure with time and patience, it will all work out!

Edit: Reading that it sounds like I am saying that you should chase a bird with your hands, which is exactly what you should NEVER do. Like most training things with birds, you want to be patient and let them get over their fear without pressing them. I just mentioned the hand thing because I know a lot of people end up doing that when they are trying to get birds back in their cages and end up absolutely TERRIFYING the bird. Patience is a MUCH better virtue in this case, because pressing them will simply cause them to associate your hands with something they fear.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

First off, congratulations on your new addition!

Second, I pretty much second everything Puck said.

Two weeks is not a long time and your bird could still be acclimating to his new surroundings. Letting your bird come out on his/her own (supervised) is a great idea. Eventually, the bird may come to you and that would give you a sign they are becoming more comfortable with you.

You should be persistent without being overly-pressuring. When taming/training our fids, we have to go at their pace, not ours and birds do this differently depending on the bird.

I know we all want instant results and our hearts are in the right place, but it rarely works out that way. I was lucky that it was instantaneous with Skittles- but he had already been tamed/trained by a pet store clerk who adored him. Had she not done the things she did with him, I'd have had to start from square one.

That being said, I still had to train him properly when he developed bad behaviors and it took me several years to finally succeed in eliminating those behaviors altogether. NOT saying it will take you years, for initial taming- I'd say a couple months would still be reasonable. But we are constantly training our fids. It's a neverending process. But its a great ride!