Hello IanJ,
I have had two caiques (male and female) now since April 22 who will turn a year old later this month. I am retired and at home most of the time, so I can spend at least 5 -7 hours a day with my birds. I am glad I have two birds because I think one would be miserable alone. Plus, my birds were very bonded to each other, and I think it would have been very cruel to have separated them by only taking one. I know that many people do only have one caique but I think they would be much happier with a mate. I have also heard that sometimes two caiques who are both the same sex might get along fine at first but later after hormones hit can turn on each other (to others with more experience, please correct me if I am wrong here).
I had a cockatiel, named Lacey, who died of avian Bornavirus before I had these two caiques. She was a single bird who was very bonded to me. She was a very loving bird and loved to have neck rubs and snuggle time. She had very small poops that were very easy to clean. She went everywhere with me all day long and if I left the room she would fly to my shoulder. Her loss was devastating to say the least and I doubt I will never be “over” her loss.
My caiques are nothing like Lacey. My female caique (Winky) is very gentle and has never bitten be hard. Winky is one of the most gentle creatures I have ever had. My male caique (Dobby), on the other hand, is highly spirited and can be VERY rambunctious. Dobby has bitten me countless times, though he has never really broken the skin. Still, his beak is VERY sharp and I have no doubt that if he wanted to do real damage he could! So far he has not really tried to bite me but has just been playing or overtly excited and bit too hard. I have to watch him because he has a habit of running up my chest and grabbing my bottom lip. So far he has not bitten through it, but I worry about what could happen once hormones really hit, so I am trying to train him not to do that. He has also accidentally bitten my neck/throat area a few times when he was trying to bite/play with my shirt collar - that really freaks me out! He has left marks on my neck, but again, he is not purposely trying to bite my neck/throat. Both birds also like to chomp the writing on my tee-shirts, and have recently started putting lots of little holes in them (again, the male has a VERY sharp beak). Dobby loves to ‘surf’ on my shirts also, especially first thing in the morning. By surfing I mean he will grab hold of my finger with both feet and push his head and body back-and-forth against my shirt. Some say this is something they do to show their love. I’m not sure if that is the case, or if he is just rubbing an itch..!
Caiques poop is also about 10-times the size of a cockatiel’s and a whole LOT wetter! I have to say that they don’t poop on me as much as Lacey did, but when they do it is a lot worse. Because of their poops and their tendency to throw food (much of which is wet, like chop, fruit or a bean mix), you MUST fully clean their cage every day! It takes me on average 45-minutes each day to clean their cage, papers on the floor and under their tree. I also have a dedicated vacuum in their room (they have their own bedroom) which I use to clean up pellet food that comes out of their cage, and chomped up toys I give them to shred. I buy paper by the roll and have a cutter for it also. I go through about 720-feet (18” wide) of paper every 2.5-months (no kidding).
Caiques are also VERY loud and I wouldn’t think would be suitable for an apartment unless it was very large and their room did not border another apartment. They can really SCREAM when they want to! Sometimes they will be very vocal (scream) just for the joy of it when I am cleaning their room. I have special ear protection (made for shooting ranges) I wear when they start this because they CAN hurt your ears!
Caiques also need a LOT of toys to be happy - preferably ‘foot toys.’ They can play on their own with their toys for hours, but they will still need to spend a lot of time with you each day to be happy. My bird room has two different windows and I have built 1-foot x 3-foot platforms that fold down (with lips along the edges so the toys don’t fall off) on each window. They love to look out the windows and play with their toys on the platforms. Their house (cage) is made from two cages that are 64” x 19” each, so the interior of their house is 64” x 38” x 36”. I usually leave their door open during the day so they can climb out of the cage to access their Java tree, their windows/platforms and Lacey’s old house (40” x 40” x 60”). There are rope walkways between each area.
They love their room and all their toys, but they still want to go outside of the room into the main house, so I take them with me to go outside on the deck (in another cage on wheels) or into one of the living areas for a few hours (at least) each day. I plan to make a large platform for them so they can look out the window of the sliding glass door in the main living room so they can spend more time with me during the day.
Caiques are very social birds and they will want to be with you as much as possible. They are not birds (at least mine aren’t) that like to “snuggle” with you - they show their affection in other ways, such as surfing on you, drying off (surfing) on you after a bath, and playing with you. They are VERY intelligent birds and can be trained to sing songs you whistle but they cannot mimic your voice. Another reason to have two caiques is so they can play/wrestle with each other - that is a pure JOY to watch and even take part in!
Caiques are wonderful birds to have, but (in my opinion) are not good to have as your “first bird(s)”. They are not “easy” birds to have at all! Like most parrots they are companion birds - they not birds that you put in a dinky cage and forget about most of the day. They require a LOT of care, your attention/time, and are expensive to own. The best advice I can give you (or any other person wanting to get ANY type of parrot) is — BEFORE you ever get a caique, LEARN as much as you possibly can about them! Read all you can and watch as many YouTube videos as you can about them BEFORE you ever get one. This will make your decision on whether to get one a whole lot easier..!
