I got my baby lovebird (8-9 week old) last week. He is a beautiful Dutch Blue Peach-faced Lovebird. He is not tame but it is good that he is not biting 🙂 Here is steps and results of hand taming in the first 5 days:
Day 1-2
Take your lovebird out of its cage. You should never try to work with a bird inside his cage. At the beginning, it will be hard to approach him, he will fly away even if I put my hand close to the cage. I find it a lot easier to use a perch.
Once you get him out of the cage, for the first 2 days, I will just keep talking to him, and he will start singing right away once I play some videos with the sounds of the other lovebirds. Just let him get used to my voice and also enjoy the time outside the cage.
Repeat 3-5 times a day for 10-20 minutes.
Day 3
Once you get some trust from him in the first 2 days, now you can start try petting him on his head, cheek or even beak, they loves being scratched on their neck.
Repeat 3-5 times for 10-15 minutes each time.
Day 4
Now they should be very comfortable sitting and eating on your hand, you can teach them how to do step-up : Slowly and gently push your finger against the bird's lower chest, right above his legs.
Reward the bird’s accomplishments. Bird will learn to associate hand = food.
Repeat 2-3 times for 10-15 minutes each time.
Day 5
I am surprised to realize that on day 5, he will start flying to me.
