I've never used hunger to 'persuade' my birds to comply. I just offer treats (sunflower seeds) in return for responding to my requests and that works just fine. I keep our sessions short so the birds don't grow discouraged or disinterested and things seem to be going well at the moment.
I'm a great believer in training, whether you teach tricks or not. There are some things a bird should just
do on command and those include 'step up', 'perch', 'drop it' and 'come here'. I think it helps enormously if you can predict or even govern what your bird will do in certain circumstances for safety's sake. Recall training is absolutely necessary for flighted birds if only to prevent accidents that result from misadventure.
If I hadn't taught my Alex, Barney, how to put beads into a container on command, I may never have got him back when he escaped! I was able to prove he was mine by asking him to do his few little tricks and he did them, even after being AWOL for a month.
I'm a bit proud of my Rosetta's progress lately. Touch wood, but she's slowly slowing down and listening to me in fits and starts. She targets beautifully and comes when I call her 100% of the time. She will 'sing' (whistle) when I ask her to and is beginning to get the idea of what 'fetch' means (although she does the usual cocky thing and hurls her fetch-ball so that I have to chase after it - can almost hear her laughing at me!)
Following Stephen's advice, I've been working on her unfortunate tendency to bite like a pair of pincers and that seems to be paying off. Today, she didn't even bite me once! Great day in the mornin'! Mind you, Christmas has provided a massive amount of stiff cardboard for chewing and the wild corellas have been usefully dropping gum-shoots for me from the heights of our trees. The birds love these and will spend ages opening each bud or capsule to get the blossoms/honey or seeds out. I find it refreshing when 'setta chews the cardboard and not me.
I can see my birds' concentration while we're working and it's clear they enjoy doing it because they're more than willing to keep going, even when I stop the sessions. My aim is always to work toward a praise-based reward system rather than food. After my experience with Dominic and his fatty tumours, I'm not too happy to over-feed sunflower seeds for fear of such tumours arising.
I'd be interested to know what other members use for treats in training. I have used cut-up pieces of peanut, but have stopped that because of the fat content. 'Setta will work for grains of wheat, but they're quite difficult to hold in one hand and they're also hard to offer at the moment a treat needs to be given. The Beaks don't do wheat. I think they disdain it, knowing full-well I have a jar of sunflower seeds in my desk drawer. Likewise millet spray: not interested. They like cooked peas and corn, but those are too big and take too long for the birds to open and swallow. So yeah: what do others use?
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If,however,she has something set in her mind..she is going to do it regardless! i.e. going over to BB's house. NO! means didly to her 
She knows what flapflap lessons are and doesn't need to be bribed to do them.
