Caique pair help needed

[Caiquetiels]

I'm brand new to this site but would appreciate any advice on my caiques. They are 12 1/2 yrs old, male and female, and this is the first time they have been hormonal. I think with the Corona virus going on and me being home more, I may have been too chummy with the pair. The male started flying to my shoulder constantly, like an obsession, and the first week he was pecking at my head/face, but he's chilled out this last week.

The female has always weighed around 180 - 185 grams, and now she is gaining 2-3 grams each day, now at 220. I have seen the 2 mate for 12 years, but this is the first time she's gained this weight so I think she will be laying an egg soon.

I've been reading posts from parrot owners, and I now know to put them to bed earlier, don't pet their backs, vary the inside of the cage, put toys at bottom so they don't want to lay eggs, but now that the female is so heavy, I'm wondering if I should give her a box to lay an egg, or if I should continue to put toys at bottom of cage and keep distracting them from having eggs. The female can be aggressive when she's moody in the winter months, I can't imagine her with an egg. I honestly think she would kill the egg or a baby if she sees it.

I have only raised cockatiels back in the 90's, and yesterday was the last cockatiel's 23rd birthday, but the caiques have never been close to this stage and I'm sure they are different than cockatiels. Thanks for any help.

 

[noodles123]

NO egg-boxes or nests. REMOVE all dark or shadowy spaces. Lack of laying space will not prevent an egg from expelling...Any shadowy spaces (tents, huts, boxes) will encourage egg production/mating, but lack of these types of spaces will not stop her from laying if the egg is already forming internally. If you give them a nest (or nest-like space) you are basically ASKING them to mate and lay eggs...Providing a nest box is like buying a 1950s newly-wed couple a house with a white picket-fence in the suburbs lol.

How long have they been together? I would CONSIDER separating them (although that will come with its own complications--- and not all people will agree with me--you will want to weigh the pros and cons, but if they are showing signs of hormonal behavior, that is not surprising, as it is their nature...)..Housing mixed gender birds together, in my opinion, like leaving 2 hormonal 16 year-old humans alone in a house when parents are out of town and expecting them not to do anything irresponsible...only birds don't have any "morals" that would hold them back from taking advantage of what nature has provided.

If you think she has an egg forming, provide cuttle-bone/high-calcium foods to aid in egg-shell formation (I don't mean that providing this will make her lay and egg that isn't there, but if she has an egg in there, you want it to come out easily and in one piece or it can risk her health).

If she does lay an egg, there will likely be more than one and if you let them hatch, that is way more complicated than most people think. I wouldn't want that but it will come down to your knowledge, finances and time. If you do allow the eggs to hatch, you can anticipate behavioral changes in your birds, and you must also separate the babies when they are weaned or they will mate and produce genetically unhealthy babies when they become sexually mature (just because they are siblings, does not mean that they will not mate or fight eventually).

If you do not want the egg to hatch, quickly remove it from the cage and boil it like you would a hard-boiled egg (marking it with a pen afterwards) and then replacing it as soon as it is cool. You never want to permanently remove eggs until the female loses interest or she will repeat the cycle of laying (even if the eggs are infertile). The purpose of marking the egg is to make sure that you know what eggs have been boiled if new ones show up. Dummy eggs are another possibility if boiling makes you uncomfortable...

 

[Caiquetiels]

Thanks for answering. I've had them for the whole 12 years, and they are always on the couch with me, and have gone behind a blanket to nap, and they never did this behavior til 2 weeks ago. The male is obsessed with being on my shoulder but I have not seen them mate in the last 2 weeks, but they may be mating while I'm at work. Is it bad if I cut his wings? They normally hang out on top of their cage and hate to fly, and only come on the couch for an hour or so, but he will not leave me alone.

My female doesn't like anything in her cage, and throws everything out if it's on her floor. I gave her a wooden egg last year and she rolled it off the couch, so I think she may kill anything she can. She's been unusually sweet and cuddly the last 2 weeks though. She is the tomboy, and is more aggressive with me than the male.

Great advice about boiling the eggs. I'd never heard of that. I raised 8 cockatiel babies in the 90's but that was a lot of work and I am not excited about caique babies. I will be keeping the bed time earlier and only petting the head from now on. My cockatiels never did this hormonal thing.

 

[noodles123]

Thanks for answering. I've had them for the whole 12 years, and they are always on the couch with me, and have gone behind a blanket to nap, and they never did this behavior til 2 weeks ago. The male is obsessed with being on my shoulder but I have not seen them mate in the last 2 weeks, but they may be mating while I'm at work. Is it bad if I cut his wings? They normally hang out on top of their cage and hate to fly, and only come on the couch for an hour or so, but he will not leave me alone.

My female doesn't like anything in her cage, and throws everything out if it's on her floor. I gave her a wooden egg last year and she rolled it off the couch, so I think she may kill anything she can. She's been unusually sweet and cuddly the last 2 weeks though. She is the tomboy, and is more aggressive with me than the male.

Great advice about boiling the eggs. I'd never heard of that. I raised 8 cockatiel babies in the 90's but that was a lot of work and I am not excited about caique babies. I will be keeping the bed time earlier and only petting the head from now on. My cockatiels never did this hormonal thing.

Try to get them on a sleep schedule (10 hours minimum per night ---roughly the same bed and wake-up everyday and consistent uncovering)..avoid warm, mushy foods, and avoid easily shreddable toys...Same with bedding and anything cave-like (even outside the cage---like, pillows, blankets, under furniture, book-shelves etc). Also- do not allow her to play with hollow things like cups, or egg-shaped toys.

Don't let them nestle under your chin or in your hair, or on your lap if they are being weird (my bird wants nothing more to invade my kitchen cabinets at the moment because of her desire to nest around in there)-- I am sure that you are right about Covid-19 ramping this up with you being home all of the time. My vet said lots of people have seen weird hormone changes in their birds as a result of being home more often...plus, it's spring, so on top of that, there are the light increases and the fact that yours has a bird of the opposite gender around. The egg may be yours LOL but you won't really know, so if you don't want a baby, you now at least know what you could do. DO remember that there is rarely just one egg in most parrots...keep an eye-out for any signs of "egg-binding".

 

[LaManuka]

As you would know from your history with cockatiels, the absence of a nest box is no deterrent to a broody, determined hen!

Your female caique likely rejected your offer of a wooden egg because she probably didn’t recognise it as an egg, plus it didn’t come with all the preliminary activities and hormonal surges that would accompany actually having laid it herself. I think you are correct in your assessment that these new behaviours in both your birds is the result of you spending more time at home. My broody little lorikeet presented me with three (!) clutches of eggs last year and each time it coincided with me being on leave from work. I boiled her eggs to prevent her making a mess if she broke them, and allowed her to sit on them until she either lost interest or she managed to break the shell herself, which usually happened first - she is a very determined sitter indeed!

Your hen sounds like she is stacking on a lot of weight to get herself into laying condition. This is pretty much what my lorikeet is doing right now, but I’m trying not to encourage any actual egg production by feeding her less energy dense foods (tricky with a lorikeet!), ensuring she has no access to dark nesty spaces, limiting cuddling (again, tricky coz she’s so sweet!), plenty of exercise, toys, daily baths etc etc.

I think you’d find if your hen does lay she would probably happily brood her eggs quite carefully, although her attitude to you during this time may be a different story! You can get much more realistic dummy eggs online, there’s an outfit based in Florida that seems to produce a good range. Only prob with those is they’re virtually indestructible, I replaced Lilly’s egg with a faux one last December and I swear she’d probably still be sitting on it now if it was up to her!

Let us know how you get on won’t you, and I wish you all the best with your flock!

 

[noodles123]

I will say that I have read that too much bathing/spraying simulates conditions similar to those in most parrot's breeding season's (spring rains etc), so yeah, still bathe your birds, but maybe not daily.

 

[LaManuka]

Oh the bathing thing is pretty much all Lilly’s idea and I’m not going to discourage her! She gets herself absolutely soaked to the bone, then spends ages (and plenty of energy) drying off and preening. While she’s doing all that she’s not looking for a nest hole or harassing me for not being a better “boyfriend”. Win win!!

 

[Caiquetiels]

It feels like I'm part of a sister wives club. The male won't leave me alone and if I block him, he's pecking me. They only bathe once a week, and when the male got drenched, he couldn't fly and he chilled out. It would be so cute to have a baby but I can't go thru 4 months of that. I had one cockatiel die of egg binding, what are the signs besides heavy panting?

 

[noodles123]

Egg binding is very dangerous--- symptoms can include STRAINING TO POOP, regurgitation, abnormally large droppings or abnormally small droppings (it can go both ways), changes in appetite, decreased activity, blood on or around the vent, bulges in the abdomen or near the vent, trouble perching, generally fluffed appearance etc... I will try to find a link.

Babies are not a walk in the park..sometimes they get pecked to death or starved...it's not as fun as it sounds lol.

This link seems legit, but I am sure there are more sources out there-- https://wagwalking.com/bird/condition/egg-binding

 

[Caiquetiels]

I'm considering hard boiling the egg when it comes out. How do you do this with an egg so small?
I noticed yesterday and this am that the female was chowing down her pellets at 2am both mornings. I have the room pitch black and a sheet over the cage. She doesn't know how to use a calcium block so I have been scraping it into powder and I found some liquid calcium yesterday.
I remember with my cockatiels, the female didn't want the male with her at all, they fought over sitting on them, so I had to give them day/night shifts, then they got along after the eggs hatched. Will I have to separate the caiques when she lays eggs?

 

[noodles123]

dosing birds makes me nervous so don't just start using liquid calcium etc unless you do it with very specific avian vet instruction. You don't want to over-do it.

From what I understand, just do it like you would a hard-boiled it. DON'T CRACK IT when you put it in the water or the egg will burst during boiling and you do not want that lol. Are you worried about the bubbles from the water breaking the egg? I have never actually had to do it, but many have. You might make a separate thread on that if you want more people to see it/respond.

I'm not sure about separating them either-- It probably depends but I would ask about that too (in a new thread) IF no one responds to this one.