Regurgitating caique

[CraftyWallflower]

Hello everyone,
I recently adopted a pair of bonded caiques (a little over a week ago). They have not been encouraged to do any mating behaviors in the past and I don’t want babies, so I have been working to ensure that I don’t do anything that could impact that (only head scratches, 12 hours of sleep, and they have a chop/pellet diet).

However, the past 2 days the female has done regurgitating motions (nothing comes up) when I come into the room. It isn’t every time, probably about 2-3 times each day. It’s also a bit strange because she seems to prefer my husband, but she doesn’t regurgitate when he walks into the room.

I am very new to small parrot ownership, and they are definitely very different than the African grey I grew up with and my 5 year old male eclectus. Is this typical of caiques? Is there anything else I can do to prevent this behavior, if it is a mating behavior? I have been ignoring it and turn away until she stops.

Also, do you have any special tips for new caique owners? Maybe some great toy recommendations?

Thank you so much!

 

[Laurasea]

Welcome to the forums! O see your cutie in your avatar. But we love pictures if you want to share!

On caique no experience.

But on new to your home birds, this can happen. Because they are just so excited to get attention ( if that was missing in previous home) or to try and bond and make connections and fit in . It usually calms down as they settle in

 

[Ria.345]

Not a caique owner either but i can give you some basic knowledge.
Caiques are so clownish, energetic, and funny (as general traits) but of course every bird no matter what general virtues come along with them, are different and unique through shaped personality. I’ve also heard kind of like cockatoos, they happen to be floor walkers so that’s interesting.
As for regurgitation, if your caique is elongating their neck a little while doing a “bobbing” motion with their head a bit from side to side, then it definitely is a regurgitating motion. It’s definitely important to identify the motion first because there are distinct yet subtle differences between vomiting and regurgitating. If your caique isn’t actually expelling food from their crop then at least that’s good because you don’t want this to eventually become a habit and for them to get malnourished from constantly getting food out of their crop.
I doubt it a health issue as regurgitation is almost always voluntary but if you continue to see this motion and are worried, a simple visit to a certified avian vet is what you can do to rule out any potential health ailments.
But if it’s not health related, then your caique could be excited to see you and potentially sees you as a person or part of a flock that he wants to feed since that really is the point of regurgitation. Even if your caique prefers your husband, birds can show their love to different members of a flock very differently and it can be quite strange sometimes how they portray that love.
I don’t know if this could be something but your caique could be regurgitating to a certain object? When he or she sees it maybe it triggers this response since regurgitation doesn’t just occur with people or other birds, but also inanimate objects sometimes. Again, strange but true.
Ways to prevent this? Just continue head scratches and avoid any part of the body besides head and feet. Just avoiding the “no zone” areas really goes a long way with preventing hormonal triggers.
Try to increase veggies like leafy greens and veggies rich in vitamin A. Maybe distract your caique with enriching activities like training or alone play time With shredding toys and avoid toys that resemble nests as this will worsen their hormonal behaviors.
As for your toy suggestions, I usually go to Etsy or Amazon for toy restocks. You can also look for simple toy parts and save old toys to recreate new toys. Quite fun.

 

[CraftyWallflower]

Welcome to the forums! O see your cutie in your avatar. But we love pictures if you want to share!

On caique no experience.

But on new to your home birds, this can happen. Because they are just so excited to get attention ( if that was missing in previous home) or to try and bond and make connections and fit in . It usually calms down as they settle in

Thank you so much they got a lot of attention at their previous home, but get more one on one time now because there were more parrots at the last home.
I have joined some caique groups on Facebook and it looks like this is a common scenario because they have so much energy and excitement. But I will continue to ignore the regurgitating because I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.

 

[HeatherG]

Hi, wallflower; I doubt that your week of ownership (and petting, food, photoperiod) has had much effect on your birds’ breeding behavior. You have two adult birds of opposite sex together. They are ‘stimulating’ to each other; your petting is beside the point. Maybe the bird who head bobbed when you come in the room is simply excited by your appearance and then inclined to feed its mate, or feeling friendly towards you! But I don’t think that your avoiding the petting “no zone” is going to prevent them from mating or breeding. You will probably have to be careful of their food and environment if you don’t want them making baby birds.

It’s super that you aren’t doing any stimulating petting of your birds. But you have a bonded, opposite sex pair who are caged together, getting enough food, in a safe place. You’ve just moved them away from their busier environment to a quieter one. It’s quite possible they’ll come into breeding condition. You’ll have to work to keep them out of it, in fact. Your birds may see some place in their immediate surroundings as appropriate for a nest and decide to lay in there, even if you don’t mean it for a nest. (If you had a same sex pair, you’d likely get mating and nesting behavior but no fertile eggs.) like a food dish, or cage corner.

I’m guessing you’ll need to actively discourage any egg laying and nesting, or replace eggs with dummy eggs. Your birds have each other to be excited by. Your petting is extra and incidental. If you don’t want babies, I think your main efforts should be to make sure your birds have a shorter day (photo period) and that they don’t have access to a nest site or shreddable materials. I would get advice about how to feed them a less rich diet as I am not sure about caiques. I’d definitely avoid high protein and high fat foods. If you don’t want babies, you could always shake any (accidental) eggs gently to addle them.

I have not owned caiques, but I’ve owned and bred other birds, parrot type and other. Bird breeding is stimulated by providing a nest (site or box), a long day, and rich plentiful food. It’s discouraged by keeping any nestlike (nesty or shreddable chewable things, shadowy enclosures) away. Further intervention can be discussed with your vet.

I’ve had a few rescued female birds quickly come into breeding condition and lay eggs (in food dish or on floor) right after they came to live with me, seemingly just because they were calmer or happier or better fed in my house (their new home). I have found it really important to keep newspaper away from rescued girl birds, which sometimes meant finding or making a new cage grill.

Good luck! Caiques seem like really cute and funny birds. I think I’d like to have one, but maybe I’d find out otherwise. Bet they can get into a lot of trouble. Good luck!

 

[CraftyWallflower]

Hi, wallflower; I doubt that your week of ownership (and petting, food, photoperiod) has had much effect on your birds’ breeding behavior. You have two adult birds of opposite sex together. They are ‘stimulating’ to each other; your petting is beside the point. Maybe the bird who head bobbed when you come in the room is simply excited by your appearance and then inclined to feed its mate, or feeling friendly towards you! But I don’t think that your avoiding the petting “no zone” is going to prevent them from mating or breeding. You will probably have to be careful of their food and environment if you don’t want them making baby birds.

It’s super that you aren’t doing any stimulating petting of your birds. But you have a bonded, opposite sex pair who are caged together, getting enough food, in a safe place. You’ve just moved them away from their busier environment to a quieter one. It’s quite possible they’ll come into breeding condition. You’ll have to work to keep them out of it, in fact. Your birds may see some place in their immediate surroundings as appropriate for a nest and decide to lay in there, even if you don’t mean it for a nest. (If you had a same sex pair, you’d likely get mating and nesting behavior but no fertile eggs.) like a food dish, or cage corner.

I’m guessing you’ll need to actively discourage any egg laying and nesting, or replace eggs with dummy eggs. Your birds have each other to be excited by. Your petting is extra and incidental. If you don’t want babies, I think your main efforts should be to make sure your birds have a shorter day (photo period) and that they don’t have access to a nest site or shreddable materials. I would get advice about how to feed them a less rich diet as I am not sure about caiques. I’d definitely avoid high protein and high fat foods. If you don’t want babies, you could always shake any (accidental) eggs gently to addle them.

I have not owned caiques, but I’ve owned and bred other birds, parrot type and other. Bird breeding is stimulated by providing a nest (site or box), a long day, and rich plentiful food. It’s discouraged by keeping any nestlike (nesty or shreddable chewable things, shadowy enclosures) away. Further intervention can be discussed with your vet.

I’ve had a few rescued female birds quickly come into breeding condition and lay eggs (in food dish or on floor) right after they came to live with me, seemingly just because they were calmer or happier or better fed in my house (their new home). I have found it really important to keep newspaper away from rescued girl birds, which sometimes meant finding or making a new cage grill.

Good luck! Caiques seem like really cute and funny birds. I think I’d like to have one, but maybe I’d find out otherwise. Bet they can get into a lot of trouble. Good luck!

They are not cages together and only preen each others heads. So while they are bonded, they haven’t shown any mating behaviors. But she has stopped the regurgitating behavior, so I believe it was just initial excitement of being in a new place.

 

[HeatherG]

If you don’t want babies, I’m glad they’re not caged together. Hopefully that will prevent any little caiques.