Young Pionus help

[PabloPionus]

Hello all,
My white capped Pionus (Pablo) has been home with me for over a month now. In some ways we are bonding, he likes head scratches, especially late at night. However, he still refuses to take any food from me, and runs away when I attempt it. I have spent many hours taking small steps like putting treats in his bowl and stand there while he's eating, and trying to feed him through his cage. He seems to have some fear of hands, as he often runs away when being approached. He was a hand fed, well socialized baby. We went to visit him every week at the breeder. What do you think the problem could be? Any suggestions? Thanks so much!

 

[MonicaMc]

Are you using his regular food or favorite treats? Have you tried working with him when he's hungriest using food rewards?

 

[MikeyTN]

A baby can shy away IF not handled properly to begin with. The breeder can handfeed all they want, but properly handling is very important at a young age. They need to be handled a lot on a daily basis to keep things going. I tend to shy away at times too when I'm not feeling well, but I handle the babies on a daily basis. Two weeks of not being handled, the babies started to shy away from me. I was on antibiotics cause I got pretty sick so I wasn't able to play with them as much as I wanted to. So they went to each other for comforting....But since I've gotten better, started daily handling, it helped a lot. Basically you need to get him out of the cage to be handled. Then things would go a bit more smoothly once they trust you.