Just got a parrot tonight from a friend, he's a blackheaded Caique named Jefe. Cute little guy (hope he gets bigger!), I haven't owned a bird in so long I don't really remember what to do. My last bird I had was a parakeet I had about 7 years ago, he was pretty old, and very stubborn and ornery. Jefe is a peaceful dude, he enjoys hanging upside-down in girls' hair, laughing, playing around and stuff. Got any pointers for me?
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11:14 PM
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ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
birds creep me out. only time i like one is in the oven. i moved a guy once that had this big african gray? bird. flippin thing was huge, had a big old cage and would almost carry on a conversation.
i'll stick with dogs. if i want something that talks back i have a wife.
Not sure about that, I'm only 21 years old. If I live to the mean life expectancy for American men, the bird'll have to get over 50 years old to out-live me. It is strange thinking that he may well live until I'm in my 50's or 60's though, if I take good care of him.
birds creep me out. only time i like one is in the oven. i moved a guy once that had this big african gray? bird. flippin thing was huge, had a big old cage and would almost carry on a conversation.
i'll stick with dogs. if i want something that talks back i have a wife.
Really large birds (like Macaws) creep the living hell out of me. Birds are smart, but they're not domesticated like dogs or cats. They're somewhat unpredictable. I wouldn't really want to own a bird that could easily bite a finger off.
This parrot is actually supposed to be small. He'll get much bigger than a parakeet, but he won't become a monster.
From what I've learned of Caiques, they aren't very talkative birds. Some parrots can learn large vocabularies and stuff, Caiques usually can only learn a phrase or 2. Supposedly they make up for it with playful personalities.
Don't get the bird high dont get the bird drunk feed it fortifide food and fresh fruit don't yell at the bird don't lock it in a dark room give it plenty of toys change its water every day spend an hour a day talking and petting the bird (if it'll let you) bonding is very important don't feed it things like baccon
remember the bird is smarter then you are.
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12:21 AM
sostock Member
Posts: 5907 From: Grain Valley, MO Registered: May 2005
as a kid i had a Parakeet, he was fun, and he talked ALOT... we think he became an alcoholic, for some reason he ended up at my grandparents for a while, we were moving or somthing and we tool him over there for her to watch / take care of for a while and my grandma would hold hold a beer can up to him and he would sip the little bit of beer off the rim of the can he LOVED it, and would ask for it, his name was BJ, he would say "BJ wants a beer" but the funny thing is .... he would get drunk, he would stagger and fall off his perch it was funny as hell ( i was a kid so i didnt know any better) but we took him to our house after we moved and he went through serious withdrawls he would get depressed, pull all his feathers out, and act "goofy" so we ended up taking him back to my grandparents where he lived a happy drunken life my grandma would only drink like 1 beer a day, and the bird always had a few sips
he lived a good 8- 10 years i think, which is average for a parakeet
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12:41 AM
sostock Member
Posts: 5907 From: Grain Valley, MO Registered: May 2005
When I was little, we had a parakeet. My dad would let Snoopy (that was his name) sit on his shoulder and feed him sips of coffee out of a teaspoon.
I've seen some films and read some articles about parrots. Some of them are quite intelligent. Smarter than dogs, even. I've heard of them having 100+ word vocabularies, IIRC.
My parents have an Timneh African Grey parrot. Stupid thing can mimick almost anything and talk til theres no tommorow. Really annoying when he wants to be cause he has a high pitch "tone" for lack of a better word that you can hear anywhere in the house. I'll try and get some pictures tommorow I get pics tonight if I do it tonight i'll wake the d@mn thing up.
I grew up with a Blue and Gold Macaw. I bought it for my mother for her birthday - expensive bugger. The thing wasn't raised very well, so it was viscous - very noisy - very big - and VERY smart.
It demanded food - when we gave it food it didn’t like, it freaked out - shook the food bowl empty and wanted better food, same with water. When my sister was born, it saw that we were all spending more time with my sister - so as she grew up, it literally tried to kill her. It would fly off its perch (with clipped wings) right towards her with all sorts of squawks. It did get her a few times and bit her pretty hard. They tend to pick favorites, if it knows you, it likes you - kill everything else. My parents separated so I don’t spend much time with the bird anymore, but it liked me and my mother - it was a LONG hard road for me and this bird, needless to say, we didn't always get along - I’ve still got scars on my fingers to prove it.
African Grays and smaller are good house birds - only if you get them at a young enough age from a good breeder. Anything else would be a disaster.
Worst idea was mixing KoKo with the Cat - most cases the cat hunts the bird, swipes it and kills it. This case, the cat wasn't so lucky. The bird would see the cat coming, jump off the perch and nip the cat pretty good - nobody ever really got hurt, but I think I’ll just stick to Dogs.
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09:12 AM
FieroLinks Member
Posts: 397 From: Spring Hill, FL, USA Registered: May 2002
The Macaw is very large. He is semi-friendly and the family can pet him and generally play with him. If he doesn't know you, he will try to bite you just to see if he can get the upper-hand on you. Once he knows you're afraid of him, he'll remind you of that all the time. Very smart bird and he loves to undo anything we do to his cage, including locks.
All of the Amazons are breeders. Not that we breed birds. They were not wanted by their owns and we rescued them before they went to someone that wouldn't care for them properly. My 3 year old daughter changes their water and fills the food bowls. They act all mean, but really are nice birds. They look wonderful now that they are getting a healthy diet with fresh fruits.
The parakeets are for the girls. They are just noise-makers. I prefer the bigger birds.
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12:43 PM
Amethyst Member
Posts: 946 From: Danville, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2005
Your Black headed Caique is full grown if it's over 2 years old, so it won't be getting any bigger. I haven't had the opportunity to have the Caiques, although I've had pretty much most of the other types of birds except the large Macaws... Their personality is a lot like lories without the liquid diets... so they love to play!
We have a mated pair of Timnehs, a female hand fed Timneh, and lots of whiteface cockatiels now... thanks to my daughter who ended up with a pair... lol.. so much for not breeding birds anymore... laugh... but it's fine... when we have cinnamon pearl pied whitefaces, they are absolutely gorgeous!!
Caiques life span is probably on the same level as the lories and such which would be around 15 years and up.
Greys and Amazons are usually around 50 years, with Macaws and Cockatoos around 75... these are conservative estimates... with some individuals living much longer.... or much less.
I have a cockatiel (life span is around 10 years) that is 18 years old.. he still gets around just fine.. I suppose one day he'll just be gone... his mate was 18 when she passed away a year ago... so I must be doing something right... lol...
Oh yeah, birds are smart... we had an Umbrella Cockatoo that would open her cage door, even with the snap dog hasp type locks, one on each corner... so we put in a locking nut and bolt, and she knew that it turned to come off, but she couldn't hold it and turn it at the same time... lol.. I certainly don't miss her screaming any... although she was an affectionate bird and loved to be held and petted...
Well, it looks to be almost adult since the beak is mostly black and doesn't yet have the light coloring along the top like adults do (some parrots have light colored beaks when babies if they have dark colored beaks when adult, or vise versa, lovebirds have a dark colored beak that gradually disappears around 6 months or so... parakeets have black barring across the top of the head until older, or the babies have juvenile plumage until their first molt like cockatiels all look like females until their adult feathers come in around 6 to 8 months old.)
As for pecker size... sorry boys, birds are either sexually dimorphic (meaning when adult the males look different from the females) or both sexes look alike so they have to be surgically sexed or dna sexed since the reproductive organs are inside the body... so you really can't judge by size... lol
Male Caiques are more aggressive during breeding season, and it says that the Females have a lighter eye ring (kinda hard to tell if you don't have another one to compare to... lol so surgical or dna sexing is advised...
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04:43 PM
Patrick Member
Posts: 39064 From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Registered: Apr 99
As for pecker size... sorry boys, birds are either sexually dimorphic (meaning when adult the males look different from the females) or both sexes look alike so they have to be surgically sexed or dna sexed since the reproductive organs are inside the body... so you really can't judge by size... lol
I was referring to the bird's beak. What are you referring to?
I was referring to the bird's beak. What are you referring to?
ROFLMAO Amethyst has a dirty mind .
Hmmmm. He's a weird bird. I got a couple of questions.
1. He loves to crawl up on my shoulders. Problem is, he likes to "gnaw" a little bit, and he'll bite my neck when he's back there. Most of the time he won't come down and if you stick your hand back there he'll nibble on it. Is that normal? 2. He sneezes. I'm not too sure about ideal living conditions for parrots, but I keep him in an upstairs room where it stays warm (about 74* F during day, 67* F during night) and he won't get drafts. Should the sneezing be anything to worry about? 3. I give him lots of attention, about an hour of out-of-the-cage time in the morning and some misc. time later on, but he's still "needy". Can he just sit in there most of the day and entertain himself? I don't have the time to spend 3 or more hours each day with him. 4. He...nibbles. You set him down on carpet and he'll go around biting it, and when he's doing that you can't pick him up or anything. You try to and he'll nibble the hell out of your hand. Is that normal? He has a couple of pumice rocks in his cage for him to sharpen his beak on, but he doesn't seem to use them?
Otherwise he's a good bird.
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05:59 PM
Jan 4th, 2007
Amethyst Member
Posts: 946 From: Danville, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2005
Hmmmm. He's a weird bird. I got a couple of questions.
1. He loves to crawl up on my shoulders. Problem is, he likes to "gnaw" a little bit, and he'll bite my neck when he's back there. Most of the time he won't come down and if you stick your hand back there he'll nibble on it. Is that normal? 2. He sneezes. I'm not too sure about ideal living conditions for parrots, but I keep him in an upstairs room where it stays warm (about 74* F during day, 67* F during night) and he won't get drafts. Should the sneezing be anything to worry about? 3. I give him lots of attention, about an hour of out-of-the-cage time in the morning and some misc. time later on, but he's still "needy". Can he just sit in there most of the day and entertain himself? I don't have the time to spend 3 or more hours each day with him. 4. He...nibbles. You set him down on carpet and he'll go around biting it, and when he's doing that you can't pick him up or anything. You try to and he'll nibble the hell out of your hand. Is that normal? He has a couple of pumice rocks in his cage for him to sharpen his beak on, but he doesn't seem to use them?
Otherwise he's a good bird.
laugh.. yes, I suppose I do have a dirty mind... and you can't judge age by beak size either... lol...
!. That is because he is higher than you and so now is dominate... it is a general rule of thumb to keep birds esp. the larger ones, below shoulder level so you remain in control of them and there is no risk of being bitten by the bird trying to protect you from what it perceives as danger to you if it has accepted you as a flock member or mate. Yes they will bite you to drive you away from the danger if they can't get to the perceived danger themselves...
2. I don't know, I'm not a vet, and haven't run tests on him... if the sneezing doesn't produce any liquid, or any liquid draining from his nares (tiny holes above his beak or matted hair above his beak indicating drainage) or eyes, then it may just be dust in the air triggering it... you can help keep the dust down by spritzing the bird with a plant mister or giving him a bowl of water to bathe in... be prepared, there will be water everywhere... which is why the plant mister is a better option... lol.. If he is acting listless, not eating, not acting normal, not vocalizing as much, sleeping more than normal, sitting on the bottom of his cage, then these are symptoms of a very sick bird and he should be taken to a vet immediately! Birds hide sickness until they just can't hide it anymore because a sick bird is a weak bird and is a target for predators...
3. Yes, he should be taught to entertain himself... make sure he has plenty of toys he can chew on and tear apart, or thinking toys like the ones with treats hidden in them... be thankful you don't have a Cockatoo... they get to the point where they will scream for attention... even negative attention by you shouting at them.. all the time if some ground rules aren't set down... Caiques are considered clowns of the bird world, they like attention, and they like playing and they do everything whole heartedly... not just half way... a cheap and easy toy is the paper roll in toilet paper, or paper towels.. just be sure he can't get his head stuck in it... you might slit it open along the length...
4. The nibbling doesn't sound like a beak thing, it sounds more like it might be a breeding thing... he is looking for nesting material and wants to collect it and take it back to the nest... which may escalate to very aggressive biting behavior if not curtailed... I would suggest not letting him down on the carpeting but keep him on smooth surfaces or a play gym. It may be the color of the carpet triggering it, or it may be the texture as well... Or it may have nothing to do with breeding at all, but just that he is fascinated with the carpeting... birds use their beaks for many things, and they are very sensitive to touch... so maybe he just likes the feel of it... but if it is generating unwanted and rough behavior, then you need to substitute something else and keep him away from it just so you don't get bitten when the bird zones out...
Caiques are high energy birds.. and sometimes they get so engrossed in whatever they are doing they may zone out and bite... Amazons are also known for this... but there are warning signs in Amazons like pinning eyes and fanning tails and wing feathers... I'm not sure on the caiques...lories you get no warning at all...just bitten hard.... but I would guess you should be able to tell when the bird is really wound up... and want to avoid that by putting him back in his cage before that time or teaching him to step up on a dowel (perch) and transferring him back to his cage or play gym until he settles down. Better him having some down time than you getting bitten...
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12:25 AM
PFF
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Amethyst Member
Posts: 946 From: Danville, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2005
laugh.. yes, I suppose I do have a dirty mind... and you can't judge age by beak size either... lol...
!. That is because he is higher than you and so now is dominate... it is a general rule of thumb to keep birds esp. the larger ones, below shoulder level so you remain in control of them and there is no risk of being bitten by the bird trying to protect you from what it perceives as danger to you if it has accepted you as a flock member or mate. Yes they will bite you to drive you away from the danger if they can't get to the perceived danger themselves...
2. I don't know, I'm not a vet, and haven't run tests on him... if the sneezing doesn't produce any liquid, or any liquid draining from his nares (tiny holes above his beak or matted hair above his beak indicating drainage) or eyes, then it may just be dust in the air triggering it... you can help keep the dust down by spritzing the bird with a plant mister or giving him a bowl of water to bathe in... be prepared, there will be water everywhere... which is why the plant mister is a better option... lol.. If he is acting listless, not eating, not acting normal, not vocalizing as much, sleeping more than normal, sitting on the bottom of his cage, then these are symptoms of a very sick bird and he should be taken to a vet immediately! Birds hide sickness until they just can't hide it anymore because a sick bird is a weak bird and is a target for predators...
3. Yes, he should be taught to entertain himself... make sure he has plenty of toys he can chew on and tear apart, or thinking toys like the ones with treats hidden in them... be thankful you don't have a Cockatoo... they get to the point where they will scream for attention... even negative attention by you shouting at them.. all the time if some ground rules aren't set down... Caiques are considered clowns of the bird world, they like attention, and they like playing and they do everything whole heartedly... not just half way... a cheap and easy toy is the paper roll in toilet paper, or paper towels.. just be sure he can't get his head stuck in it... you might slit it open along the length...
4. The nibbling doesn't sound like a beak thing, it sounds more like it might be a breeding thing... he is looking for nesting material and wants to collect it and take it back to the nest... which may escalate to very aggressive biting behavior if not curtailed... I would suggest not letting him down on the carpeting but keep him on smooth surfaces or a play gym. It may be the color of the carpet triggering it, or it may be the texture as well... Or it may have nothing to do with breeding at all, but just that he is fascinated with the carpeting... birds use their beaks for many things, and they are very sensitive to touch... so maybe he just likes the feel of it... but if it is generating unwanted and rough behavior, then you need to substitute something else and keep him away from it just so you don't get bitten when the bird zones out...
Caiques are high energy birds.. and sometimes they get so engrossed in whatever they are doing they may zone out and bite... Amazons are also known for this... but there are warning signs in Amazons like pinning eyes and fanning tails and wing feathers... I'm not sure on the caiques...lories you get no warning at all...just bitten hard.... but I would guess you should be able to tell when the bird is really wound up... and want to avoid that by putting him back in his cage before that time or teaching him to step up on a dowel (perch) and transferring him back to his cage or play gym until he settles down. Better him having some down time than you getting bitten...
He bites a lot if you try to do something he doesn't like. I think he's a stubborn bird. You pick him up and put him on the carpet where he goes nuts gnawing it, and you try to pick him back up, he won't climb up. You stick your finger by his claws and say "step" and he'll refuse. Same with when he gets on your shoulder. On your shoulder he'll want to sit there all day and he'll "snuggle" you a little bit. You stick your finger back there to get him off and he'll bite it.
He never bites REAL hard, like he's never drawn blood. Its just a little annoying.
I have a good sized cage for him, along with some birds toys, perches, food and water bowls, a couple of pumice stones, and a little house he sleeps in (very cute, its a tiny little igloo-like thing that he'll crawl into at night). Other than that I really don't have much else to entertain him. You mentioned paper towel or toilet paper tubes? Is there anything else I have around the house he could play with? Currently I'll just give him a piece of paper and he'll be entertained with it for a couple of minutes. He'll shred it up. Also with the carpet thing, I have a feline scratching post here that my cat never uses. Jefe (parrot's name) goes insane on it.
BTW, is there such a thing as a parrot diaper? I swear that he'll wait until I have him over carpet, for him to do his pooping. Nasty.
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02:14 AM
FieroLinks Member
Posts: 397 From: Spring Hill, FL, USA Registered: May 2002
Originally posted by Tinton: BTW, is there such a thing as a parrot diaper? I swear that he'll wait until I have him over carpet, for him to do his pooping. Nasty.
When I had my White-Eyed Conjure - I noticed that If i let him get on my finger, then made a quick down, up motion with him, he'd take a dump. I think it simulates 'taking flight" and with all air-craft, they want to "lighten the load" for flight. It's a trick I used and it worked well. Also time him for the next dropping so you can start to know how long he can be away from the cage between dumps.
Birds are also creatures of habit. Keep this in mind and try to keep his routine the same as much as possible. He just moved in with you so his routine is all messed up and he is set to make a new routine. I'm not saying that you should change things up once in awhile. We move our Macaw's cage around about every week or so adjusting for sunlight. He adapts to that very well. The parakeet's throw a fit when we moved them to make way for the Christmas tree.
Biting for a bird is normal its his best way to comunicate with you since it cant really say " Hey bozo piss off.". If hes playing with the rugs you need to put something more exciting for him to play with. My bird runs around like a chicken pecking at the rug. Birds explore with the beaks too so they will nibble on everything. Give it lots of diffrent things to chew on.
Sneezing. Do you smoke? After I quit my bird stopped sneezing as much as it use to. Still sneezes though and tends to spray my neck. I thing the damn thing does in on porpouse. I know she makes a mess and knocks things down just to watch me pick it up.
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12:34 PM
Amethyst Member
Posts: 946 From: Danville, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2005
He bites a lot if you try to do something he doesn't like. I think he's a stubborn bird. You pick him up and put him on the carpet where he goes nuts gnawing it, and you try to pick him back up, he won't climb up. You stick your finger by his claws and say "step" and he'll refuse. Same with when he gets on your shoulder. On your shoulder he'll want to sit there all day and he'll "snuggle" you a little bit. You stick your finger back there to get him off and he'll bite it.
He never bites REAL hard, like he's never drawn blood. Its just a little annoying.
<snip>
BTW, is there such a thing as a parrot diaper? I swear that he'll wait until I have him over carpet, for him to do his pooping. Nasty.
Which is why I suggested he not be allowed higher than your shoulder or not be allowed on your shoulder at all... When he is up that high, he is dominate, and so doesn't want to come off your shoulder when asked... now unless he consistently and willing comes off your shoulder, you should not have him there at any time. You can reward him when he does step up onto your hand from your shoulder with a treat like a sunflower seed or peanut or piece of cracker, bread, etc... if you don't want to enforce the no shoulder rule... thus rewarding good behavior and negating the bad behavior... You can do this pretty much for any behavior you're not fond of.... For instance... if it is hard to pick him up from the carpet and you aren't going to keep him away from it, then you can offer him a treat with one hand so that he has to step up onto your other hand for it, once he's on your hand give him the treat.. he's now off the carpet and not biting your hand in the process because he's getting the treat... this will also work to enforce the stepping up off your shoulder cause he will soon learn if he steps up like a good boy, he gets a treat! Just remember though, he will expect it every time... so be prepared with plenty of accessible treats... lol..
Diaper thing... yes, they do make cloth suits that go over birds, just do a web search... or just teach him to go potty at a certain place... like hold him in his cage and tell him the word you want to associate with the act, usually birds will go potty as soon as they are picked up... then offer him the chance to go potty throughout the day and praise him when he does... (this can be verbal praise, not necessarily a treat, don't need an overweight bird) there will be accidents and you have to get the timing down between times... it may be 5 minutes, or 25 minutes... You can hold him over a waste basket, paper towel, or take him back to his cage to go... If he likes carpet... lol.. you can get a piece of carpet and put it where you want him to go...
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01:43 PM
Amethyst Member
Posts: 946 From: Danville, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2005
Sneezing. Do you smoke? After I quit my bird stopped sneezing as much as it use to. Still sneezes though and tends to spray my neck. I thing the damn thing does in on porpouse. I know she makes a mess and knocks things down just to watch me pick it up.
Birds should not have a wet sneeze... if there is fluid, it may have some type of infection and should be checked by a vet.
Smoking is not good around birds because their air sacs (lungs) are highly developed and any type of fumes in the air will affect them very quickly... including cleaning products, scented candles, etc.
Oh... Teflon and non stick cookware should NEVER EVER be used around birds, if they overheat, and it doesn't take much for them to overheat, they omit dangerous fumes (formaldehyde) that will kill a bird sometimes instantly or within a few hours. Just think what that's putting into your food...
Oh... Teflon and non stick cookware should NEVER EVER be used around birds, if they overheat, and it doesn't take much for them to overheat, they omit dangerous fumes (formaldehyde) that will kill a bird sometimes instantly or within a few hours. Just think what that's putting into your food...
We have a bunch of Teflon cookware here, what consists of overheating it? Also, how far away should the bird be from the kitchen to minimize exposure?
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06:18 PM
Jan 20th, 2007
Amethyst Member
Posts: 946 From: Danville, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2005
We have a bunch of Teflon cookware here, what consists of overheating it? Also, how far away should the bird be from the kitchen to minimize exposure?
Anything that heats the pan up would consist of overheating it... it takes maybe 2 to 5 minutes of the pan overheating to emit fumes around 450 degrees. Here's a more detailed web link:
Doesn't matter... once the fumes are in the air, and you won't be able to tell that by smell or visibly seeing it to know that it has occurred.
The farther away the bird is just means it may take longer to react to the fumes... immediate reaction is convulsions followed by death, slower symptoms are staggering or not being able to perch, being on the bottom of the cage, listless acting, labored breathing...
Just so you know, there isn't much a vet can do once the bird has been subjected to non stick cookware fumes other than offer supportive treatment like oxygen... and pretty much all of the birds die.
Sorry I didn't get back with you sooner on this... computer has been down for 3 weeks... I sincerely hope you consider getting rid of your teflon cookware... if not for your birds, for your own health!!
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02:43 AM
84fierotrevor Member
Posts: 4998 From: puyallup washington Registered: Oct 2001
so they love to play!
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