Help!!!! So I just got my Caique 3 days ago. He has been re-homed and he has been very sweet with his previous owner and very sweet with her 2 children and other people who came to her house. Now that I have him he’s use to me and only try’s to bite if he sometimes doesn’t want to be picked up but I usually then let him come to me. But now with other family members in my household including my boyfriend when he comes over. Dougal (3 year old Caique) he try’s to fly and attack them! He launches himself at my moms and my bf. But he won’t attack me. I don’t understand as why he’s acting like this but i keep him in my room it’s fairly quiet with my two other budgies. I feel maybe he just needs to get use to his surroundings and new environment but I don’t understand why he’s lunging and trying to attack people when they enter my room. They don’t try and touch him and they leave him be but from the moment they enter the room he seems to go into Attack mode! (Side note my bf was with me when we picked Dougal up from his previous owner)
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Help!! Caique attacking
- Thread starter Dougal
- Start date
He walks back and fourth and gets prepared to fly and launch himself at them when they enter my room. His pupils dilate when he sees them. Again my mom and bf work all day so they barley see him as is and offer him food through the bars of the cage as he try’s to attack if he’s out. But if he’s going to be bad I can’t keep him which breaks my heart but I’m expecting a little one in April and if Dougal can’t accept other people I wouldn’t won’t him around my child until they were old enough to handle him but that wouldn’t be for years. What should I do?
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GoDucks
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I am fairly new to the bird world myself so I don't have a lot of experience to offer but I do think that three days is a little too soon for a bird to really be comfortable with new people. You are spending more time with him right now, so it is understandable that you are reaping the rewards of his affection. How old is Douglas- could puberty be kicking in?
As far as letting a parrot near a baby?- I wouldn't do it no matter how mellow the bird appears to be.
As far as letting a parrot near a baby?- I wouldn't do it no matter how mellow the bird appears to be.
This is caiques.
Mine attacks my husband who is older and diabetic. She launches at him and gets the back of his neck, and if he puts his hand up she bites his hands.
What I’ve started doing is having him wear a thick towel around his neck and keep a magazine in his hands so when she flies at him he can wave it to scare her off.
Sometimes she still gets him.
Others will tell you to target train; for this bird it doesn’t matter. When she’s in attack mode she has laser focus.
I have another one that’s only been here 3 weeks and he attacks me. I am not afraid and he’s coming to learn that. I make him come out of his cage and get on a perch. If I see him starting to lunge I say no.he often gets me anyway — and hangs on, I have to shake him off. But there’s been a lot of improvement. A couple days ago he got in position, then he thought better of it and backed off.
Mine attacks my husband who is older and diabetic. She launches at him and gets the back of his neck, and if he puts his hand up she bites his hands.
What I’ve started doing is having him wear a thick towel around his neck and keep a magazine in his hands so when she flies at him he can wave it to scare her off.
Sometimes she still gets him.
Others will tell you to target train; for this bird it doesn’t matter. When she’s in attack mode she has laser focus.
I have another one that’s only been here 3 weeks and he attacks me. I am not afraid and he’s coming to learn that. I make him come out of his cage and get on a perch. If I see him starting to lunge I say no.he often gets me anyway — and hangs on, I have to shake him off. But there’s been a lot of improvement. A couple days ago he got in position, then he thought better of it and backed off.
He’s 3 years old
The eye pinning and pacing is your cue that something is about to happen. Watch for body language signs (like that) to avoid the bite.
GoDucks
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So he's not even going through puberty yet- oh boy.
Hi there, welcome to the avenue.
Caiques are certainly one of a kind. Each one is an individual and in caique time 3 days is nothing.
It helps to get the right mindset. Parrots are not like dogs or cats they are not domesticated and they are prey animals not predators. Baby caiques are very curious and ready to check out new situations and get to know new people. Once they mature then they become much more cautious in nature. So while it is tempting to move quickly with socializing and getting them settled into a new home you need to take a careful look at the pace required by your particular bird. Each one is an individual. When you are working with a bird, especially when you first meet them or bring them home you need to be very careful to avoid creating a fear response or an aggressive response. I would start with him in one room with just one person and get to know his body language and how to respond to him to avoid creating both fear and aggression. You need to begin building up a record of trust, this is done through sharing pleasant and desired experiences with your bird and avoiding negative ones. The key is that the experiences have to be positive and valuable to your bird. You need to see evidence of this. An indication of a positive experience is that they bird comes back for more, has a relaxed posture and does not show fear or aggression.
You describe aggressive posturing perfectly here: "He walks back and fourth and gets prepared to fly and launch himself at them when they enter my room. His pupils dilate when he sees them. Again my mom and bf work all day so they barley see him as is and offer him food through the bars of the cage as he try’s to attack if he’s out. " If you want to build trust then you need to let you bird know that you understand him, you need to stop what you are doing and go back to where the bird is not acting this way but goes back to being relaxed or at least non threatening. If you do not show that you understand and you push forward then most caiques will not back down, they will escalate to more threatening or aggressive behaviors. If there is a pattern of ignoring the threats then the bird might just skip on ahead to attacking without warning. If threats get the desired result then they will usually not escalate to more aggression such as an attack. If it means stepping back or even leaving the room then that is what you need to do. If this happens when your mom or boyfriend enter the room when he is out but he will take food from their hands while in his cage then it means he is comfortable with them offering food while he is caged but not approaching while he is out. Perhaps he feels secure in his cage, so work with that.
Eliminate the negative experiences that trigger fear and aggression and then build trust using the positive experiences to build upon.
Also I feel like you may need to adjust your expectations. Many parrots do not like new people, many pick a favorite and are aggressive to others. This is just how they are. I would also give serious consideration to how you will handle your bird with your baby. I have 10 caiques and some I would trust with a baby in the room and others I would absolutely not trust with a child who is not old enough to move slowly and follow a consistent method of handling. I know some kids this is 4 years old for others it is 14.
I often allow children to offer treats to my birds through the cage bars first so I can observe the behavior of both. Occasionally a child acts in such away that I feel they can meet the bird in person.
When I show people my birds it goes something like this...Do you want to see my birds, move slow and walk in here. Be carefully not to touch their cages if they are scared they might bite. Oh and that one over there will bite you if you touch her cage. She will sneak up on you so be careful. Then I start feeding the birds treats. As the birds get more comfortable, I ask the guest if they want to feed them and I let them offer treats to the birds who are comfortable and friendly and we let the others be. If this is all going well. I might ask if they want me to let some out. If they say yes then I ask them to stand back and tell them the birds are going to fly by when they come out. Then the birds will fly up on the cabinets. They will observe for 5-10 minutes before deciding they might be comfortable coming down and getting more treats. Once they come down they will often take treats from the new people and then eventually climb up on them and continue with the treats.
This is a situation where I can show off my birds without creating fear or aggression in them and while it seems slow at first it is much faster than trying to rush them and never really getting to where I want to go. You can do something similar with a pet in how you introduce him to new family members.
It is totally worth investing some time in learning how to handle parrots using positive reinforcement, force free and gentle handling. It isn't always intuitive but over time you can learn.
I feel this is the best thing you can do for your parrots.
Good luck with your new bird
I know many people with children and parrots and it is doable with the right kids and the right parrots but you need the right mix.
Caiques are certainly one of a kind. Each one is an individual and in caique time 3 days is nothing.
It helps to get the right mindset. Parrots are not like dogs or cats they are not domesticated and they are prey animals not predators. Baby caiques are very curious and ready to check out new situations and get to know new people. Once they mature then they become much more cautious in nature. So while it is tempting to move quickly with socializing and getting them settled into a new home you need to take a careful look at the pace required by your particular bird. Each one is an individual. When you are working with a bird, especially when you first meet them or bring them home you need to be very careful to avoid creating a fear response or an aggressive response. I would start with him in one room with just one person and get to know his body language and how to respond to him to avoid creating both fear and aggression. You need to begin building up a record of trust, this is done through sharing pleasant and desired experiences with your bird and avoiding negative ones. The key is that the experiences have to be positive and valuable to your bird. You need to see evidence of this. An indication of a positive experience is that they bird comes back for more, has a relaxed posture and does not show fear or aggression.
You describe aggressive posturing perfectly here: "He walks back and fourth and gets prepared to fly and launch himself at them when they enter my room. His pupils dilate when he sees them. Again my mom and bf work all day so they barley see him as is and offer him food through the bars of the cage as he try’s to attack if he’s out. " If you want to build trust then you need to let you bird know that you understand him, you need to stop what you are doing and go back to where the bird is not acting this way but goes back to being relaxed or at least non threatening. If you do not show that you understand and you push forward then most caiques will not back down, they will escalate to more threatening or aggressive behaviors. If there is a pattern of ignoring the threats then the bird might just skip on ahead to attacking without warning. If threats get the desired result then they will usually not escalate to more aggression such as an attack. If it means stepping back or even leaving the room then that is what you need to do. If this happens when your mom or boyfriend enter the room when he is out but he will take food from their hands while in his cage then it means he is comfortable with them offering food while he is caged but not approaching while he is out. Perhaps he feels secure in his cage, so work with that.
Eliminate the negative experiences that trigger fear and aggression and then build trust using the positive experiences to build upon.
Also I feel like you may need to adjust your expectations. Many parrots do not like new people, many pick a favorite and are aggressive to others. This is just how they are. I would also give serious consideration to how you will handle your bird with your baby. I have 10 caiques and some I would trust with a baby in the room and others I would absolutely not trust with a child who is not old enough to move slowly and follow a consistent method of handling. I know some kids this is 4 years old for others it is 14.
I often allow children to offer treats to my birds through the cage bars first so I can observe the behavior of both. Occasionally a child acts in such away that I feel they can meet the bird in person.
When I show people my birds it goes something like this...Do you want to see my birds, move slow and walk in here. Be carefully not to touch their cages if they are scared they might bite. Oh and that one over there will bite you if you touch her cage. She will sneak up on you so be careful. Then I start feeding the birds treats. As the birds get more comfortable, I ask the guest if they want to feed them and I let them offer treats to the birds who are comfortable and friendly and we let the others be. If this is all going well. I might ask if they want me to let some out. If they say yes then I ask them to stand back and tell them the birds are going to fly by when they come out. Then the birds will fly up on the cabinets. They will observe for 5-10 minutes before deciding they might be comfortable coming down and getting more treats. Once they come down they will often take treats from the new people and then eventually climb up on them and continue with the treats.
This is a situation where I can show off my birds without creating fear or aggression in them and while it seems slow at first it is much faster than trying to rush them and never really getting to where I want to go. You can do something similar with a pet in how you introduce him to new family members.
It is totally worth investing some time in learning how to handle parrots using positive reinforcement, force free and gentle handling. It isn't always intuitive but over time you can learn.
I feel this is the best thing you can do for your parrots.
Good luck with your new bird
I know many people with children and parrots and it is doable with the right kids and the right parrots but you need the right mix.
