My budgie is from a pet shop. He now hops down to my hand to get millet - he ONLY gets millet from me. He checked out my hand first. I did clicker training with him. I tried just putting in my hand and getting him used to me, real progress happened when I began using the clicker as a bridge for communication. But, I think it helped also that I sat near the cage - to do whatever, not necessarily to do something with him, or even to talk to him, just sit in a nearby chair and knit for a while. Watch a movie on You Tube.
And yes, he comes to my hand, gets millet, then I tell him to go back to the perch, where he gets more millet. I want him to learn come to me, go back to your cage. This is vitally important for me that he will get back in, if I need him to. I want him to come out and fly, and all that. However, he must be willing to get back in the cage. It also works with his skittishness. However, I know that he is a very intelligent and talented little bird.
I also downloaded and printed out all the articles written by Susan Friedman. The link is under free training help. I plan to begin studying those this evening. What I have read in there so far has really helped me to understand my budgie better.
I honestly believed that it would take Vanya (my budgie) much longer to get on my hand. We did do a perch first. But the next day, rather than the perch he got on my hand. Also, I present the back of my hand - with closed fingers. I also let him watch YouTube Videos - where birds are happily sitting and talking on their owner's hands. I don't know if that made a difference or not. But it might have.
Vanya is a video addict now. I think it does help. It did seem to help him understand what we were trying to do when I was first starting with the clicker. He got to watch a budgie get clicker conditioned, then other budgies get rewarded for behavior, like coming to their owner. He could hear the click. All he saw was the budgie, heard the click, then saw a hand give the bird a treat. It is thinking outside the box - and on the fact that they mimic each other. I am not an expert by any means. But, I do believe in using whatever tools are available to me to accomplish the task or help me to reach a goal.
Also, moving from the aviary to a new location inside may seem small to you but to them this was HUGE! Like moving to Europe from America - and to one where no one speaks their language. Or possibly another planet even. So, they may simply need some time since they are in a new environment with new sounds and smells, new scenery, a new sky.
As far as being spooked when someone passes the cage, can they see the person approaching? or does the person just all of a sudden appear? Like if you walked into a room, and saw your own reflection out of the corner of your eye, but didn't know the mirror was there? Or, you didn't hear someone approaching, or were lost in thought, and all of a sudden a person comes out of a door that you are passing or from behind a corner of a building, or even up behind you? Kids often like to wait quietly until someone is approaching and then jump out at them saying "boo" I used to have horses, who can be skittish or spook when startled also. Remember, all prey animals for their survival tend to be on the skittish side - especially when startled. And you are a predator. If they can't see the person approaching, then I would have the person talk when coming near. So they know someone they know is coming.
All I know is I read a lot of posts on this forum, did the things that they said to do, and in less than 4 weeks, my budgie will come over to me to get on my hand, even fly a tiny bit (his wings are clipped, so his abilities at present are limited), to land on my hand to eat millet. I was prepared to have even that step take a long time - months, even a year. One thing I did do - was I made him come over to my hand on the perch he was on - one that goes across the cage. Then I would move my hand with the millet away from him so he had to follow it again. So he did the chasing, not me. He caught on to target training right away too, with a chopstick.
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