upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hello, everybody! I just loved reading the posts at Caique chat
i decided to join. It has been a year since I have been reading and researching about birds before I've decided to get one. Well, I can't decide on a species. I really want a smaller-sized bird. This would be my first bird and I will be the soul care-taker in my family. I'm only 14 and really want to make the right choice for my first bird. I am stuck between a Green cheek conure and a Caique. I really want a bird who is quieter but by no means silent. Do caiques like to cuddle? I wouldn't get a bird till the summer. The only thing that concerns me about both species is nippiness. I would be o.k. with being nipped( although I woud't enjoy it) but my dad i'm not so sure. All of my family wants a bird that doen't bite at all. I geuss i have lots of time to decide. Any other species reccomendations would be appreciated

Hello and welcome! I give you a huge round of applause for doing your homework on bird species!
As far as nippiness, all birds are going to bite, nibble etc. They feel with their beak.. it's like another hand/foot. My caique is very beaky. Sometimes shes good about chewing nicely and other times she can really give me a bite. My hands have somewhat gotten used to it, I'm sure yours will too. But you have to learn how to read body language and their eyes....You can tell if your bird is gonna bite, or be sweet. It takes time to get to know them.

Caiques are great birds and anyone here will tell you that. They need a firm loving hand so they know who's BOSS... YOU! not them! lol

Browse around the other bird chats and get some ideas and opinions from them about other birds. Good luck and keep us posted!

It's good that you are looking into getting birds and reading! I don't recommend caiques since they can be a bit "bull headed" and hard to handle... I don't really recommend green cheeks either due to the fact that they are known for being VERY nippy... and unless you know how to work through it, they will continue to be nippy... it's just part of their behavior to be... of course most all birds do tend to be nippy or bitey, some more so than others.

A handraised cockatiel, a bourke, or even a princess parrot I'd say would be better choices... especially for a first time parront. Maybe even a handraised budgie! I started out with birds when I was 12, and started with petstore budgies. I was later given a cherry headed conure and a cockatiel when I was 13 (tiel came first, but only got them a month apart). The cockatiel was handraised from day one and she is, to this day, a real sweety! As for the conure... well lets just say that is NOT a type of bird to give to a child! Especially since she bit, screamed, and mutilated! But for the most part she's quite content now.

If you do your research, and your really interested in a medium sized parrot, a poinus or a poicephalus (meyers, brown head, etc) may be a good area to look into. If you are REALLY set on a certain species, be sure that both you AND your family are well informed about the species, and know the starting cost of the bird (i.e. how much it'll be to buy from a breeder, plus cage, toys, perches, etc), and even better have a few avian vets no hand who can help you out or give your new bird a well-bird check-up.

It makes things easier if the entire family is looking into adopting or buying a bird rather than just you.... as you'll have the added support of your parents in case something ever goes wrong. If they aren't as much into getting a bird as you are, you may end up being the sole care-taker of the bird and your parents not caring to help out of he or she is sick...

i really like 'tiels except my mom is allergic to dust and so am I. I was also looking into piocephalus and pionus. My mom really wnat the bird to be pretty. She does not like meyer's. I like meyer's and maxi and blue-headed pionus, but pionus seem to relaxed for me. I heard gcc go through a nippy stage when they are babies, but they can work through it. What is a princess parrot?

You could try a love bird

this is a princess parrot

http://www.goldencob.com/breeds/breeds.asp?b=10

I love caiques, they are so much fun, and they were my first birds, although I was 27 when we got Sparky. While they do like to cuddle (some more than others) they are stubborn and willful and even the sweetest will sometimes bite. You have to work on training them just like a smart dog and they need lots of things to do.

I don't have much personal experience with GCC other than cuddly babies. But I do not recomend love birds unless you like screamming. I've heard love birds give cockatoos competition for volume. Love birds can also give a nasty bite.

Another thing to consider, is that you will probably be leaving home in 4 or 5 years. If you are going to college, most dorms do not allow pets, and you may not have a lot of free time to devote to your bird anyway. Many appartments also do not allow pets, even birds. Are you going to be in a situation where you have the time and a place for the bird or can your bird stay with your parents until you are again able to have him or her. Caiques live anywhere from 25 to 40 years. I don't want to discourage you but being aware now and planning may make it easier on you, your bird and your family later.

One thing you might consider, is getting a pair of hand raised budgies. If you interact regularly with them they are very affectionate. They are better talkers than Caiques, in general. They live anywhere from 5 to 12 years and can be very pretty. With a pair of them they can also keep each other company for a while when things in your life get busy.

Good luck!

Welcome to the group and I also commend you for doing your research first.
I agree with most thoughts here, but remember, a bird, like any animal, is what YOU make it. Bird usually become nippy for lack of human interaction. Green cheeks are quieter, but still have a fiesty, fun disposition. Brown heads are wonderful little birds, and you can't go wrong with a cockatiel.

I also agree your entire family needs to be involved in your decision and continued care of the bird. Do go to other sites and ask your questions there - it will help you make an informed decision about your future baby.
andrea

This is just a suggestion, but if there are any bird rescues near, you might want to go check them out and even maybe volunteer to spend time with the different birds. You never know, one may pick you out. But it does give you insight to how they are as adults, noise levels, etc.

I cannot imagine being without my caiques but I love all of them. I have always heard that the green cheeks are much more mellow and I doubt they are as loud as the caiques. My caiques do tend to feed off the others energy, but they are much louder (and annoying - ha ha) than my sun conures. But if you only have 1 bird in the house I wouldn't think it would be too noisey - unless it learns that it gets attention that way. One of my caiques thinks that when it is her turn out of the cage that I must stay in the same room with her. She has this hideous scream that she uses if I leave the room for a minute. I have tried putting her back in her cage but it doesn't work. It is like she is having a little temper tantrum. She knows I don't like it but she does it anyway. And at night they all tend to get a little noisy when it is bedtime.

Enjoy your search for the right bird.

i have thought about the issue of going to college. My parents would take care of any bird I have. After I've been through college, I might take the bird back when I can stand on my own feet. It depends how attached the bird would be to my parents. If I live in an apartment near school, I would have no problem with a bird. I absolutely know that what an animal's personality is like depends on the owner. My dog is the sweetest to me and always obeys me when I tell her no( she loves Kleenex so i constantly have to watch, and she loves socks). With my mom, however, she can get away with anything. She will crawl on my mom's lap and try to lick the food out of her hands. She doesn't do this with me. I have heard many different views on caiques and Green cheeks personalities and I guess it all comes down to how it was raised.

im owned by both a caique and a meyers. there is a 180 personality difference. meyers:loyal,not loud, loves to cuddle,great at mimicking any noise. they are beautiful. they have several colors that glow in the sunlight. on their backs they have a iredecent turqouse color. they are a laid back bird. now for the caique: they are outgoing,funny, hard headed,chortles alot(their way of excited talk),tempermental, turn on and off in a heartbeat,they can talk;mine does; but one big drawback for them is that they thrive on alot of attention. sassy will only eat when im home. when we went on vacation;had a petsitter come in; she didn't really eat alot unless the petsitter stayed a long time. the get into a routine it is hard for them to break it. hope this helps your undecidedness. imo, i'd get a meyers.

I hate to be the naysayer, but I think it would be absolutely unfair to a bird as needy as a caique to bond with you for a few years and then for you to leave him and then MAYBE take him back after you got settled after college. A caique may live for 30 years and deserves a parront that can make a commitment to him. Please think about what you have to offer a bird as well as what you want in a bird.

I have to agree with Sassy's mom. These sweet, monster, adorable, funny, smart birds create deep bonds with their "flock" people. Unless your mom really wants the bird for herself, and not for you, I would research another breed as these birds bond strongly. They are incredibly active, and interactive and must have someone to play with for hours every day.

A lady gave me a parent raised baby Lutina cockatiel when I was 9 years old. I named her Princess. She would sit on my finger but you couldn't touch her or she would bite hard and draw BLOOD! But I loved her anyways even though my mom thought she was going to poke my eyeball out eventually with her aggressive moods. I had her for 12 years until she died of old age.
Then I bought a hand fed Cinnamon Green Cheek baby I named Sarah. Sarah almost never bites or poops on me. She is potty trained, will roll over on command, play tug-a-war with a towel, will shake my hand with her foot, will say "pretty bird" and makes kissing noises, takes showers with me, and she loves crawling down into my shirt to snuggle. She lives on me more then she ever lives in her cage. If I had a food and water bowl attached to me she would never leave. I just can't say enough about my green cheek Sarah. She’s just a doll! She is what started me on my way to breeding Green Cheeks. I currently have three pairs of Green Cheeks, two pairs of Sun Conures, and I just bought a pair of White Bellied Caiques. I was told Caiques have the same personalities as Green Cheeks except they are much more energy. They play very hard from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. My Green Cheek plays of and on through out the day, but prefers to snuggle and groom my hair more then play. However, I find that each of my birds has a different personality from the next even if they are the same type of bird. Some GCC like to crawl up into your shirt and cuddle and never ever bite, while others no matter what you try to do are shy and nippy. Some times this is because they were not hand-fed correctly and have lost there trust in humans, with others it could be that they are fearless and have a drive to want to dominate "be top bird" of your home.
If you can't make up your mind get one of each. If you put them together as babies and keep them in a large cage they would get along really well together.
As far as going to college...I'M A COLLEGE STUDENT and I still have tons of time for all my birds. There are many colleges and universities around were I live so I just made the chose to go to one of them instead of one in another state. While I study and do my homework, my birds flight all around my bed room and on me. The only difficulty in this is that they like to snap the keys off my computer key board and they are very sneaky about it. LOL! I redirect there interest with my "bird jewlery box". It’s a box that has all sorts of shinny and different textured objects that I pick up here and there when I go shopping. My birds will spend hours going through each shinny object in the box. Zippers, bits of lace, and chains are the favorites. So when my birds are doing something they shouldn't be doing like demolishing a leather chair and an expensive oak table leg I pull out the bird box and shack it. They immediately fly over like bees to honey. Anyways, ideas for combining birds and school work! Buy the way, thats anouther thing to think about. Caiques are a lot more distructive then Green Cheeks. They will chew holes in the furniture if left unsupervised. But then I guess most birds will. However, Green Cheeks like to explore rather then chew when let out of there cage.

Hi Saoring Wings,

Thank you for yor input - it's always nice to have new people on the board.

However, there were a couple of comments that made me feel uneasy and I wanted to point them out so that new bird owners are aware of the potential problems. Please don't take this as a personal attack but I just don't want anybody's bird to get hurt.

1) Your post mentioned giving birds zippers to play with. Please don't do this - zippers contain zinc and zinc poisoning can kill your bird.

Here is one link but I am sure that you can find more if you want to look up more detail.

http://www.petcaretips.net/metal-poisoning-bird.html

2) Green Cheek conures are much smaller than a caique. Even if they are togother as babies, I would never let them live in one cage or play without supervision (actually, I would probably not even let them interact with supervision but that's just me). Caiques like to play rough and could really injure a Green Cheek. I have seen birds with half of their beak missing (bitten off by another bird) and it's really sad. And of course, that's not even the worst injury that can happen...


Kate