Feedback wanted on training

[brad35309]

My parrot Merlin isn't very nice! But its for a reason and I'd like to gain his trust again. I have never been able to get him to step up onto my finger but i have been able to get him to step up to a stick for me at one point a while back. Once he has gotten settled into his new enviroment and has been checked out by the vet I'd like to step up and try to bond with him for good. He has been a bitter bird and had the right to be. it probably suffered somewhere near 17 years of neglect. Not physically but more less emotionally. He shuts out everyone. When i was young i mom sent him to a bird trainer for a few weeks which didn't work out(now being older and reading here i realize why that didn't work). I understand that he wont come around over night but im hoping within a few years i can make some progress. So far what I've done is just let him out of his cage. when he comes to the top of it I'd approach him slow and gingerly and prompt him to step up. i never associated a word with it which i will this time around. i could get him to continuously step up from stick to stick. I am not sure what the next step is. Sometimes he' start sliding over towards my hand and i think he was gonna bite it. I will defiantly make one or two of those T perches i read about on here. As for the training experiment this is what i had in mind. His cage is aligned directly in the center of the living room. i was thinking of putting some curved hooks in the wall and hanging sheets across the room to make it smaller and no where for him to hang on to. I plan on opening his cage and sitting on the ground and waiting for him to come out and then try and interacting with him. I am Defiantly afraid of getting bit by him because many family members have been bitten bad and sometimes even stitches. I know at one point i might get bit and am ok with that because i have been bitten by worse. What i am seeking is activities i can do with my parrot to rebuild some trust and maybe once, i regain some trust, activities i can do with him which could lead to direct contact. I really love this bird and long to be able to one day pet him. But its a long road and i need advice and patients!