stepping up

[surfarr]

Hi all
could any body please give me any advice on my african grey called willy, i have had him 3 weeks now he had been very badly treated by his last owner, he is 4 yrs old and quite talkative, he will let me stroke him and takes his treats out of my hand he is a bit funny with the rest of the family, the question is does any body have any tips on how to get him to step onto my hand ? as i would dearly love to stroke him
thanks Maria

[FairY]

Hello Maria welcome to the forum I hope you'll enjoy it

I know the answer: by endless patience. You can also use a perch instead of your hand and keep on repeating the order. But, without pushing or stressing him. Real nice and slow. And, of course: over and over and over again while talking softly and calm.

[surfarr]

Hi FairY,

Firstly thanks for the welcome, i hope to learn lots from this site. i guessed that the answer would be to take my time with him and go at his pace not mine, i guess i just want to let him know how loved he is since the poor guy had such a rotton start to life, but i got him for life so we,ve got plenty of time

[Sticks_n_stones]

I'm probably asking such a basic question that I'll be embarrassed by it, but are you placing your fingers (or the perch) at the correct spot to encourage him? When we bought Watson 9 years ago, we placed our fingers just below his breastbone, and said "Up." It only took a couple of times for him to get the idea.

If your hand is too low, it won't work. Too high and he can't reach it easily. If you place it very close to your bird and at the right level, he almost has no choice except to step "up!"

And, like others have said, patience is the key.

[surfarr]

Hi sticks

the problem is 9 out of 10 times he tries to bite if i put my hand too near him, he lets me stroke his head but sometimes for no reasonhe turns quickly and nips me ? just hope he gets to like me sometime lol.

[Sticks_n_stones]

Watson does the same thing, even now (turn his head and bite even though he likes his head rubbed). I don't know why he does it, but we ignore him although we do stop the rubbing.

I'll be watching to see if anyone else has a suggestion about that.

Good luck to you, Surfarr. I know it can be frustrating but the good times far outweigh the bad times, right?