Caique questions

Hi! I'm new here but not to birds. I do have a new Caique and have some questions. He was an owner give up due to lack of time. Wanted to see how you all feel about the cage I have for him and see if you could offer some opinions on why his feathers look the way they do. His feathers are black. I always thought they were meant to be green. Thanks in advance!

Here is the pic of the black wing feathers. Sorry it's sideways. Still trying to figure this thing out on my iPhone.

Lots of Black Cap Caiques will have black wing feathers (especially primaries), though some are all green.

The cage is certainly a good size, but the bar spacing/bar size looks tiny, almost like a finch/canary cage (one that size would house 5-6 birds). It may just be the camera however. As long as they are about 1/2"-3/4" apart, they should be perfect.

Like most smaller parrots, Caiques love climbing around on the cage, and small bars/spacing can make this tricky (though it's not a deal breaker). The actual size looks like 24"x24" or 30"x30", both of which would be acceptable for a Caique (assuming it getsat least an hour or two of cage each day).

It's 1/2" spacing. And the cage is 64" long X 36" high and 21" deep.

It looks like you have a towel over the top of the cage that obstructs the light and makes the cage darker inside. I would pull that back during the day so the bird can get some good light. That may improve it's feather quality some as well. I had to remove the playstand tray on my conure's cage because it made it rather cave-like inside the cage. His mood seemed to improve when he got better light. Everyone needs a little vitamin D in their system to thrive

I saw some people suggested adding a little red palm oil or even coconut oil to bird treats to help with poor feathers. And good food pellets really help (top brands seem to be Zupreme natural, Harrison's, Roudybush, TOPS, etc.), along with fresh fruits/veggies chopped up into bite size pieces.

I forgot to mention that when our macaw had dry skin and dry looking feathers we gave her a lukewarm shower as suggested for macaws. Most birds really enjoy a good dip in the bath. A small sturdy bowl of water 3 times a week for your caique to bath in (supervised of course) might help with preening and feather quality. My little conure doesn't like water sprayed near him but he loves a bowl of water to splash bathe in.

If you are noticing poor feather quality (lacklustre, even after a molt, breaking, etc), it's also recommendable to get a UVA/UVB avian lamp (not reptile).

Minimaker is 100% correct that a bird's mood will improve with more room light, however the light that comes through windows is compromised. Sunlight through a standard piece of glass has all of it's UVB filtered out, though UVA will get through. Modern glass is treated in processing or has a film added that also filters the UVA rays. The bird will enjoy the sunlight, but will not get any of the vitamin D producing UV rays necessary from it (or only some in the case of untreated glass).

I just got this guy yesterday so I'm hoping being in a non-smoking home with lots of playtime helps. He's on a good diet. The cage actually gets really great light and the cover is there to keep poop off the wall. I think it's just a bad pic as far as lighting goes. I also have a very large outdoor aviary that I hope to allow him some time in once he gets more used to me and my household routine.

Thanks for all the info! This is great!

Sorry to be the party pooper on the cage . It's what they call a "flight cage" for small birds (finches, budgies, maybe tiels) but nothing that really has any beak strength.

Since you already have the bird in there, see how it goes. But IF you have an individual who gets it into their head to bite on the bars, he could really make short work of that cage. Chipped paint, bent bars, broken welds.

That's the exact cage I've had my eye on for my Budgie!

It was my budgies' cage. The cage he came in is so small I thought I'd try it out and see how he does. His cage does have thicker bars, but it was just so so small.

I have 11 caiques in a very well lit avairy. The roof is see through perspex. When given a choice they will all congregate in the darkest corner.

They are canopy dwellers. Open clear view sky means that predators have a clear view of them. Not good fung-shui!

JP

Yes my 2 caiques love to snuggle and hide in dark corners in the cages, I have made special hidey-nests and play places for them to do this.

see now this is where i might be showing my inexperience with caiques but if the bar spacing on your cage is appropriate then this should be an ideal cage for a caique or playful conure. It is long as opposed to tall making it good for birds like these that like to climb everywhere.

I've been looking at a very similar model myself for my conure as i think he will use a lot more of the cage than the one he does now which he always favours the top half of, basically ignoring half his available space no matter what i do to encourage him (placing food bowls lower, perches at varying heights etc).

another advantage with a large top cage like this is you can build a suitable play gym along the top i saw this picture (link below) online and like how they have placed the cage half in front of the window so the birds can get plenty of natural light while having the option to retreat to the shade.

http://www.discountparrotsupplies.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/sonnylouiedoubleflight1.jpg

As i said i'm certainly no expert when it comes to caiques and their cage specific needs but i hope this helped a little =)

Firstly, thank you for rescuing a bird that obviously needed a better home! You won't regret having a Caique as they are a super bird. I must say I agree with Ravensgryf. Our cage is 42"highX32wideX24deep so not much different other than ours has 3/4 inch spacing and a dome top. If you get a new cage consider a dome top because I can tell you our 1 year old Caque Pixie spends most of her time swinging from her toys in the dome part of her cage. She also has black in her wings and is perfectly healthy. We have learned that her happiness in general is directly linked to sunlight and out of cage time. Goodluck!

My quaker is in a flight cage with similar barring, but caiques are known to have big, strong beaks while Quakers are more on the teensy dude, BUT since you already own the cage I see no reason not to use it! If it's not going to work out when it comes to bar strength then you will figure it out pretty quickly and can find a new cage then. Congrats on the new arrival!

To answer your question, the black wing feathers are not normal.

while a certain amount of wear and tear on feathers is normal, I see from the jagged ends of those feathers that there is another overpreening action happening here as well

I would have bloods done to eliminate any dietary issues