Caique v Caique - managing issues

[2fruitcaiq]

Seeking your thoughts about this situation:

2 caiques - male BHC approx 4 years old and female WBC approx 5 years old - they've been cage mates since the BHC was a baby.

When in the cage and for most of the year they get along and have minor squabbles as caiques do.

The male has some known triggers and when in a heightened state attacks anything. I noticed this behaviour increased last year for a few months during breeding season and its starting again but seems to have worsened. Previously he didn't try to mate with the female but the past week he has. She's been telling him no but her warning noise seems to also be triggering him and causing physical violence.

Last year we housed them separately for a month until hormones settled and returned them to share a cage under supervision until we were satisfied it had passed. They never displayed issues outside of the cage if they were out together or towards our other parrots.

I assume this is going to need long term management (each breeding season at minimum). I do not breed pets or animals and I don't intend to get any more pets (we have 12 parrots, mostly rescues).

I'm taking both parrots for a vet check and setting up a 2nd permanent cage so it's always available to split them.

I'm also working on giving them to more enrichment - we've been doing target training for a while which they both are very receptive to. They've always had time out of the cage to fly, explore, bathe, forage, socialise etc. We're also looking to get a birdie backpack and harness train soon.

Has anyone else had experiences where they need to split their caiques (either temporary or permanently)? I'd like to hear your experiences.

Any suggestions or comments that might help set us up for success in this type of situation - please share them or any recommended material/resources is welcome.

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[April]

@Irishj9 @Laurie Any ideas?

 

[Irishj9]

Yes you need to split them. Ive seen a pair of 9 years, suddenly get into difficulty when one of them is not in the mood to start the breeding cycle. And violence does follow. In the wild they simply fly away, but in our homes theyre locked into close proximity
Split them up into separate cages.

 

[Irishj9]

But keep the cages close. Watch if theyre trying to be close to each other. Then you know when its time to let them be together again

 

[2fruitcaiq]

This member never logged back into the forum after making this post, so it is highly unlikely that they will ever see it.

Yes you need to split them. Ive seen a pair of 9 years, suddenly get into difficulty when one of them is not in the mood to start the breeding cycle. And violence does follow. In the wild they simply fly away, but in our homes theyre locked into close proximity
Split them up into separate cages.

Thanks for the response. That's a really good point that in the wild they can get away from each other but locked to cages there's no where to go.

We had our vet checks today, both are healthy. We've got a few more behavioural things to try and will also explore treatment if needed. The male's physical exam suggested he might have an enlarged teste which not only could me making him extra hormonal but also uncomfortable.

 

[April]

Thanks for the response. That's a really good point that in the wild they can get away from each other but locked to cages there's no where to go.

We had our vet checks today, both are healthy. We've got a few more behavioural things to try and will also explore treatment if needed. The male's physical exam suggested he might have an enlarged teste which not only could me making him extra hormonal but also uncomfortable.

@Kassiani doesn't one of your boys have enlarged testes?

 

[Kassiani]

Unfortunately, yes I do. I apologize for the late response! I'm sorry to hear your Caiques are going through this!

Many birds in the pet trade have overblown hormonal responses. I've read a theory that those birds who are "easy breeders" are the ones continually producing offspring who in turn are "easy breeders". Artificial selection, if you will. Hormones are natural and how each species propagates, but the hormonal responses that lead to health problems are not.

I have a male budgerigar who will be 7 years old this fall. Back in February, he began to act sick, held up one of his legs and favored it when moving on a perch, and seemed in pain. I thought he had a tumor. It turns out, his testes were so large that they were pressing on nerves and causing him pain. My vet said that his were the largest budgie testes he had ever seen.

I was given pain medication, but what I have to do for him is increase the amount of dark time he has each night to as many as 14 hours. And when I say dark, I mean total darkness. No electronic lights, windows covered in several layers so that daylight does not come through, no night lights, etc. I have to get them up at 7:30 a.m. to leave for work, so I was covering them up by 3:30 p.m. for 10 weeks to reset his tiny brain (I was working from home almost entirely at that point). He shares a cage with another male that I had purchased at the same time. They were not separated during this time--but budgies don't wrestle and fight the way that Caiques do.

I hope this information helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[2fruitcaiq]

Unfortunately, yes I do. I apologize for the late response! I'm sorry to hear your Caiques are going through this!

Many birds in the pet trade have overblown hormonal responses. I've read a theory that those birds who are "easy breeders" are the ones continually producing offspring who in turn are "easy breeders". Artificial selection, if you will. Hormones are natural and how each species propagates, but the hormonal responses that lead to health problems are not.

I have a male budgerigar who will be 7 years old this fall. Back in February, he began to act sick, held up one of his legs and favored it when moving on a perch, and seemed in pain. I thought he had a tumor. It turns out, his testes were so large that they were pressing on nerves and causing him pain. My vet said that his were the largest budgie testes he had ever seen.

I was given pain medication, but what I have to do for him is increase the amount of dark time he has each night to as many as 14 hours. And when I say dark, I mean total darkness. No electronic lights, windows covered in several layers so that daylight does not come through, no night lights, etc. I have to get them up at 7:30 a.m. to leave for work, so I was covering them up by 3:30 p.m. for 10 weeks to reset his tiny brain (I was working from home almost entirely at that point). He shares a cage with another male that I had purchased at the same time. They were not separated during this time--but budgies don't wrestle and fight the way that Caiques do.

I hope this information helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for sharing!!

That's an interesting point about holding up/ favouring 1 leg. I don't know if it's coincidence but my caique has been doing the same the last few days.

Yes about the total darkness! We've had our vet visit and although we already give them 12 hours we've been advised to start the 12 hours earlier in the evening. Thankfully we already have some heavy weight moving blankets so they're coming in handy.

Due to the level of aggression to the female and to us, he's also just had a hormone implant but have been told the best chance of it working is to keep on top of the environmental and behavioural influences, so fingers crossed!!