by Pajarita » Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:15 am
Hi, Raptor and Piper, welcome to the forum!
First and before anything else, I must clarify something that you might or might not know. Not all parrots are the same. There are two kinds (this is not a scientific classification but an aviculturist one): companion species and aviary species (cockatiels are aviary). Both can bond with people and both can be trained BUT you will never get the same degree of bond or of willingness to 'obey' in an aviary at the same degree that you would with a companion species. Why? Because companion species are almost always handfed and imprinted to humans so the bond is much deeper than you would get with an aviary species even if the bird was handfed as a baby (because aviary species lose part of the bond once they mature). A sexually mature companion species can be content living with a human alone as long as the care is great but an aviary species will never be really happy without companions of their own or a very similar species no matter what you do or don't do. They simply know very well they are birds and that you are not. That is as to the actual bond but then there is trainability. Now, all parrots can be trained but aviary species are much more flighty, have a shorter attention span and are not as willing to please their owner (because their bond is not that deep).
Having said that, let's go to the details. You say rewards no longer work and the only way that can happen is if you free-feed protein and never took the time to figure out which is his high value item. I am not trying to make you feel bad, I am just stating what I think is the problem so you can correct it. No parrot should be free-fed protein food, it destroys their liver and kidneys, causes obesity and cardiovascular disease, messes up their endocrine system making them overly hormonal, etc BUT, aside from the fact that this is terribly unhealthy for them, there is also the fact that the greatest majority of parrots would only consider a protein food as a high value item so, if you feed high protein all the time, where is the incentive for the parrot to do anything when the reward is something he doesn't really crave? Solution: change the diet and figure out what is his high value item.
You say that he no longer steps up... well, there is the fact that aviaries are more flighty (they need to move/flight more) than companions but it also has to do with what, exactly, you do with the bird after he steps up. A parrot that is going to be put into the cage almost every time he steps up, is not going to step up for very long (they are pretty smart and figure out fast that 'step up' means cage). This is also related to the number of hours the bird spends out-of-cage. A bird that is out of cage only for a few hours a day is not going to go into that cage willingly but a parrot that spends enough time out and is only put in for a few daylight hours in the cage, will gladly go into it without a single problem. To give you an idea, I have 6 parrots that live in cages (the others live cage-free in a birdroom) and, of these six, five of them (the sixth is a handicapped GCC that cannot fly on her own and spends her entire day on me) go into their cages on their own when I give the command: "Go home!" and I do not ever train them or reward them when they do obey, but their cages are open at 5:45 am and, although they go in (by themselves) when I give them their breakfast for 15 to 20 minutes, they are out until 2:30 or 3:00 pm (they get their dinner at 6:45pm and get ready to roost after). Same thing if what you do is put him on a perch to train and he no longer wants to train.
Last but not least and I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I love birds and I don't really give advice to benefit people but to benefit the birds so I feel I need to tell you this for his benefit: your bird is not happy. He is all alone with a human who cannot give him what he needs to have a content life in captivity (it's not you, it's every single person who keeps a single aviary parrot as a companion - nobody can do it, not with a healthy, strong bird). Would you, please, please, consider adopting an adult female tiel for him? In all honesty, it might really mess up your training because he will be more interested in the female than you but, if the care is right (super strict solar schedule, right diet, lots of flying time, etc), you might end up with a more willing bird than you have now because it will make him happy and that's what love is all about, isn't it? Namely, wanting the object of our affections to be happy and healthy. Think about it.
Let me know if you need further clarification on diet, solar schedule or anything.