Since trust is so vital to any relationship, but especially with our avian relationships, share what has been effective in establishing and building trust with your bird.
Also, it would be interestingt to know what may have been a barrier to the trust.

I know for Eve, flight training was extremely helpful. Vasa's flight or fight instincts are incredibly intact, much more so than other parrots. As a result they are very jumpy, and it is extremely easy to break the trust of a vasa, to the point that they will act feral. But since vasa's even when clipped have no problem flying as well as responding to commands, flight training has been vital. Eve comes and goes on command and has different commands for different place I want him to go.

To go along with what was said about Eve, I think any kind of "training" or learning is a fool proof way to build trust. Bud learned to have his wings touched by first learning to *hug*

He was allowed to lean in as much as he was comfortable with and now I can hug away with my arm wrapped around him! Surely I'll get a harness on this boy soon

I built trust with my tag Gipper, who had been abused and was wild as a banchee when I got him, by using one of his own long feathers to touch and scratch his head. Then when he decided he liked that I could eventually use my finger as long as I was still holding the feather and he could see it up there. Then eventually we were able to get rid of the feather. Bless his little heart.

Many birds that have found there way to Rose and I have been abused.
What is abuse?
We all have different opinions of abuse and the different levels of such.
Here's what we have learned over the years.
Abuse is abuse, there are no different levels, to the bird who can no longer trust humans, "all abuse is the same".
"its okay", you have the (right) to be upset, your feelings are just.
The very last thing "I" do here is force the bird to change, and if there is no change, then so be it, but by all means, the bird is allowed to be "the bird".
The story of Andy,
Andy was a breeder, he had no human contact, he was a producing machine.
Andy's mate died, "I won't go into the story about his mate but will only say, his mate died needlessly".
Andy refussed to be re-mated and nolonger produced for his owner, so he was sold to another breeder with the hopes that person could have better luck with him, somewhere along the line Andy was injured, his talon was injured and again "as a rehabber this injury could have been fixed".
Now we have a crippled former breeder "not knowing what his life was meant to be".
Soooo, that breeder also could no longer breed Andy, now Andy was deemed "worthless".
And there he sat, at a flee market, as the many simply just walked by "no bird is worth having if you can't handle and teach him-her things"....you know...(sit) (play dead) (roll over)....
My wife bought Andy and brought him home, Andy was provided the best cage money can buy, special perches were bought to help him perch and eat as Andy can no longer perch and hold his bounty at the same time, his meal is chopped up for him, and he gets fresh fruits and nuts, and as many chew toys as possible.
My Rose thrives on interaction with her birds, teaching them different things is a goal of hers.
Me, I have no expectations from any animal, I except them for what they are, when I tell them "I Love You", I don't expect to hear that back from them.
When I nuzzle my lips into there neck and kiss them, I do not expect a kiss in return.
But I do get these things in return...
When Andy came home with Rose, there was expectations and Rose swore she would win Andy's heart with Love, and by all means, she did make some progress.
Rose Anns love for Andy has changed him, but he will not step up and he can not be handled, during out of cage time I have to be the one who returns Andy to his cage when out of cage time is over.
Now, Andy is downstairs in our other bird room, this is where I do my rehab work and keep my rescues, as soon as the sun comes up, I open Andy's cage and allow him to be free, at night Rose Ann cages Andy back up, she does this with treats and lures Andy back into his cage.
I hope I haven't offended anyone, but for me...I have no expectations from animals, any animal, I trully enjoy all our birds and cats, but if it were me, they would be free to fly the skies as Mother intended them to be.
Soooooo, with that said.
Andy "and there are many other's"...(its okay)....to be Andy...if I could, I would return you to the great Amazon basin where you originated from and set you FREE.

BrokenWing

With Cleo I have found #1 just spending time. I noticed a big difference in her response to me when I put an external perch on her cage and sat it beside the recliner in the living room. She could come out and get some interaction on HER terms.
verbal feedback is very important. Sometimes, it may not make any sense whatsoever, but when they do good let em know. Cleo has this strange wooo noise she makes when I give her GOOD GIRL!! She is answering her flock.
Planning: I always try to think ahead, and if she does something really good, have the treat ready. She needs to know that you are keeping your end of the bargain. So, pausing to run to get the treat doesn't count. That's why clicker training is so successful. It's immediate....
Routine: Lites out, lites on, etc. She trusts you to make those decisions.
Travel. This is one thing I'm working with hard on Cleo. Travelling in the carrier and returning safely. She won't really happily go in the carrier, but she does. once she see's that I'm gonna take her outside, good places, stick some treats in the door, it's all good.
You return her safely...she's trusting you, it's just inside a carrier.
And probably one of the most important things, I think is being aware that you don't set them up to distrust you. An example is biting. They're gonna bite. I've had people tell me, just charge her and she'll have to stepup. No...that's setting her up to bite and that is conditioning her to bite. It's reflex. That's also not making her trust you. Yea, she may stepup, but out of fear, not out of trust.
The investment in trust will go a lot farther than the investment of fear...in any relationship.

I've had my B&G for almost a year now.. and it's slowly coming along.

I've tried the punishment of covering him when he bites.. telling him no.. etc. But I've learned that time is the key with him.

When I first got him.. I could not get my hand near him or he would scream. (I got him from a breeder who had him in the breeder house.. he wasn't in the exact same room as the breeders, but all he was around was other birds, human contact maybe 20 mins a week). Finally, I could SOMETIMES touch his head but he'd usually end up biting.

So, almost a year later.. I still cannot get him to learn "step up" (though he knows how to say it quite well, almost like he's mocking me!) but I can touch his head, face, tummy, wings, etc. I can pick him up out of his cage with him only biting for stability.

So for me, it was just time. I let him go at his own pace and he trusts me pretty well.

I am the ONLY one that can touch him (sometimes my bf can rub his head).. I'm not sure if that will ever change, but hopefully

In my opinion, if you and your bf build the trust through love, patience and persistence it will happen. Sounds like you are doing good work. Progress comes at different speeds with different birds.

For me, its all abotu building trust. If you dont trust your bird, than your bird will feel that and not trust you to its fullest abck at you. And hat can lead to nips, bites, etc. I also believe while you are tryijng to build a trusting bond with your bird, Clicker Training is GREAT!!! Its working so far with my new Scarlet Macaw.. I still havent found the perfect treat for her. Out of ALL nuts I have given her (pistachios, penaut, walnut, pumkin seed, sunflower, safflower, pecan, and several others) her favorite is peanuts. But she doesnt like it each time, even when she is hungry. Her much prefered food is dried banana and fruits.

Although I have small - not too aggressive Budgies - they require trust like all pets. I agree the the training really but Laker's trust up a big step. I think it was the whole family getting involved - Laker really loves to entertain. We saw this right from the start. When he was originally in his cage he'd get so excited when all of us were in the office - he's do somersaults & climb all over the cage to get our attention & would laugh back at our laughter. When he learned it wasn't scary to land on any of us as we wandered around he really blossomed.

With Rio he has followed Laker's lead but still he isn't as trusting. Just the other day tho he jumped up off the floor to land on my knee. He wasn't following Laker, he did it on his own. I'd love to have a close tie with him but I think time will bring that along. Yesterday he was sitting on my book, just like Laker did when we first got him - he was very interested in telling me the longest story - would stop to see if I was listening [really!].

Every bird is different. Sometimes we have lots of time to spend with them [not just being there] & then the progress really happens. i think the less you ask of them the more relaxed they get. The training times were like 'go fetch' for a dog - a fun game.