It might not seem like much progress to some, but I think Winston is doing great!! As of yesterday he has been home with us for one week.

In the last couple of days I've noticed him hanging out on different perches other than the main rope perch where his mirror toy is. I think he's starting to feel more at home in his cage and overall here.

He's still not ready to step up, but that's ok. He does allow me to have my hand in the cage and touch his foot and talk to him like that for a few minutes. If I move my hand or stroke his foot, he gets nervous and runs away. I back off when that happens. Last night, however, I was able to first touch his foot for a short time, and then I slowly moved my finger in between his feet - telling him what I'm doing all the while - and he let me. It's a start.

I've been trying to find a treat to use as a means of getting him used to my hand being near and offering good things, but he's only been on a seed diet and knows nothing else. Couldn't even get him to eat millet. If I left some millet in his dish, it went untouched. He is not comfortable eating any from my hand. Saturday evening I hung a small sprig in his cage. He would stand right next to it, but seemed totally uninterested. Sunday passed and he hadn't touched it, but I left it hanging there. I came home from work today and discovered that he had eaten a small section of it! I replaced it with a fresh section and as I've been sitting here with him, he went over and ate some in front of me.

He came home with two toys that were in his cage at the pet store. I removed one of those because the base metal didn't look safe to me. I found something sort of similar in my toy bin and hung it in his cage (after a few hours of him getting use to it on the outside of his cage). He didn't seem to mind it, but he also didn't play with it. In the past day or two I've noticed him go up to it and hit it with his beak lightly. Not all out playing with it, but he's mildly interested.

I click my tongue to all of my animals. I don't know if Winston has heard this noise before, but if he had, I haven't heard him making it until the past day or two. He makes it exactly how I make it and sometimes he'll answer me back and forth.

We're getting there, it's all about the baby steps. I'm very proud of him!

Sounds like things are going well! I bet he'll be stepping up in no time! That's so cute that he's making clicking noises back and forth with you. You're doing great - keep up the good work!

Sounds to me like he's feeling like a member of your flock, Sarah!!

So now when are we going to see a photo of him in your siggie?

That's great news Sarah! I have no doubt that it won't be long before he's stepping up for you.

Sarah it sounds like you are making a ton of progress!! And I am so glad he finally tried the millet! Now you have a treat to bribe him with. And him letting you touch his feet is a huge thing!! So congrats! You are such a wonderful parront!

Thanks guys I'm very happy with how he's progressing. He perks up when I come into his room and when I bring him fresh food and water, he's a happy little guy. I hope he understands that I got him out of that yucky pet store.

Nice to hear how Winston is doing. Almost missed this posting........

Laker was really afraid of hands so i used the wooden spoon to teach step-ups. He progressed very quickly at that point. He only got used to the hand over the next few months & still prefers to land on a stick when we do flight training. Being older might have something to do with the playing thing. Lake doesn't play, he explores.

My son has now become Laker's favourite person. One thing i see is that Jack can make the most amazing Budgie sounds & holds Laker just below his lips. Lake gets all puffed up & leans really close to him. Unfortunately for Jack - the Budgie flies to him all the time & getting ready to go out or to school is getting harder to do.

LOL, that's funny that you say that Jack makes great budgie noises, my husband also makes good warbles and he's a great whistler and I think all the birds enjoy that. I can't whistle to save my life lol. Luckily Jerry is really interested when I whisper and "close talk" with him, and he leans in and puffs up and listens too.

I have been thinking of trying to use a knitting needle for Winston to learn to step up onto - that's what we used with Jerry, and this week I will probably try that. I don't want to scare him with big long sticks right away lol.

Tonight we made some big progress with Winston - he ate millet from our hand!! Since he has recently figured out that millet is a fantastic treat, he was more than willing to take some from our hands! He was very enthusiastic about it. The piece had to be fairly large (I tried with smaller pieces), but the enthusiasm was there. He will now only get millet directly from our hand. Now that we have a good bribery tactic, I do believe that he will be quick to come around in other areas.

Tomorrow we attempt the step up using a knitting needle...stay tuned...

Sounds like things going great for the two of you!