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Thanks for letting me comiserate with my fellow Caique owned friends. I have 4 Caiques. Two BH breeders and two WB pets. I've owned Harvey (WH) the longest and he's gone through three nippy stages. His first was testing and I was warned that he would. He learned a firm "no bite" and our fun time was over. The second was in response to a minor plucking episode. He is sensitive to peanuts and I don't feed them any more-no more plucking. Also, he needs REGULAR bath spraying and I can't emphasize this enough! He actually says: "Oh, wow wow. Oh, wow, wow!" Finally and more recently, he took to biting harder and more aggressively..don't know why but this time he got a "no bite" and a birdy time out in a bird carrier. After 5 minutes (the recommended time) I heard a very sweet "cheep" to tell me he was ready. I was on my way to bring him back for more love and fun anyway. Harvey has never bitten me unkindly since. I just ask him if he wants birdy time out. He really does seem to remember. The other two BH Caiques are breeders. The male is a perfect gentleman and kindly tells me when to leave him alone. The female hates me all the time even when I'm feeding and cleaning. The only effective method (and not always) are two step up sticks. I give her the "step up" command with one stick and insist that she ladder walk up onto the second, alternating sticks in ladder fashion for no more than 5 step ups. She is completely taken aback and -so far- has been so dumbfounded every time that my hands are beginning to heal. The youngest 12 wk old WBCaique needs to hang on quite firmly with her beak as she is awkward yet. SHE is NOT biting but just hangin' in there until she becomes reassured that she can count on me not to drop her. BTW-did you know that the earliest recorded breeding of a Caique was in Brazil.....11 MONTHS old. FYI.

Wow! I can hardly cope with one caique, let alone four. How long have you had your 12-week old baby? How is he/she doing?

Excellent outcome and 'loving discipline' from you! Caiques will constantly test you and your 'time outs' do need to be consistent with the behavior. You've done everything by the book and that's why you're having great results.
Beaker started a screaming thing shortly after I got him, but he immediately went into his cage with a 'no screaming'. Just as soon as he stopped, which was almost immediate, he got to come out. Even though it's rare now, the action is still the same and so is the result.
When experienced folks say to 'do this' or 'don't do that', when it comes to behavior and disciplinie regarding a caique, they're saying it for a reason. What you did with another species, isn't going to likely work with a caique and the sooner most new parronts learn that, the better off the household will be.
It sounds like you have everything under control! Most parrot owners don't understand you reward the positive behavior, you don't reward the negative. Sounds easy but it requires much more thought than most people think.
andrea