As many here know, I live with two very "rowdy" Caiques .. Ayeko <male>, and Enki <female>. They are siblings, will be four this October, and have been together since birth.
In the early years, A & E were quite easy, and got along with my other birds. However, as they matured, their dislike for other birds around them became stronger and stronger, to the point where I had to move them to an area that had very limited access from the other birds. I made adjustments in my home to accommodate their needs <basically, gave up my dining room .. lol> and dealt with this issue in the safest way I could. It was, and still is, a bit of pain ... as I must always be aware of who is out and their proximity to the Cakes .. even if the Cakes are in their cage. While my larger birds are not so much at risk, A & E, .. mostly Ayeko, have very little fear of birds even 10 times their size and have been brain damaged enough to challenge my larger Macs.
So .. I figured, okay, this is part of owning Cakes. I knew they could be bird aggressive .. it's noted in just about everything you read about them. I truly did try to work with the issue, for well over a year, but .. I failed. They just could not be out with the others, esp. anyone their size or smaller. Ayeko isn't fooling .. and I have absolutely no doubt he would kill any bird his size, or smaller. No doubt at all. I was quite sad about it, and felt like a failure, esp. knowing that there were many people who had Cakes that got along just fine with other birds. I just didn't get the lucky "gene pool" with my Cakes .. lol.
Then, about a year ago, I entered a new phase with Ayeko and Enki. Actually, I lump poor Enki in with Ayeko .. mostly the issues are with Ayeko .. my little demon. Enki is actually quite sweet, but she will follow Ayeko's lead.
The new phase was even more daunting than the bird aggression. Ayeko went into full sociopath mode. Seriously, he decided that, for the most part, I should die a slow and painful death, he wanted to dance on my dead body and eat my eyeballs. It WAS that bad. Oh, he had his good days, but they were few and far between. He would lunge himself at whatever side of the cage I approached from to get me. He would aggressively dive bomb me from his playstands, boings, atoms .. you name it. I actually took to constantly walking around with a pillow or magazine to ward him off.
Now, when I say dive bomb, I don't mean just take fly byes at me, I mean .. latch onto my head, neck, shoulders .. etc., and attack .. viscously. This went on for months until one day, he caught me off guard, with no pillow, no magazine, nothing ... and really got me good. Bites to my neck, chin, ear, nose, eye and shoulders .. all with lightening speed. Not little nips, these were deep nasty bites. We won't even talk about the bites I got trying to get him off of me. It was scary .. really scary, to have this bird who really seemed to just lose his mind like that. I was shaken, scared and most of all .. really, really MAD!! This bird, who I spent hours cooking for, shopping for, cleaning up after, giving him everything I could think of to make his life happy and fulfilling .. had just viscously attacked me for no reason at all.
Now, before everyone gets all "oh, what were the triggers, something was a trigger" .. please .. save the positive reinforcement/trigger theory for some other type of bird .. I'm not a birdie novice, I know all about triggers, and reinforcing good behaviors .. blah, blah, blah, blah. I tried every solution in the book, on the web, in Caique forums .. etc., etc., etc. You name it, I tried it. Moving cages, moving playstands, changing diets, separating them .. all of it. Remember, I'm not talking about a few months of this, I'm talking just over a year.
Anyway, that day .. after the attack, I knew I had had enough. I will take A LOT from my birds, will sacrifice a lot, do everything and anything in my power to give them the best lives I possibly can. However .. I will NOT tolerate a bird who wants to attack my face .. that is my line in the sand. Bite my hands, arms, feet .. whatever .. but .. going after my face/head .. consistently ... I could not have. I'm no beauty queen to begin with, however, I still like my lips, ears, nose, eyes more or less attached to my body and without major damage. The day of the attack, he got the corner of my eye .. another 1/4" inch, and he could have done some serious and lasting damage.
So, I did what I had been thinking of doing, but held off. I clipped his wings. It was the one solution I didn't really want to try, but .. felt at this point, I had to do. I could not have this bird flying at me all the time. I was not so much afraid of him, but of what I might do. I'm only human, and when you're being attacked, certain self preservation reactions come into play. I'll be honest .. I really did want to drop kick his feathered butt across the room that day. Those who say "Oh, don't react, they live for the reaction" .. yeah, well, you guys go with that .. good luck .. I'll send Ayeko to you for a flying facial attack and see if you don't react!!
Yep, I clipped him that day. Figuring that it would at least allow me to walk around my own home without being disfigured for life ... and it would allow Ayeko to continue living here, and not end up on the BBQ for dinner.
Well, Cakes are stubborn little monsters, and while the clipping made things a bit easier .. he still didn't give up. Have I mentioned how far a Cake can leap off of something when they are determined? Strong legs those suckers have. Ayeko could enter the birdie Olympics with his long jump, I'm serious .. he had it mastered and would launch himself at me from across the room constantly. If he missed, he'd just do his PO'd Cake hop across the floor to attack my feet. Gotta say, although I didn't want to encourage it .. it was very funny to watch. Needless to say, going barefoot was never an option if Ayeko was out!
So, we continued on this path for several months. I just gave Ayeko a wide berth .. and was careful around the Cake cage .. he also went thru a phase of not wanting me to touch the cage .. that was fun too .. always having to move them far, far away from their cage just to clean it, or even put food/water in it .. yeah, lots and lots of fun with that.
I started thinking that if he was a human child with these type of tantrums and attitudes, that he'd be put on some type of medication or something. I really felt I had a chemically imbalanced Caique .. something in his brain just wasn't wired right. Enki wasn't like this at all. She remained sweet and easy to handle. I'm not a fan of "big pharma" at all .. I believe too many "problems" in people's lives are just pill popped away, but really, that's just putting band-aids over bullet holes, masking the issues, but not actually solving anything. However, as much as I'm against medicating for certain issues, I started to look into anything that might help Ayeko with his craziness. I wanted my nice bird back, I wanted us to live out our lives together without all this aggression, fear, worry, resentment .. you name it.
Ayeko is stubborn, but .. I'm even more so. I made a commitment to him and I wasn't going to give up until I had exhausted every single resource at my disposal. Trust me, in my head, the nasty "R" word went around and around. I thought about it, I really did. How much easier my life would be without the Cakes, specifically Ayeko. No dive bombing, no launching attacks, being able to have the other birds out in the same area without as much fear and worry. However, what would rehoming him solve really? He'd become someone else's problem, perhaps someone who wasn't as tolerant <or as much of a glutton for punishment> as I am. What would happen to him, given his personality? I couldn't even imagine it .. what might happen to him. Yes, there was a chance he just hated me, and might love someone else .. but .. that was just a rationale, something fleeting I thought to myself .. "Oh, he might be so much happier someplace else, with someone else". I couldn't risk it though. As much as he drove me up a wall and made me furious with his actions, I loved the little monster.
So, I starting looking into supplements that might help with his overactive hatred of me. My first go to was Avi-Calm .. a bit sprinkled on his foods and a bit sprinkled in his water. I had nothing to lose, and didn't see anything in the product that was harmful. It took about six/eight weeks, but I did start seeing an easing up of the kill mode. I also looked into herbal teas .. specifically ones that Jason Crean is working with. He had a tea blend that had some success with calming feather pluckers/mutilators .. I had purchased it for Tikki .. and figured, why not try a bit with Ayeko. So a bit of herbal tea daily was added as well.
It's been about 3 months now with this new protocol, just a light sprinkle of Avi-Calm in the food, and a splash of herbal tea in the water bowl, and I must say, there have been no real attacks. Ayeko is still a crazy Cake .. and has his moods of course, but he is no where near as aggressive towards me as he once was. He hasn't launched himself at me for no good reason .. <all bets are off if I'm on the phone, he'll try to kill if he sees the phone>. I can touch his cage without problem, I can actually get him to step up to my hand without risking an ER trip. I still have to watch his body language of course, but now it's no different than watching any of my other birds for signs of "trouble". I'm quite happy with the progress and tentative peace we seem to have at the moment.
My next step is going to be the much talked about essential oils <bird safe>, that Dr. Melissa Shelton will be lecturing about at TASC, truly fascinating stuff there, and something I'll definitely be investing in, in the near future. I've ordered her new book as a start, but can't want to hear her speak about her findings on these oils and their properties.
So hear I am .. at the near end of this very long story. My "solutions" haven't solved the bird aggression issue, but I truly don't think anything is going to "solve" that issue, it is what it is, Cakes are known for it, and that part, I can deal with.
I've been thinking of how and when to make this thread for a while now. I know there are many who may not agree with my actions/reactions/solutions .. etc., and that's okay, nobody has to agree with me .. we all do what we do with our flocks to make things work in our own, personal way. I'm just sharing my experience, take it as you will. I thought, Easter Sunday was a good time to post this .. spring .. new beginnings .. that whole angle.
Take from my ongoing journey what you will. I hope that one day, soon, Ayeko won't "need" the supplements, and perhaps all of this nonsense was just a growing up/hormonal phase, which, all said and done, I believe it is, just a very severe one. Most Cakes get rehomed at around the 5 year mark .. seems to be the onset of the "bad times". I'm going push thru it with him, we're both just too stubborn to give up on each other .. lol .. besides, I do love my little beasty boy!
.... End of very, very long story ...
In the early years, A & E were quite easy, and got along with my other birds. However, as they matured, their dislike for other birds around them became stronger and stronger, to the point where I had to move them to an area that had very limited access from the other birds. I made adjustments in my home to accommodate their needs <basically, gave up my dining room .. lol> and dealt with this issue in the safest way I could. It was, and still is, a bit of pain ... as I must always be aware of who is out and their proximity to the Cakes .. even if the Cakes are in their cage. While my larger birds are not so much at risk, A & E, .. mostly Ayeko, have very little fear of birds even 10 times their size and have been brain damaged enough to challenge my larger Macs.
So .. I figured, okay, this is part of owning Cakes. I knew they could be bird aggressive .. it's noted in just about everything you read about them. I truly did try to work with the issue, for well over a year, but .. I failed. They just could not be out with the others, esp. anyone their size or smaller. Ayeko isn't fooling .. and I have absolutely no doubt he would kill any bird his size, or smaller. No doubt at all. I was quite sad about it, and felt like a failure, esp. knowing that there were many people who had Cakes that got along just fine with other birds. I just didn't get the lucky "gene pool" with my Cakes .. lol.
Then, about a year ago, I entered a new phase with Ayeko and Enki. Actually, I lump poor Enki in with Ayeko .. mostly the issues are with Ayeko .. my little demon. Enki is actually quite sweet, but she will follow Ayeko's lead.
The new phase was even more daunting than the bird aggression. Ayeko went into full sociopath mode. Seriously, he decided that, for the most part, I should die a slow and painful death, he wanted to dance on my dead body and eat my eyeballs. It WAS that bad. Oh, he had his good days, but they were few and far between. He would lunge himself at whatever side of the cage I approached from to get me. He would aggressively dive bomb me from his playstands, boings, atoms .. you name it. I actually took to constantly walking around with a pillow or magazine to ward him off.
Now, when I say dive bomb, I don't mean just take fly byes at me, I mean .. latch onto my head, neck, shoulders .. etc., and attack .. viscously. This went on for months until one day, he caught me off guard, with no pillow, no magazine, nothing ... and really got me good. Bites to my neck, chin, ear, nose, eye and shoulders .. all with lightening speed. Not little nips, these were deep nasty bites. We won't even talk about the bites I got trying to get him off of me. It was scary .. really scary, to have this bird who really seemed to just lose his mind like that. I was shaken, scared and most of all .. really, really MAD!! This bird, who I spent hours cooking for, shopping for, cleaning up after, giving him everything I could think of to make his life happy and fulfilling .. had just viscously attacked me for no reason at all.
Now, before everyone gets all "oh, what were the triggers, something was a trigger" .. please .. save the positive reinforcement/trigger theory for some other type of bird .. I'm not a birdie novice, I know all about triggers, and reinforcing good behaviors .. blah, blah, blah, blah. I tried every solution in the book, on the web, in Caique forums .. etc., etc., etc. You name it, I tried it. Moving cages, moving playstands, changing diets, separating them .. all of it. Remember, I'm not talking about a few months of this, I'm talking just over a year.
Anyway, that day .. after the attack, I knew I had had enough. I will take A LOT from my birds, will sacrifice a lot, do everything and anything in my power to give them the best lives I possibly can. However .. I will NOT tolerate a bird who wants to attack my face .. that is my line in the sand. Bite my hands, arms, feet .. whatever .. but .. going after my face/head .. consistently ... I could not have. I'm no beauty queen to begin with, however, I still like my lips, ears, nose, eyes more or less attached to my body and without major damage. The day of the attack, he got the corner of my eye .. another 1/4" inch, and he could have done some serious and lasting damage.
So, I did what I had been thinking of doing, but held off. I clipped his wings. It was the one solution I didn't really want to try, but .. felt at this point, I had to do. I could not have this bird flying at me all the time. I was not so much afraid of him, but of what I might do. I'm only human, and when you're being attacked, certain self preservation reactions come into play. I'll be honest .. I really did want to drop kick his feathered butt across the room that day. Those who say "Oh, don't react, they live for the reaction" .. yeah, well, you guys go with that .. good luck .. I'll send Ayeko to you for a flying facial attack and see if you don't react!!
Yep, I clipped him that day. Figuring that it would at least allow me to walk around my own home without being disfigured for life ... and it would allow Ayeko to continue living here, and not end up on the BBQ for dinner.
Well, Cakes are stubborn little monsters, and while the clipping made things a bit easier .. he still didn't give up. Have I mentioned how far a Cake can leap off of something when they are determined? Strong legs those suckers have. Ayeko could enter the birdie Olympics with his long jump, I'm serious .. he had it mastered and would launch himself at me from across the room constantly. If he missed, he'd just do his PO'd Cake hop across the floor to attack my feet. Gotta say, although I didn't want to encourage it .. it was very funny to watch. Needless to say, going barefoot was never an option if Ayeko was out!
So, we continued on this path for several months. I just gave Ayeko a wide berth .. and was careful around the Cake cage .. he also went thru a phase of not wanting me to touch the cage .. that was fun too .. always having to move them far, far away from their cage just to clean it, or even put food/water in it .. yeah, lots and lots of fun with that.
I started thinking that if he was a human child with these type of tantrums and attitudes, that he'd be put on some type of medication or something. I really felt I had a chemically imbalanced Caique .. something in his brain just wasn't wired right. Enki wasn't like this at all. She remained sweet and easy to handle. I'm not a fan of "big pharma" at all .. I believe too many "problems" in people's lives are just pill popped away, but really, that's just putting band-aids over bullet holes, masking the issues, but not actually solving anything. However, as much as I'm against medicating for certain issues, I started to look into anything that might help Ayeko with his craziness. I wanted my nice bird back, I wanted us to live out our lives together without all this aggression, fear, worry, resentment .. you name it.
Ayeko is stubborn, but .. I'm even more so. I made a commitment to him and I wasn't going to give up until I had exhausted every single resource at my disposal. Trust me, in my head, the nasty "R" word went around and around. I thought about it, I really did. How much easier my life would be without the Cakes, specifically Ayeko. No dive bombing, no launching attacks, being able to have the other birds out in the same area without as much fear and worry. However, what would rehoming him solve really? He'd become someone else's problem, perhaps someone who wasn't as tolerant <or as much of a glutton for punishment> as I am. What would happen to him, given his personality? I couldn't even imagine it .. what might happen to him. Yes, there was a chance he just hated me, and might love someone else .. but .. that was just a rationale, something fleeting I thought to myself .. "Oh, he might be so much happier someplace else, with someone else". I couldn't risk it though. As much as he drove me up a wall and made me furious with his actions, I loved the little monster.
So, I starting looking into supplements that might help with his overactive hatred of me. My first go to was Avi-Calm .. a bit sprinkled on his foods and a bit sprinkled in his water. I had nothing to lose, and didn't see anything in the product that was harmful. It took about six/eight weeks, but I did start seeing an easing up of the kill mode. I also looked into herbal teas .. specifically ones that Jason Crean is working with. He had a tea blend that had some success with calming feather pluckers/mutilators .. I had purchased it for Tikki .. and figured, why not try a bit with Ayeko. So a bit of herbal tea daily was added as well.
It's been about 3 months now with this new protocol, just a light sprinkle of Avi-Calm in the food, and a splash of herbal tea in the water bowl, and I must say, there have been no real attacks. Ayeko is still a crazy Cake .. and has his moods of course, but he is no where near as aggressive towards me as he once was. He hasn't launched himself at me for no good reason .. <all bets are off if I'm on the phone, he'll try to kill if he sees the phone>. I can touch his cage without problem, I can actually get him to step up to my hand without risking an ER trip. I still have to watch his body language of course, but now it's no different than watching any of my other birds for signs of "trouble". I'm quite happy with the progress and tentative peace we seem to have at the moment.
My next step is going to be the much talked about essential oils <bird safe>, that Dr. Melissa Shelton will be lecturing about at TASC, truly fascinating stuff there, and something I'll definitely be investing in, in the near future. I've ordered her new book as a start, but can't want to hear her speak about her findings on these oils and their properties.
So hear I am .. at the near end of this very long story. My "solutions" haven't solved the bird aggression issue, but I truly don't think anything is going to "solve" that issue, it is what it is, Cakes are known for it, and that part, I can deal with.
I've been thinking of how and when to make this thread for a while now. I know there are many who may not agree with my actions/reactions/solutions .. etc., and that's okay, nobody has to agree with me .. we all do what we do with our flocks to make things work in our own, personal way. I'm just sharing my experience, take it as you will. I thought, Easter Sunday was a good time to post this .. spring .. new beginnings .. that whole angle.
Take from my ongoing journey what you will. I hope that one day, soon, Ayeko won't "need" the supplements, and perhaps all of this nonsense was just a growing up/hormonal phase, which, all said and done, I believe it is, just a very severe one. Most Cakes get rehomed at around the 5 year mark .. seems to be the onset of the "bad times". I'm going push thru it with him, we're both just too stubborn to give up on each other .. lol .. besides, I do love my little beasty boy!
.... End of very, very long story ...