One of the big things that attracted us to Caiques is their adventurous spirit. I had heard that they took very well to traveling and have been pleasantly surprised that our little guys fit this stereotype. We visit family a lot over the weekends, and we wanted to be able to take our fids with us when we did.
The first big step to this has been Caiquing the cage. I have to give my wife the credit on one. Every time I told her, "Honey, nothing else will fit in that cage," something else would make it's way in there. Bunsen & Beaker love this setup, btw. It gets them through a day of watching 50 middle schoolers dancing across the room all day. That's a story for another day, though.
We had brought the birds to my parents, but that was a bit easier than this project. My mom has owned birds her entire life and the house has an Amazon, Macaw, and a Pionus. They knew how to speak bird.
My wife's family isn't familiar with birds and this was an exercise in introductions between people and birds. Also, my wife's aunt is mentally disabled. So, armed with every bird toy in the apartment, and enough food and water to get us to Mexico (about a day's drive), we set out!
These guys LOVE the car. They get excited at the sight of their travel cage. Seriously, this is the only time they are ever quiet. I think it's a roller coaster ride to them. Oh! and white cars. White cars are evil. My car is white, but I don't think they know this yet. Let us hope, they never find out. Any white car is met with a ferocious Caique growl. Scary stuff, folks.
One short hour of driving and we arrive. We taught everyone Step-Up and explained a few basics.
The biggest thing I always have to explain is "Beaky." The concept that when a bird puts their beak on you, it's not necessarily to bite is just foreign to most people. Usually, after I let them feel the little grabbing and explain that it's not vicious, people warm up pretty quickly. I mean, Caiques are hella charming when they're not tearing your stuff up.
Soon enough, they were just part of the family... except for the dog. If someone could help me understand this, I would be grateful. Our Caiques love people, but anything that's not a people is the enemy. Anything that could possibly take the spotlight off of them must be purged from planet earth. So far, this includes cats, dogs, & other birds. At one point Bunsen dive bombed grandma's toy poodle. The poor dog nearly had a heart attack.
The next step was introducing the birds to the Aunt. This was really a lot of fun for me. She can't speak because of a stroke, but she does sign language. At first, she was scared to death. We had to do a slow introduction.
Once she held Beaker for a little bit, she was sold, though. The surfing delighted her and even the flapping of wings didn't bother her in the least. Once the birds were back in the cage, she'd keep pointing towards them to try and get us to take them back out.
So, we successfully visited grandma's house. School started last Monday and my wife is going to see if she can bring Bunsen & Beaker in on a Friday to start. We'll see how it goes.
As an epilogue, and just to reinforce this idea of how much the Caiques love the roller coaster car ride, my wife falls asleep in the car all the time. She calls it her carcolepsy. As we're driving, she'll periodically wake up with a jerk. More than once, she's almost sent the cage toppling into the floor board. I think this is the boys' favorite part. It doesn't bother them in the least.
As I was typing this, Bunsen removed 2 keys off my keyboard...
Joel
The first big step to this has been Caiquing the cage. I have to give my wife the credit on one. Every time I told her, "Honey, nothing else will fit in that cage," something else would make it's way in there. Bunsen & Beaker love this setup, btw. It gets them through a day of watching 50 middle schoolers dancing across the room all day. That's a story for another day, though.
Caiquing - the act of cramming enough stimulation into a tiny space as to cause A.D.H.D. in even the most calm of beings; see picture
We had brought the birds to my parents, but that was a bit easier than this project. My mom has owned birds her entire life and the house has an Amazon, Macaw, and a Pionus. They knew how to speak bird.
My wife's family isn't familiar with birds and this was an exercise in introductions between people and birds. Also, my wife's aunt is mentally disabled. So, armed with every bird toy in the apartment, and enough food and water to get us to Mexico (about a day's drive), we set out!
These guys LOVE the car. They get excited at the sight of their travel cage. Seriously, this is the only time they are ever quiet. I think it's a roller coaster ride to them. Oh! and white cars. White cars are evil. My car is white, but I don't think they know this yet. Let us hope, they never find out. Any white car is met with a ferocious Caique growl. Scary stuff, folks.
One short hour of driving and we arrive. We taught everyone Step-Up and explained a few basics.
The biggest thing I always have to explain is "Beaky." The concept that when a bird puts their beak on you, it's not necessarily to bite is just foreign to most people. Usually, after I let them feel the little grabbing and explain that it's not vicious, people warm up pretty quickly. I mean, Caiques are hella charming when they're not tearing your stuff up.
Soon enough, they were just part of the family... except for the dog. If someone could help me understand this, I would be grateful. Our Caiques love people, but anything that's not a people is the enemy. Anything that could possibly take the spotlight off of them must be purged from planet earth. So far, this includes cats, dogs, & other birds. At one point Bunsen dive bombed grandma's toy poodle. The poor dog nearly had a heart attack.
The next step was introducing the birds to the Aunt. This was really a lot of fun for me. She can't speak because of a stroke, but she does sign language. At first, she was scared to death. We had to do a slow introduction.
Once she held Beaker for a little bit, she was sold, though. The surfing delighted her and even the flapping of wings didn't bother her in the least. Once the birds were back in the cage, she'd keep pointing towards them to try and get us to take them back out.
So, we successfully visited grandma's house. School started last Monday and my wife is going to see if she can bring Bunsen & Beaker in on a Friday to start. We'll see how it goes.
As an epilogue, and just to reinforce this idea of how much the Caiques love the roller coaster car ride, my wife falls asleep in the car all the time. She calls it her carcolepsy. As we're driving, she'll periodically wake up with a jerk. More than once, she's almost sent the cage toppling into the floor board. I think this is the boys' favorite part. It doesn't bother them in the least.
As I was typing this, Bunsen removed 2 keys off my keyboard...
Joel
She attacks everything other than people, too-the rabbit, dog, and cat. I guess they just want to play, but it scares the other animals to death! 
