Question about introducing a Caique into the family

[LeonardoParker]

Hi guys, recently I’ve been interested in extending the family and introducing a Caique. My partner and I already own two Indian Ringnecks who are brothers and are about a year old. I’ve read multiple things about Caiques becoming aggressive to other species when they mature but most of these posts have been about introducing other species after the Caique has been a lone bird for a while. If we were to introduce a Caique to our IRN’s while it is still a baby, would that help with the aggressive nature of the species? I’d love for them to get along outside of the cage. I know all birds are different but a generalisation would be appreciated. Obviously they won’t be housed together and play time will be supervised.

Thanks guys

 

[Ezekiell]

I wouldn’t actually say that caiques are aggressive per se. It’s more that their interaction style is very very different from other birds, they tend to be far more boisterous and most other bird species don’t appreciate that. And there are some personality differences between the subspecies with the BHCs tending more towards the aggressive side than the WBCs in general, but also that is down to the personality of the bird and how well it’s trained.

Baby’s are a lot easier to mold, I would say it’d be far easier to introduce a baby caique than an adult. There are lots of stories out there of young caiques being successfully introduced to the family flock. Adult birds are generally harder to introduce as they already are set in their ways, doesn’t mean that it’s not impossible though, and really that is true of any adult bird not just caiques. I have heard success stories out there of adult birds joining new family flocks, but it also depends on the temperament of the bird.

Our caique is a lone bird and it will remain that way in our house. I’ve never actually done bird introductions myself, so I’ll leave the other caique owners out there to chime in more on that aspect.