The good, the bad, and the ugly about caiques

[nebraska]

finally i found a way to write something
i got scared reading all this... what please is going to come there? i am a peace loving person and it seems i dont have two peace loving birds. Before i bought those two all i read was soo cool and now i find myself in trouble. how will i come along what can i do? Here are the facts:

i first got a handraised male caique (chesmu) to see if i come along - he was so sweet and learned fast. But i found him to attached to me so i thought after half a year i must look for a female - which took me a while. I got a natural raised female bird (malika). they liked each other right from the start so that worked out - what a relieve.

My chesmu got 2 years - my sister came for a visit and he landed right on her back - i was not in the room - when i came in he saw me and noticed there was something wrong - from that moment on he attacks all my bloodrelatives. like in hitchcock the birds. flying right to them and attacking.
since a month he suddenly started biting me. ( i have to say i have problems in knowing what those movements he is makeing mean- tryed to find information but could not find any) He was playing with the female bird suddenly jumps up and attacks my right hand. he did that 1 week long every day. so when you can count all my fingers had a bleeding mark. i went for a 4 day vacation and let the birds with friends that had enough courage to take them. i warned them. He was so nice when i came back.
so it is like i read before it switches in his brain and he wants to bite.

these red eyes - they get them with all kind of excitement as i find is that correct?
what does it mean if he makes himself big lifts up a little his wings and walks like a flamenco steps to the right and left (looks very funny) and has these eys????
when strangers come he usually is in his cage cause i am afraid he attacks them he goes down and up with his head - far down- what does that mean??
How do i see he is just excited or he wants to bite??

I do not have any problems with the female bird - sometimes i think she knows what he is up to she comes over and pulls him and pushes him away from me just a little bit. .... oh i wanted to write he just bit my right hand till now - so i can take him with the left hand to hold him and keep him from biting more.

today my niece was visiting he was like woau.... i put on his harness and he knows he cannot fly and bite her but he was just waiting for a moment when i was not watching im closly. but since i knew that i was watching. now the female saw my niece has something to drink and wanted some so she got some. then i thought ok he is on my hand very calm cleaning himself (does that also belong to --- i am getting ready to bite?) then i held him so he could not jump over and she held the class all the way on the bottom so suddenly he bit me in the finger he was sitting on 4-5 times ! very fast i took him with the left hand held him and he looked at me as if he wanted to say : ups i thought this was not your hand..... i just put him back in his cage. there was no more aggresion ... other days it took 15 min to cool down for him. he would have attackt again. today nope.
i do not understand that?!

so maybe someone has an idea and can help me a little bit. thank you in any case for trying

 

[nebraska]

Ok now what dös this mean look at the eyes see those chipmunk cheeks? The Sound is zzzzzzzz to this picture please help me

 

[nebraska]

Ok I finally got a very short video of my male caique doing( as I say it ) the Max.. But I could not post it so I took a picture of it .. You see the wings lifted up the eyes with rings but not red.. What does that mean ? What is it ? Usually he walks very funny too doing this maybe I get another video but I don't know why it did not post ..
Greetings Angela

 

[rockybird]

I cant get the video to work, but from the pic, his posture and eyes say "stay away." If I see this behavior in my caique, I know that if I touch him, I will be bit.

When he was younger, there was no consoling him when in this state. Now that he is older, I gently talk to him. When he is calm, he will sidle over to me with his head down for scritches. I have to be careful petting him, but after awhile, he is calm enough to handle. I do it all at his pace. When he was younger though, it could be many hours before I could handle him. I just had to wait it out.

 

[nebraska]

I cant get the video to work, but from the pic, his posture and eyes say "stay away." If I see this behavior in my caique, I know that if I touch him, I will be bit.

When he was younger, there was no consoling him when in this state. Now that he is older, I gently talk to him. When he is calm, he will sidle over to me with his head down for scritches. I have to be careful petting him, but after awhile, he is calm enough to handle. I do it all at his pace. When he was younger though, it could be many hours before I could handle him. I just had to wait it out.

Ok I need help ... When he was younger (he is two years now) there was no consoling ? What does consoling mean?

He came over to me when I took that video ... I covered him with a little blanket cause I did not know what he was up to. But he is doing that since I have him and it looks really funny ... When I comb my hair he does that but it looks like he would like it ...?.

 

[nebraska]

Ok I need help ... When he was younger (he is two years now) there was no consoling ? What does consoling mean?

He came over to me when I took that video ... I covered him with a little blanket cause I did not know what he was up to. But he is doing that since I have him and it looks really funny ... When I comb my hair he does that but it looks like he would like it ...?.

Chesmu doing the Max - YouTube maybe this helps

 

[rockybird]

I cant tell from the video. Does he bite when he does it? My boy is 12 yrs old now. The aggression started at about 4 yrs. of age. One minute he was my fluffy playful little bird, and the next he was always angry at me, frequently drawing blood. This lasted until about 10 yrs. of age. He was very difficult to live with. A lot of changes happened quickly which preceded the change in his behavior. I moved. He has his own bird room. I really try to keep him on a routine. I do things that I know make him happy now. For instance, he loves to pounce on my hand when I am cleaning the counter. I know take a towel and pretend I am cleaning while he chases my hand. When he pounces on it, I lift him up snuggle and kiss him, and put him back on the counter to start again. He comes running every time he sees me with a paper towel now. I've learned to lightly towel (actually tee shirt - worry about over heating) him when he is angry. I also towel him sometimes to get him into the cage - but first we snuggle and walk around the house inspecting it. He loves the attention and sometimes gets sleepy in the shirt. I just love this little guy and I am so happy we have reached a happy medium, but it took many years.

 

[nebraska]

I have two as you see on the picture both babies and I am a little worried for the time to come but I am happy I found this forum to get help I feel a lot better with it.

No he did not bite me yet while doing that it seems to me more like he is making himself attractive to me but I don't know if that true or is it just because he is young or ?.... When he bites he comes over , does like a rattlesnake and jumps on my hand to bite ... But now I learned the signs in eyes and I have seen those puffed up legs that look like pans ... So I am more aware of the signs thanks to the help of people here.

 

[nebraska]

ok i just want to say that after that episode i had (episode meaning: one bloody bite every day for a week) i finally got to know when it is going to happen and that made it NOT happen i am so happy. thanks for your help.
my caiques are getting older and they do tell me when they dont want to move. we do come along great. my caique girl does not want me to use the telefone i think because there is a voice coming out and she wanted my hand away so she pinched me (i would not say bite) but her beak then broke a little bit and it bleaded a bit. i gave her rescue drops and she recouvered very fast.

greetings

 

[rockybird]

Congrats! I cannot be on the iphone with either my caique or conure on my shoulder. I believe that they are jealous that they do not have my undivided attn. My caique used to attck my face or hand if I forgot and spoke on the phone with him on my shoulder. I now believe that all of his anger stems from his perception of not having my undivided attn. when he wants it.

He rarely if ever bites now. I think realizing the cause has helped. I think he has also changed his behavior as well.

 

[JennIRL]

 

[JennIRL]

Rawr. Sorry for the blank post. My computer continues to delight.

So for me, the good, the bad and the ugly have been rolled into first-type bird parent as well.

Our Pele was originally given to my fiancee (lots of bird experience growing up) as a Christmas present the year we started dating. He was freshly weaned, had a neck defect from being too big for his egg and the most adorable puff of feathers I had ever seen. I had always loved birds and took the opportunity to play with them at the store as much as possible, so I wasn't intimidated. HOWEVER, I had no idea what we were getting into. I was strictly a dog, cat and horse person prior. In the last five years, our Pele (affectionately called "Baby Boy") has basically become my bird ambassador as well as the drill instructor for my birdie boot camp....

So to start with the good: He is love on two legs and a personality to match any Hollywood comedian. He has mastered multiple words and sounds, not all of them good for company (we tried to teach him to quack for 2 months-no dice. I stomp my foot and curse ONCE and he has me pegged.) They are intelligent and rambunctious but will also quite literally sprawl out on you for a snuggle. The noises they make are incredible. Pele has a vocabulary that constantly amuses (to name a few): multiple types of meows, songbird imitations, purring, laughing, chuckling, catcalls and several varieties of wolf-whistle. They are awesome hang-out buddies (sometimes literally watching tv while hanging off my braid). Pele has been an amazing introduction into the proper care and feeding of a parrot and he attempts to display his moods pretty distinctly, even when he's now into the hormonal phase. (And thank you for everyone who described this. I thought we had done something or someone had lost our minds.) However, this also leads to...

the Bad... like any parent, when he decides to try something new (flying all over the flippin' house and landing behind furniture after crashing into the wall.... ) your heart is in your throat. They look like little birds but they are actually both strong and sturdy. Think of a two year old- getting into everything and you think they are going to break themselves until they bounce back up and laugh and continue on their day. Pele's laugh after a mishap is the only thing that keeps me from having a heart attack. And they will do the unexpected. They will flip out their water dish "playing" or have a fit about something that up until that moment, they loved. Also, having a caique doesn't seem at all like having a different bird. Pele is currently in a cage that would be big for a Grey or two and he uses the WHOLE CAGE. I'll have to post a picture. Their space requirements alone make them a more expensive bird. Add in the weekly (if not daily) destruction of toys and you are looking at a serious investment to keep your birdie bff from getting bored and finding other outlets. A frustrated and/or bored caique can be a nightmare.

Let's talk a little more about noise. Pele has a shriek that is, pitch-wise, on par with our alarm system. He uses it whenever he pleases (really no rhyme or reason) and it is ear piercing. I know sun conures are loud. I know macaws are louder. However, this shriek is like nails on a chalk board you cannot escape from. (I blame the ringneck at his parents' house for teaching him the sound- then he put his own spin on it.) They can be very talkative and you have to be careful with certain words or they WILL use them. Just like people, birds within a species have different voices and talents and what one might mumble, the other will say clear as day in front of your grandmother and then chuckle at her shocked expression.....

The Ugly: Hormones. Can we emphasize this enough? Even our friends who are experienced bird owners are blown away by the dramatic mood swings our boy is in the throes of right now. He will go from the sweetest cheeping little tap dancer to vicious, stalker dinosaur in the blink of an eye. Sometimes there is an obvious reason, sometimes the sun got in his eyes. He's drawn blood several times in the past few years and if my fiancee is away from him for more than 24 hours (which is often right now), Pele is out for blood. We first thought this was a territorial thing as he bonded with me pretty strongly early on, but he will now flip personalities with me with no warning and I don't have to be there for him to turn vampire.

The bites hurt. Yes, the beaky pinches are unpleasant but we are talking about an actual bite. There is grinding. There is a disturbing vampiric glee to the face and sound they make when they score a direct hit. I had been nipped and pinched before handling birds but the first time Pele got around a joint, we thought there were going to be stitches involved. The infamous redeye is a sure sign of a mood shift. Just like any animal, I've learned to watch for our little velociraptor's specific behavior and warning signs and to react appropriately. When he starts to get over stimulated or excited, he goes back on his cage (but with the big drop down door open) and we move to a different space in the same room. That way, he can cool down in his cage before we get to a tantrum, rather than after. Of course, we aren't always hyper vigilant and when we relax too much, he reminds us that he is tiny but mighty. When he's out and gets totally out of control, Mr. Towel gets introduced to safely get him back in the cage. We joke that it's also a way to appease him as he gets to "bathe in the blood of his foes" as the towel is usually staunching blood from a bite. ("Joke". Yeah.) I can't wait for his hormones to settle out some so that we can go back to everyone playing with him and not fearing for our lives when he doesn't get the hot pepper out of the seed bag.....

All that being said; I can't imagine having a more amazing member of our family. Like having a child, once they are in your heart, you deal with the hormones and the mood swings because those moments get fewer and longer apart and the amazing moments, when they cuddle up under your chin or have the whole family in stitches over their acrobatics are worth it. My soul belongs to the velociraptor now. I've accepted it.


All that

 

[Irishj9]

Strange I haven't contributed to this thread already. So much good information, a must read. I will add my 10c

With a gang of these on hand, maybe I am getting a little better at reading them.

I have a new baby caique in the house 2 days only. He is let out to play for several hours a day, and is quite happy entertaining himself surfing or hairdressing or running round testing things ( he loves curtains lol)

...UNTIL

somebody decides to leave the room. Whomever decides to leave, that's the person he flies to, dropping whatever he is doing, unfailingly

2 days in the house and hes manipulating the humans already?

 

[CrestieLover]

Thank you for adding this post. When researching caiques, most info I was finding was about how energetic & comical they are. I found your site & this thread. What a great thing. It made me really think through getting a 2yr old male black headed caique - it was not an impulse buy thanks to this informative & honest thread.
I know I could possibly be 'in for' some challenging times but I knew what I was signing up for when I made my decision. THANKS!

 

[NickRollo]

I have experienced all of the above with my two year old Tango, except the stalking to kill. He is a brat when he doesn't get his way, like bedtime. But i treat him like a true two year old and woo and coo him until he is reassured and he will come off my shoulder and go to bed. One thing i do like is that he is quiet until i wake up in the morning. He hates to go to bed before dusk. If i wear him out in the evening he behaves better at bedtime. These birds need a lot of interaction and the more u do the better the behavior. .

 

[dwright27]

Guys, I am so thankful I re-visited this thread. I had forgotten ALL of the things that had been said about these adorable little monsters. I see the videos of them bouncing around and playing with foot toys but those videos don't show the "ugly" side. I am reading through the other threads that were linked on here to really solidify in my mind that a caique would be a terrible decision for me. This definitely seems like a case where the phrase, "they're not for everyone" should NOT be taken as a challenge lol!

 

[Reiker#7]

My boy WB Caique is full-throttle energy! For people who ask: I do NOT EVER recommend anyone to have one as a pet! There's SO MANY reasons why Caiques do NOT make good "pets"...now, in saying this, I've known quite a few Caiques. And I'd never give my Caique away/re-home him. Prior to bringing my Caique hm I researched for over 6 years-and still was completely unprepared for my Caiques presence.
The bad: They're VERY beaky(bite hard & often) & want to be in the middle of everything always. It is my belief most people dont want to deal with this. In my household its just me, my man & a Quaker parrot. Im the only one who can/will tolerate the Caique-the other 2 want nothing to do w/the Caique's annoying antics. He'll climb all over everything & destroying everything-you hv to keep close watch. Just like having a 2 year old human. So hard to keep up. Everything is fair game to chew, destroy, taste, climb, knock over, etc. He's messy with everything including his potty time.
The good: I am amused some of the time with his behavior. He makes me laugh. I love his cooing noise when he does decide to be sweet. His colors are beautiful, hes nice to look at & people notice...too bad because if they get to close he'll draw their blood. He lets me preen him & we both enjoy it. He's bonded with me, so I handle him a lot daily.
I'd recommend almost any other parrot as a "pet" over the Caique. I wish I woukd have known more about Quaker parrots prior to bringing my Caique into my world! But live & learn, & I do love them both dearly!

 

[Sj25]

The replies in this topic kind of scare me for what the future with my new WBC will bring me
Is there any way to prevent all the agressiveness in a few years? Like if I make sure he doesnt see me as a mate or when i set clear bowndries>

 

[WendyN]

Welcome to the forum.
Congrats on your new baby!
Enjoy your baby caique and build a good relationship with him/her. They are awesome parrots!
You can ask for help of this forum. There are many experienced parrot people who can give guidence in your journey.And you can search the posts for a particular issue you have come across.
Please introduce yourself in the Main Street, Welcome forum.
And if you can, would love to see a photo of your baby.

 

[Irishj9]

The replies in this topic kind of scare me for what the future with my new WBC will bring me .Is there any way to prevent all the agressiveness in a few years? Like if I make sure he doesnt see me as a mate or when i set clear bowndries>

I have a gang of caiques, 11 at one point, and none of them are agressive, EXCEPT WHEN YOU IGNORE THEIR WARNINGS. Act the fool, pay the price.

If you dont want to be seen as the mate, you have to let him choose one, ideally before he is two years old.

Anyone can set clear boundaries. Anyone who can get a caique to respect them is a superstar