parrotlets behavior

Question
QUESTION: hi, i have recently bought two parrotlets that are not tame. i have had them for about two weeks and they are around 3 months old. Every time i go to get them out of there cage they flap around and are very scared of me, and when i do get hold of them all they want to do is bite me, whats the best way of taming the birds when they wont even let me get near to them?

ANSWER: Hello Andrew and thank you for your post.
First of all, the birds should be in seperate cages.  This will make it easier for taming and training purposes.
You should cut back on your birds' food a bit for a few days.  Birds think about food all of the time, and you'll want your birds to be a little bit hungry.
Then take them into a room (preferrably one at a time) and sit and talk to them in a gentle calm voice.  Have a little bit of food ready in your hand, and try to coax the bird out of its cage to step onto your hand (using the "step up" command or whatever command that you choose).  Once the bird has stepped even just one foot onto your hand, then praise him/her and give it a couple of nibbles of food.  It is time consuming to get your bird(s) to step up, and time, patience, and consistency are the keys to taming/training birds, but it is worth it in the end.
Please keep me informed on how the taming is coming along.

Good luck and God Bless.
Dianna

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sorry to bother you again but should i seperate them forever or until they are trained? how far apart should the cages be as when i bought them the man in the shop said it is important that they stay together

Answer
Hello again Andrew.
You can keep them together as long as they are not fighting except for training sessions.  That's when you need to take one out of the room altogether so the other one doesnt distract the one that you are working with.

God Bless.
Dianna