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Before you even buy the bird, see if you can get it to sit on your finger without it biting. This is more usual for the parrot birds, rather than smaller more "flighty" birds though at a pet store. If you can find a bird that isn't a mean, vicious biter, your battle of taming is already won! But once you get the bird home, after a day or so to get it used to its new home & cage, you need to keep trying to coax it out and onto your finger. Some birds don't appreciate your hand invading their space, so allow it to come out of the cage on its own if it looks like it doesn't want you coming at it inside the cage. Use the "Step up!" command and push your finger gently but firmly into its chest to make it step onto your finger. It's probably going to bite at first - just resign yourself to it. Tell it "no biting," but don't make a big deal about it. A bird likes drama & excitement, so if you flip out getting bitten, it's going to want to keep doing it for your reaction! If it bites too hard, leave it alone, maybe just cover the cage and keep telling it "no biting, bad bird," in a calm but forceful tone of voice so it knows you mean business, but you're not being a "drama queen." Keep trying to get the bird to come out on your finger though, using treats and lots & lots of hyper praise when it DOES sit calmly on your finger. Then you can sing songs to it - they love being sung to, talked to, making kissy faces to it, etc. :-) Pretty soon you & the bird will be best buddies. It just takes determination, patience and some dedicated work. Some birds take to their humans quickly, some take much, much longer.
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