Lovebird afraid of hands?

[SEMO]

I recently adopted a very social little lovebird named Joey. He loves to be around me and snuggles into my shoulder and gives kisses. But he's terrified of hands.

Every time I offer my hand to him to get him to step up he's just terrified, but he has no problem with my arms or shoulders or any other part of my body. Is there a way I can make him more comfortable with hand handling?

 

[fluffypoptarts]

Just patience and consistency. Move slowly around him with the hands and continue to respect his boundaries while doing what you can to show him the hands aren’t bad. If he’s good with your wrist, use that for now.

My lovebird Turnip used to be so terrified of hands that he would freak out if they came anywhere near him. So much so that hands were referred to as “nightmare trees” when speaking of their relation to him! Now he willingly comes out (with or without me offering my finger) and I can cup his body with my hand. He still gets skittish about them sometimes, but he’s like a different bird. It took somewhere around 2.5-3 years to get him this comfortable with hands. But that was coming from a profound crying terror of them, so it might not be so long for your birdy.