Gloves?

[Snickerdoo]

Hey y'all, it's been a while since I last posted and I'm happy to report that Leaf has come on leaps and bounds in most aspects of his training! He loooooves people and flies onto my shoulder whenever I enter or attempt to leave the room. He responds to whistles and I even taught him two little tricks to keep him occupied. He's come along so much better than I expected given that he's parent reared!
But there's one thing that he still hasn't gotten used to, and that's hands. He despises them. He's not scared of them, he actively seeks them out and bites down hard. Obviously this can make stepping up and even just cleaning his cage quite the task. I think that his distrust of hands comes from being raised with kids, who continued trying to hold him after he fledged and resorted to grabbing when he didn't want to be held.
So today I wore gardening gloves and offered him treats and such. He was quiet and very wary, but unlike with bare hands his first instinct was to move away and not bite. He's been taught that hands will follow him no matter what and only biting will make them stop, but I don't think he has the same assumption about gloves as he only bit twice as if to test the material. Eventually he even stepped up with one foot, though he stepped right back off again.
So what do you guys think? I've heard that training with gloves is bad and counts as flooding but could it be more nuanced than that? Has anyone here trained their bird with gloves? Thanks in advance!

 

[macawpower58]

In your situation, I'd say if it works, go for it.
Most people use gloves for control - bad.
If you are using them for your bird's peace of mind - not bad.
At least that's how I feel.

If it works, I'd also slowly try and transition the gloves to bare skin.
Thinner and thinner gloves, and flesh colored.

 

[NorthernGannet]

My parrotlet sounds very similar to your Leaf in behavior. I began using a glove strictly when coming out of the cage, and it was the tool she and I both needed. I did have to upgrade from a thin glove to a thicker one as her bite went right through the thinner one, but when I found the right thickness it was like gold. She was wary of course at first, but after getting used to it jumps on when she sees it. These days I rarely need to use it.