My Sweet Baby Caique Turned Devil Bird!

[littlewing]

My little guy is about to turn 2 years old next month. He is a WBC and Ive had him for 1 1/2 years. This past month he's started doing this thing where he bristles his head feathers and his eyes pin. He looks crazed and will attack and bite us, drawing blood! It's as if he's in some kind of state and he doesn't even hear us or know who we are. Then after 5 or 10 min, he's back to his normal loving self.
Tonight was the first night he's done this to me (I'm his mommy). But apparently, he has been exhibiting this kind of behavior in the morning for the past few weeks when his papa uncovers the cage. He will come out of the cage, and bob his head with his feathers and eyes looking all psychotic, and will lunge bite really hard if an attempt to pick him up is made.
I recognize the sort of 'attack mode' he goes into, because he does that when I am wearing gloves for cleaning. He wants to attack them. But I can always take them off my hands and am able to pick him right up. He also does it with the broom when I sweep the floor. But this seems a little more severe. There is no talking him out of it. He is just out of his mind.
I am wondering if it is just springtime birdy hormones or something. I am so upset nursing my 2 deep puncture wounds that my sweet little baby gave me
I don't want to become afraid of him. He has been so fun to play with and cuddle with.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[RavensGryf]

What you're describing sounds like hormonal behavior to me. Even if 2 is a little young for Caiques to breed, many species start acting the part sooner.

If it's possible with your home schedule, how about putting him to bed a bit earlier and/or uncovering him later. Longer daylight hours will trigger the hormonal response in the species which have their breeding season in the spring. What you describe sounds just like a hormonal Poicephalus too, except theirs is in the winter.

I'm sure more people will chime in about other factors that you can alter also, like diet. Even though hormonal behaviors can maybe be lessened some, I don't know that they can be stopped entirely. It's a good idea to stick train him right away if he's not already. During calm times, see if he'll step up onto a stick by holding a treat so that he has to get onto the stick to get it. It's a valuable tool during hormonal times. Just make sure the stick is long enough lol! Good luck.

 

[ShaunaR]

Being first time parrot owners we certainly are not expert like some people here but I thought I would share what I do know just in case it helps. We had our year old Caique to the Avian Vet for the first time last week and I was surprised she spoke so much about how to prevent hormonal aggression. Her main rationale for the stuff she suggested was to discourage mate-to-mate bonding with one person in the home. Whether you agree with what she said or not(We aren't sure yet) here is the advice she gave:
-avoid beak to mouth contact, ever.
-no snuggle hut, nest, or any bed that simulates a nest in the cage.
-no birdy mash or mushy food whatsoever (In her opinion this encourages the need to mate because lots of warm mushy food is desirable for chick feedings.
-encourage your bird to spend time independent of you, yet in visual contact, for example on a perch. She said allowing your bird to sit on you on on your shoulder whenever it's out of the cage encourages mate-to-mate bonding so should be at a minimum if there is aggression present.
We don't see aggression in our bird yet but she is still young so the Vet told us if we see any aggression we may need this advice later. I am not necessarily in favor of cutting out birdy mash because I think it can be very healthy and provides a great deal of variety in a bird's diet but I do see her point. I would also consider having a health check done on your bird just to rule out any illness-related causes to the sudden aggression.
I hope some of this helps,
Shauna

 

[littlewing]

Thank you for the replies! I think I'm going to definitely try putting him to bed earlier. It's so tempting to keep him up with me and put him to bed when I go to bed. But that is probably too late for him.
I do feed him this cooked bean mix that they fed him at the place I got him. It's not mashed but it's soft. He hasn't really been eating much of it lately.
Did the vet explain the reasoning behind the beak to mouth contact? Does it mimic some sort of feeding behavior? Just curious.
I don't really let him sit on my shoulder much because he just likes to climb into my hair and pull on my earrings. I definitely don't want him on my shoulder now, for fear of him biting my face.
This morning he seemed ok when I got him up. He didn't bite me but he also just wanted to go to his perch in the window. No cuddles for mama this morning :-(
Thanks again for the advice!!

 

[Irishj9]

This reminds me about the infamous seaside joke in England

Woman at the zoo,upset that the monkeys are indoors.
"Zookeeper, will they come out if I throw them some nuts?

Zookeeper: 'Madam its breeding season for monkeys. Would YOU?

Knock yourself out with changing artificial light times, tweaking the diet, even drugs ( yes some owners use drugs on their babies.

Mother nature doesnt care. You don't have power over her.

In fact it is only with massive difficulties and unpleasant side effects that we can control OUR OWN sexuality.

Good Luck!

( I have 11 caiques, including 8 three year olds)

 

[dskidd]

Just wanted to add a few thoughts, based on my own experiences, as well as consultations with my vet and parrot behavior specialist.

As RavensGryf and Irishj9 say, there's really only so much you can do when dealing with hormonal behavior. It's just nature. Eliza is just getting over this year's hormonal stage. After nearly three years, I've kinda sorta learned to deal with it, but I still can be sitting somewhere, or standing at the sink and suddenly get a bite on the feet. Not enough to draw blood, I guess...but it still hurts!

I also wanted to comment on a couple of things ShaunaR mentioned. I thought the snuggle huts were really cute as well, and I bought one for Eliza a couple of years or so ago. When the hormonal phase started, and I had concerns it was affecting her health, I took her to the vet. That's one of the first things I was told: get rid of the snuggle hut. All it does is trigger Eliza's nesting instinct (for any musicians out there, it's kinda like running her hormones through a Marshall stack at full volume).

On a related note, don't let the birds spend time in dark places. The laundry room has always been Eliza's (and Henry's) favorite spot; however, in the past, I didn't turn the light on in there. As it turns out, all I was doing was basically carbonating Eliza's hormones. Now, that light gets turned on and stays on whenever they're out of their cages. (As you might have guessed, they don't go in there nearly as much any more.) If they find another darkened room (Eliza started hanging out in the guest bathroom a month or so ago), I'll either keep the light on, or just shut the door.

(For those of you who saw the "Henry's Man-Cave" photo in the contest from a couple of months ago, that little spot has now been closed off. Eliza never seemed interested in it, but now that Henry's over two years old, I figured I'd be saving myself a lot of trouble if I just closed off access.)

I guess I'm fortunate regarding the bonding issue. I do try to discourage "mate-bond" activities anyway, but--being the only human in the house--that can be challenging at times. The face that Eliza is a BHC and Henry is a WBC, seems to kinda help...if either one gets too fixated on me, the other one will usually break it up. However, what ShaunaR related is the same advice I received: try to discourage overly-affectionate bonding behaviors.

The one that interested me was the beak-to-mouth contact. I had always understood that was a big no-no regardless due to health reasons. But it does make sense that it would also be a behavior that could exacerbate the hormonal issues. (Same with the regurgitation motion: When either E or H does it to me, I'll say something like "I love you, too"; but I've learned to never, ever do the same motion back at them.)

Sorry, I think I've gotten a bit too long-winded again! The short version is that I absolutely agree with everything that's been posted here: you'll just have to do the best you can, do what you can to at least minimize things, and accept the fact that our babies can become very unpredictable during this period. This too shall pass!

Of course, being men, Henry and I have the perfect solution when Eliza REALLY gets in one of her moods. We grab a couple of beers, run/fly to the guest room, lock the door, and watch ESPN until she calms down...

 

[ShaunaR]

Yes the rationale around beak to mouth contact is that is mimic's feeding a baby and stimulates the hormones. I can't imagine having 11 Caiques!!! That had my mouth gaping I must admit Irishj! You must spend half of your life chopping vegetables! We have one and our life has dramatically changed. As a side note we are seeing some food bowl aggression lately because we are changing Pixie's diet to include more pellets. When I come with her veggies or a small bit of the Tropimix we used to feed she nearly bites me before I can get the bowl attached inside the cage! It hurts the heart when they bite thats for sure but Pixie seems to get over it fairly quickly and gives lots of notice so far. Please do keep us posted!

 

[littlewing]

Wow, thanks for all the great advice. I think I have a little more perspective on the whole situation now. I wasn't sure when caiques reached sexual maturity.
I got some blackout curtains and am using them to cover the cage now. Im sure the beach towels i was using were letting a lot of light in. Little Bird needs he's beauty sleep!
I know its not entirely reasonable to expect to control such behavior, but if there was something simple I can do that might help, I wanted to try it. I think drugs are a little overboard, and I can't imagine doing something like that to him :-(
Does the snuggle hut thing apply to both male and female birds? I hate to take that out of his cage. He absolutely adores that thing! One time I re arranged his cage and moved his tent to the other side. Come bedtime, i found him clinging to the side of the cage where his hut used to be! Poor little guy! I had to move it back, or he might have stayed there hanging from the side of the cage all night!
I'm with ShaunaR!! 11 caiques!!!??? Holy crap, literally! my s/o always tells me I should get another caique for little bird to have a play mate. I tell him, double the mess, double the noise and double the poop! No way! one is enough!! 11? Yikes! They really are very silly and cute tho! I can no longer imagine my life without him! He is my little buddy!

 

[dskidd]

Eleven caiques is even more mind-boggling if you apply my theory of caique ownership (using the term "ownership" hilariously loosely, of course).

I was once asked what it's like to have more than one caique. Since they're so energetic (to put mildly), I came up with the following formula:

Each additional caique has the effect making you feel like the total number of caiques in your household has been squared.

For example, I have two caiques. Applying my formula means it feels like I have four. Same for Joel. Pinkbirdy has three, as I recall, so that feels like nine to her. Punkindave has four, so for him, it feels like he has sixteen of them.

Irishj9, therefore, has the equivalent of 121 caiques. :11:

 

[Irishj9]

Eleven caiques is even more mind-boggling if you apply my theory of caique ownership (using the term "ownership" hilariously loosely, of course).....

Irishj9, therefore, has the equivalent of 121 caiques. :11:

LOL Hilarious!.

But though I may have the equivalent of 121*2 = 242 Caiques, ( can I add another multiplier since they are two species) I find the 9 I have in my bedroom, are harder work than the 233 in the aviary, who live with 21 lovebirds.

That's because the 233 in the aviary have loads of playmates, lots of space, branches, ropes, LOADS OF FOOD and multiple flights to play in, on and about.

The 9 in the bedroom are caged all day, and MUCH more demanding of my time when i ( eventually) appear.

I'm exhausted just thinking about the number of birds I have lol

And I think we need to add another factor for hormonal females?

 

[Irishj9]

But back to sweet caique, devil bird.

Distract, distract, distract.
BRIBE a lot, with food, healthy food.
Ignore bad beheaviour (unless its a bite)
Caiques need 12 hrs sleep. He should sleep when the sun goes down!!!!!

 

[Irishj9]

I think I can usefully update this thread now that I have my own devil-bird lol.

Spot has been hit HARD by hormones. Each evening when dusk falls, she changes into a B*tch from hell and stalks me,and any other moving life form in the aviary.

She has made it quite clear, believe me, that she would like to drink blood, anyone's blood, while in this state.

The solution was simple, and available from any cheap Hollywood werewolf film. When your beloved is infected by the werewolf virus, they are their usual loveable selves all day.

However at night, especially during a full moon, they must be locked up for everyones safety.

Stop playing with werewolves!. let them work it out, and then get back to normal after the full moon.

 

[punkindave]

Fortunately only one of our 16 Caiques (Caique formula verified) has had any really bad behavior. Chica will slowly stalk then without warning fly at me and take a hard bite on anything she can get her beak on!! Her bites always draw blood and she's the only one in the flock that has the red "psycho eyes" that telegraph her intentions. Unfortunately she'll normally wait until I'm not paying attention to launch her attacks so it's completely a surprise.

Never found any resolve for her other than to limit her out of cage time and have the wife handle her when she's looking especially evil. The others get hormonal, but none of them ever get past the grumpy nipping stage.

 

[Irishj9]

1 in 4 Caiques go into red stalking mode in your house
1 in 8 mature Caiques do the same in my house

So lets keep an eye on these mad stalking devil caiques generalisations we see on many websites.

 

[dskidd]

Fortunately only one of our 16 Caiques (Caique formula verified) has had any really bad behavior. Chica will slowly stalk then without warning fly at me and take a hard bite on anything she can get her beak on!! Her bites always draw blood and she's the only one in the flock that has the red "psycho eyes" that telegraph her intentions. Unfortunately she'll normally wait until I'm not paying attention to launch her attacks so it's completely a surprise.

Never found any resolve for her other than to limit her out of cage time and have the wife handle her when she's looking especially evil. The others get hormonal, but none of them ever get past the grumpy nipping stage.

Yes, Eliza will go into "psycho killer" mode on occasion. Doesn't seem to have much to do with hormones; just happens every once in awhile. She hasn't drawn blood, but it's definitely a hard bite. If I see her doing it, I'll do the clicker; or--if that's not handy--start sweet-talking her. It seems to work most of the time. However, as you say, a lot of times she'll catch me by surprise.

 

[littlewing]

Well, its been a couple months now and I have sustained a few more serious bites. The last few days have not been good. I can usually spot the psycho moods coming on and stay away from him, but now they are a bit more unpredictable and more frequent. Its really breaking my heart!
Tonight he seemed to be being territorial of his cage. I have a couple of questions..
The snuggle hut: Do I take it out even tho he's a boy? Is it just the females that have the nesting instinct?
How do I respond to his attempts at intimidation? I feel like if he tries to "scare" me away and it works by getting me to leave him alone, I am reinforcing something bad and letting him control me.
Should I do something to discourage him being territorial over his cage?
Help!!!!!
I took a video of him acting crazy and banging his beak against the bars of his cage. I don't know if there is a way to post it.

 

[ShaunaR]

I post my videos to utube and then post the link here. I would try removing the hut myself. It can't make the situation much worse by the sounds of it. I am sorry you are still getting bitten on a regular basis...thats got to be rough! I am probably far too inexperienced to comment correctly on what to do otherwise but if this were my bird I would seek out the advice of a good avian Vet just to make sure that you aren't missing some critical detail. When Pixie is particularly moody she gets a free trip to her cage and stays there at least an hour before re-approaching. I think if she acted territorial over the cage when already inside I would simply walk away and leave her for another hour. The bottom line is that you can't force a bird to do anything they don't want to without consequences of some sort and in the end the beak usually wins. Hopefully someone with more Caique experience can help here. It seems to me from what I have read here, one must simply wait out the bad spells and take the good times when they come.

 

[Irishj9]

I would leave the snuggle hut.

Dont coerce him to do anything. Is it absolutely necessary to even go near him?. Let him be, hes in a bad (hormonal mood).

Change his food/water when he's asleep. Be just as friendly and chatty as usual. Dont approach him till you are sure of his body language.

This too will pass.

 

[littlewing]

Ugh! How long is this going to last? :-(