How to help my rescued birds trust me and enjoy being petted?

Thanks for reaching out and including photos. The difficulty is winning the trust of these small birds. Try offering treats by hand and then encouraging them to step up to gain the reward. Even using a small diameter perch to step up and then remove them from the cage. Many birds are cage protective and personalities with mellow once out of the cage. Keep all movements slow, noises quiet, and lights low. A book titled " A Guide to a Well Behaved Parrot" has some useful information. Good luck.

Thanks for reaching out about Coco & Peach. Winning the trust of your birds will take time. Start with quiet deliberate movements, and offering treats via hand. Since many birds can be cage defensive, you might have to allow them to come out of the cage, for them to be less protective. Take the time, as trust can take some time. Good luck.

Time, patience, and lots of treats. If you notice Curio has a favorite food, you can start by offering that favorite food only when you're interacting with him. IE, when you pet him, approach his cage, let him out, etc. This can help him to associate you with something fun/good and also make him more curious every time you come by to spend time with him. The same can also be done with toys he likes to play with. Sitting near them when he's out of the cage playing, and feeding a treat every time he comes close or shows interest in you can help teach him that you are safe to interact with and play around. If at any time Curiou becomes nervous or scared, stopping the activity and letting him calm down is best. From there, you can go back to the previous way he was OK with (IE just giving a treat from your hand but not petting) and work again from there.

I’m sorry this is happening. I know it can be pretty frustrating for you. The best this to do is work with him very slowly and have lots of patience. It will take time for him to begin to trust you. The best way to gain his trust is by working with him slowly and using small pieces of his favorite treat as a reward for interacting with you. First start by giving him a treat when you approach him/open the cage door, then, once he is comfortable with this, try to pet him with one finger, then continue increasing your interactions with him along these lines. It will take him time but with persistence he will get more used to you. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Time and patience are key to helping your parakeets get used to you, and each individual bird may bond differently to you due to their individual personalities. If your birds have a favorite treat, you can also use that by giving it to them every time you visit their cage or interact. I'm also including an in-depth article on teaching your bird to step up which can help with the bonding process as well: https://www.petcoach.co/article/basic-bird-training-how-to-train-your-bird-to-step-up/

The best thing to do is just spend time with your birds as much as you can. You can offer a treat every time you come by, or talk soothingly and quietly when you are around them to help them get used to you again. If you can't always be there paying attention to them, making sure they have other enrichment such as extra toys, a playpen, treats, etc can help with boredom.

Thanks for reaching out about Pico and including pictures. Individual birds with respond differently to training techniques. Being the provider of treats and playful activities can gain trust. Letting Pico see you play with the other lovebird, and then want that same experience, might help also. This is a difficult one, because not all birds are tamable. Good luck. Be persistent.