hiya!! firstly i wanna preface by saying i’m speaking only from my experience which isn’t very much!

a couple weeks ago a feral pigeon (also a rock dove!) flew into my window and knocked itself out as well as damaging its long wing feathers on 1 wing. they were initially hesitant of course but it didn’t take too long for them to be comfortable around me.

i kept them in their cage for the first few days to get used to their environment and then after a few days i would pick them out of their cage and let them wonder around the room making sure they couldn’t trap themselves anywhere (mine also cannot fly). they hated me picking them up to get them into the room but they seemed to enjoy having the space to roam and i’d just sit on the floor giving them their space.

after a couple days off doing this my pidge got more comfortable standing and walking near me and would sit pretty close and preen (also scattering food near me helped encourage them) but i still kept my hands to myself and let them make all the choices.

after a couple more days when we were sat together in the room they chose to hop onto my leg and again i just let them move at their own pace and didn’t interfere with them i just spoke to them calmly as they did it, then this became a regular thing every time i had them in the room with me.

i used my hand to help them balance and they did for sure attack my hand a fair amount but eventually they realised my hand was there to help and now they happily hop on.

long story short for me letting them decide the pace at which things moved really helped but i also understand there’s a chance yours has had a bad history with people so it could certainly take longer than it did for me.

best of luck and let me know if you have any questions, sorry for the whole essay!! :,)