Suggestions and tips on if I should get a caique

[Sayed]

yes I indeed did read a bunch of comments and threads and now I’m unsure of if I should get a caique. I have 2 cockatiels who have a nice big cage in a bird room, but they rly don’t like human interaction and that’s ok, I will care for them for as long as they are alive…or I am alive idk. So I tho maybe I should get a change in mood and get the literal opposite of a pair of female cockatiels who don’t want anything to do with humans which would be a caique. And I have 2 days of experience with caiques which was not pretty at all, the caique was 2 years old and unbeknownst to me was also not rly trained and was looking for blood and fought with one of my cockatiels which left both sides with a few less feathers safe to say both that caique and my cockatiels are afraid of each other seriously. But that caique was also very playful. That caique was not mine and was for a friend who gave it to me temporarily to babysit…and now after seeing these comments and threads I’m really unsure of if I should get one. But I rly do want one…I also have another place (much smaller than my tiels room) where I could theoretically place it but I would like some suggestions as well

 

[Parront]

Hi, Caiques in general are "clowns" of the parrot world. Properly trained they make excellent parrot pets. I had 2 at one point in time, a brother and sister. The brother was a real cuddler and a prankster. He would have us laughing so hard. The girl was just more shy. Just like people they all have their own personalities. If you could find a BHC or A White Belly Caique in your area I would look for a younger hand trained one. As with any parrot, it is all in how they are raised. Good Luck
Pic of Peanut (boy) & Popcorn (Girl)

 

[Sayed]

Hi, Caiques in general are "clowns" of the parrot world. Properly trained they make excellent parrot pets. I had 2 at one point in time, a brother and sister. The brother was a real cuddler and a prankster. He would have us laughing so hard. The girl was just more shy. Just like people they all have their own personalities. If you could find a BHC or A White Belly Caique in your area I would look for a younger hand trained one. As with any parrot, it is all in how they are raised. Good Luck
Pic of Peanut (boy) & Popcorn (Girl)
View attachment 470138

They look extremely cute!
well u see as much as I want to get a young hand raised little clown from a trusted breeder the reality is that i dont have many options where I live and the best thing I could find over 6 months of searching is a breeder who has some 2 Month olders who are not weaned and that’s not a good thing, but I was able to find a trainer/raiser who trains young parrots and weans very young parrots as well and he is well known but I’m not sure if that is a good idea or not

 

[TikiMyn]

Caiques are known for that "looking for blood", they generally do very badly with other parrots. Mine are no exception, under supervision one od them does okay with my macaw and golden, the other does not. Smaller birds get hunted, never tried but they saw them a few times through bars/windows. Baby caiques are cute and sweet. It is when hormones set in you will see the real personality and behaviour. You will probably have to deal with agression towards you.
Honestly I'd focus on traibing your cockatiels first. You will need those skills if you want a caique.
I'd get two if any, they do so much better with anpther one to play with.
If you want them around your cockatiels, just dont. They'll end up badly hurt or dead.
I keep my caiques seperate, one is okay qith two other birds, but only under strict supervision. This is a caique that as baby was described as so soft for a caique, they had to put her on her own. I got her later as a rehome. But even she, an exceptionally sweet caique, shows exceptional agression towards non caiques.
Caiques can be agressive towards people as well, would you be okay with that?

 

[Sayed]

Caiques are known for that "looking for blood", they generally do very badly with other parrots. Mine are no exception, under supervision one od them does okay with my macaw and golden, the other does not. Smaller birds get hunted, never tried but they saw them a few times through bars/windows. Baby caiques are cute and sweet. It is when hormones set in you will see the real personality and behaviour. You will probably have to deal with agression towards you.
Honestly I'd focus on traibing your cockatiels first. You will need those skills if you want a caique.
I'd get two if any, they do so much better with anpther one to play with.
If you want them around your cockatiels, just dont. They'll end up badly hurt or dead.
I keep my caiques seperate, one is okay qith two other birds, but only under strict supervision. This is a caique that as baby was described as so soft for a caique, they had to put her on her own. I got her later as a rehome. But even she, an exceptionally sweet caique, shows exceptional agression towards non caiques.
Caiques can be agressive towards people as well, would you be okay with that?

yeah I know they can be pretty aggressive. Ig I do have another place I could put em there (albeit a much smaller room) and i rly tried to train my cockatiels but considering they are extremely skittish and happier by themselves idk if I can do that. I do have a bit of experience training caiques and they are very smart and learn fast. But idk that’s why I’m asking

 

[TikiMyn]

yeah I know they can be pretty aggressive. Ig I do have another place I could put em there (albeit a much smaller room) and i rly tried to train my cockatiels but considering they are extremely skittish and happier by themselves idk if I can do that. I do have a bit of experience training caiques and they are very smart and learn fast. But idk that’s why I’m asking

Can you feed them from a long spray of millet? What is their background? It shouldn't be too hard to make them a bit friendlier, there are many training methods you could look into.

Caiques are pretty smart, I feel one of my girls understands a LOT, but I have just 2 so not a big sample. But my second caique is not significantly easier to train then the tiels I have met. Caiques can really hunt you and be agressive towards you, would you be okay with that? Flying attacks etc, it happens. They are very high maintance birds in terms of stimulation. How much will they be out of the cage? I would get two if you can. If they act up, do you have a big enough area so they can still do their thing? Like a bird safe room or walk in cage. This may only become a problem in 2/3 years if you get youngsters, but it is good to be prepared. The smallest cage id go would be 40 inches.

 

[Sayed]

Can you feed them from a long spray of millet? What is their background? It shouldn't be too hard to make them a bit friendlier, there are many training methods you could look into.

Caiques are pretty smart, I feel one of my girls understands a LOT, but I have just 2 so not a big sample. But my second caique is not significantly easier to train then the tiels I have met. Caiques can really hunt you and be agressive towards you, would you be okay with that? Flying attacks etc, it happens. They are very high maintance birds in terms of stimulation. How much will they be out of the cage? I would get two if you can. If they act up, do you have a big enough area so they can still do their thing? Like a bird safe room or walk in cage. This may only become a problem in 2/3 years if you get youngsters, but it is good to be prepared. The smallest cage id go would be 40 inches.

my cockatiels background is really unknown, a relative gifted them to me after I lost my lovebird. I have experience with caiques and caique bites and I know how aggressive they can be, and yes I do have a bird room where I could theoretically put them in but I think that will cause problems because my cockatiels are also there. If I can even get one that’s a miracle, young caiques are really rare here.

 

[TikiMyn]

my cockatiels background is really unknown, a relative gifted them to me after I lost my lovebird. I have experience with caiques and caique bites and I know how aggressive they can be, and yes I do have a bird room where I could theoretically put them in but I think that will cause problems because my cockatiels are also there. If I can even get one that’s a miracle, young caiques are really rare here.

If your cockatiels are in there I can almost gurentee problems. How old were the caiques you met? A 6 years old is drastically different from younger birds. I would focus on establishing a bond woth your cockatiels first, teach them some basic things like step up, look intk training. You will probably need that with a caique eventually. Look into behavioral modification training, positive reinforcement etc

 

[Sayed]

If your cockatiels are in there I can almost gurentee problems. How old were the caiques you met? A 6 years old is drastically different from younger birds. I would focus on establishing a bond woth your cockatiels first, teach them some basic things like step up, look intk training. You will probably need that with a caique eventually. Look into behavioral modification training, positive reinforcement etc

2 year older. I once also met a very sweet and playful 4 year older. He or she was very playful but the 2 year older I babysat for 2 days were a nightmare

 

[TikiMyn]

2 year older. I once also met a very sweet and playful 4 year older. He or she was very playful but the 2 year older I babysat for 2 days were a nightmare

What did he do exactly? May help see if it was sory of typical. All parrots are complicated creatures, but the problems you may get with a caique are more complex than what you typically run in to with a cockatiel. Not saying either is smarter or better, but they are different of course. Caiques don't do well with corrections, no parrot does but if I do something that comes even close to challenging one of my caiques I get flashing eyes and they get dangerous, it is all about reading them and adapting the environment. When playing they can get overexcited and draw blood.
Little example, Skyla my caique landed on the laptop I was typing on. She immediantly went to bite the screen, so I covered it with my hand so she couldn't, immediantly she eye pinned and lashed out. Not the best reaction on my part, byt I had been caught up in writing. That is not bad behaviour or training, just their natural reaction.
Good training is still being able to calmly remove them(but not a failure either if you can't always, but with a good training history I find you usually can)

Keep in mind the dust from tiels may harm a caique or other neotropical parrot, it is called polumanary hypersensitivity if I typed that rightxD I considered adding a dusty bird for a while, but seems there is little research and you may not know there is a problem untill your bird is very sick and has lung scarring. Caiques are not typically one of people warn you of as high risk, but thought I should mention it anyway.

 

[Sayed]

What did he do exactly? May help see if it was sory of typical. All parrots are complicated creatures, but the problems you may get with a caique are more complex than what you typically run in to with a cockatiel. Not saying either is smarter or better, but they are different of course. Caiques don't do well with corrections, no parrot does but if I do something that comes even close to challenging one of my caiques I get flashing eyes and they get dangerous, it is all about reading them and adapting the environment. When playing they can get overexcited and draw blood.
Little example, Skyla my caique landed on the laptop I was typing on. She immediantly went to bite the screen, so I covered it with my hand so she couldn't, immediantly she eye pinned and lashed out. Not the best reaction on my part, byt I had been caught up in writing. That is not bad behaviour or training, just their natural reaction.
Good training is still being able to calmly remove them(but not a failure either if you can't always, but with a good training history I find you usually can)

Keep in mind the dust from tiels may harm a caique or other neotropical parrot, it is called polumanary hypersensitivity if I typed that rightxD I considered adding a dusty bird for a while, but seems there is little research and you may not know there is a problem untill your bird is very sick and has lung scarring. Caiques are not typically one of people warn you of as high risk, but thought I should mention it anyway.

Well she or he was not really interested with interacting with me or anyone she or he would play with anything else and just bite me or anything else that tried to play or pick him or her up she or he also would scare my cockatiels from outside the cage and once even leaped in and fought with cinnamon which fortunately I was able to separate them in time (that was the 2 year old caique I babysat). I also once went to one of my distant Relatives who happened to have a caique, she was the sweetest and most playful bird I have ever seen, sure she did nip at people a few times but never bite hard and would just Love to have some head scratches. (That was the 4 year old caique I met). So now I’m not sure anymore