Your New Caique Parrot
Congratulations on the purchase of your new Caique baby! We have worked hard to raise a
healthy, happy baby. Now, we're turning the baby over to you, and we're confident you'll have a
fun, loving, and rewarding life together. This care sheet provides the basic information needed to
make your baby's addition to your home successful.
I. Socialization
Like all parrots, Caiques are highly social creatures. We handfed your baby to ensure that it would
become a good companion bird. As a result, your baby depends on people to fill its needs for
social interaction. Your family is its flock. For a healthy, happy pet we recommend spending at
least two hours per day with your new Caique out of the cage and interacting with you. More time
is better.
If you want your new Caique to accept your family, all family members should spend significant
time with it. It is unrealistic to think that your Caique will be as accepting of someone who spends
15 minutes a week with it as it will be of someone who spends 15 hours.
Caiques are sweet birds. They respond well to kisses on the beak accompanied by soft,
affectionate vocalizations. Talk softly to your baby. Give physical affection, but do not force it.
Your baby will probably like to be pet on its back, scratched on its head and under its wings.
Like human babies, baby parrots must learn appropriate behavior. Because they explore and learn
with their beaks, occasional nips are part of the territory, but you should discourage them. Never
strike or scream at your bird even if you're hurt. Repeated, firm, "No biting" messages combined
with moving the bird should do the trick. Do not shake your bird to the floor as one book
recommends. This may result in injury.
Handle the baby with confidence, and don't be afraid. Parrots are sensitive to the nonverbal
messages of their human pets. One note of caution--interaction between the baby and small
children should be closely supervised because both parties are often scared and nervous.
After your Caique is comfortable with you, don't be surprised when the baby starts preening your
hair and clothes. The baby is simply taking care of one of its flock. Just don't let it nibble your
good clothes! And, watch those buttons and earrings.
II. Diet
Our philosophy on diet is variety, variety, variety! In the wild, Caiques forage for their food.
Offering your baby a variety of foods will give it the chance to forage for its food and give it a more
well-rounded diet.
Your baby has been weaned to the following diet. It is not critical that you follow it 100%, but try to
keep the basic nutrients similar.

Fortified parrot seed and nut mix (if your baby favors the seeds and nuts to the exclusion of other
foods, offer only in the evening).

High quality pellets

Our Healthy-Bird Mash (the recipe is in your packet)

Fresh fruit and vegetables including apples, oranges, carrots, grapes, jalapeños, celery, greens, and
corn-on-the-cob (fresh or frozen).

Fresh bean and seed sprouts (instructions on sprouting are included in your packet)
Give your baby fresh food and water in clean dishes daily. We recommend four dishes, one each
for water, seeds, pellets, and Healthy-Bird Mash plus fruits, vegetables and sprouts. That way, the
dry food need not be thrown out daily if some are left over. Caiques love and need fresh fruits and
vegetables. Ensure that they are available daily. If you are using frozen vegetables, remove the
dish leftovers after a few hours because they spoil more quickly than do fresh.
Caiques can be offered most vegetables, but avocado is poisonous and can kill parrots. We
recommend fresh apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, carrots or sweet potatoes, and a green
vegetable. Most green vegetables are good sources of vitamin A and calcium. However, spinach
can bind calcium and should be avoided in excess. Our birds love corn-on-the-cob and get it daily.
And, they love grapes, but don't overdo the grapes because your baby may fill up on them, and
they're mostly water.
If your bird is eating a well-balanced diet, it does not need supplemental vitamins or minerals.
However, adding a mineral block to the cage is fine. Parrots do not need grit. Do not supply grit
regardless of what well-intentioned friends might say. Grit can impact the digestive track.
Parrots enjoy human food. You can feed them what you're having, just watch the fat and salt
content. Do not let your baby have beverages that contain caffeine or alcohol. And, chocolate,
especially dark chocolate such as Baker's Chocolate, causes kidney damage and can be fatal.
(Don't panic if your baby gets hold of a Hershey's Kiss. Milk chocolate, such as that found in most
candies, contains very little real chocolate.)
We'll warn you now, many Caiques love to make soup. They must be related to raccoons because
they often dip virtually everything into their water before eating so water may need to be changed
frequently.
III. Housing
Caiques are extremely active, we recommend you get as large a cage as you can afford within
reason. We recommend a minimum:

Approximately 2 feet deep X 2 feet wide X 3 feet tall or larger.

At least three non dumpable food dishes.

Natural wood perches, such as manzanita or ribbon wood.

Powder coating or stainless steel.
We encourage you to buy a high-quality cage. Cages vary significantly in construction quality,
coating quality, and features.
We use newspaper for cage bottoms. Today's newsprint is nontoxic. Do not use ground corn cob,
ground walnut shells, or other such substrates because your bird may ingest the substrate, which
may result in an impacted digestive tract. And, with a little dropped water and food, such
substrates make excellent growth media for bacteria and fungi.
Caiques love swings! In addition, we suggest several hanging toys to keep you baby busy, Hang
the swing and other toys with quick ("C") links instead of "S" (key-chain) rings because birds may
get their nails and beaks caught in the latter. If need be, get quick links from a hardware store and
replace S-rings yourself. There has been some implication of standard quick links and high zinc
levels in pet birds. Stainless steel quick links are available.
Avoid toys that have soft cotton rope. It is easily unraveled, and your baby may get its feet caught,
which can result in serious injury. Provide wooden toys for chewing.
Consider a T-Stand or free-standing play gym for your baby. If the cage is not located in a central
family area, your Caique will enjoy being on a stand with the family when you're home.
IV. Care and safety
Find an avian vet before you get your baby. Check references, because good dog-and-cat vets
often have little experience with parrots.
First-aid supplies to have on hand include Kwik Stop, needle-nosed pliers, and vet wrap. Use Kwik
Stop to stop bleeding after nail clipping or if your baby should accidentally tear a toenail, which is
not that uncommon. (Some may recommend cornstarch, but we have not found that it works very
well.) Pliers are used to pull a broken blood feather, if it's bleeding profusely and you can't get the
bird to a vet immediately. Do not use Kwik Stop on a feather follicle after pulling a blood feather
because it may kill the follicle. Instead, apply pressure with your fingers until the bleeding stops.
Vet wrap is a self-adhering bandage that can be used to bandage an injury until you can get to a
vet. Unlike other bandages, birds cannot take off vet wrap.
One note of caution--if you're treating a bird for such an injury, you need another person to hold
the bird firmly in a towel. Hold the bird by the head with three fingers--thumb on one side of the
head, one finger on top, and one finger on the other side. An alternative way to hold a bird is to
make a circle out of your thumb and forefinger just around its neck. You can hold the bird tightly
without worrying about choking it. Unlike humans, a parrot's trachea is fully enclosed in cartilage.
The other hand should encircle the body below the breast. Do not hold the bird too tightly around
the breast. Parrots do not have diaphragms, and holding the bird too tightly around the breast can
stop breathing.
Watch your baby to monitor its health. Parrots will go to great lengths to conceal illness from flock
members and predators, so a sick bird may not appear obviously sick. If the bird's feathers lose
their luster, its poop doesn't look normal over an extended period of time, it has a runny nose, or it
sits with its feathers fluffed while perching on two feet, take the bird to a vet. If a bird is really sick,
it will stop perching and eating and sit in the bottom of the cage, typically with feathers fluffed.
Baths are an important part of parrot care. Some birds like to take a bath in a large crock. Others
like to take showers with their owners. Another option is to keep fresh, clean water in a spray
bottle and mist your bird. Don't be afraid to soak your bird--it's good for the feathers and skin.
They can dry naturally, but some birds love a blow dry with the unit held a foot or so away on the
warm, slow setting.
If requested, your baby will arrive clipped, but pay close attention over the next several months as
new feathers grow in. No matter what you're told, don't clip just one wing. This unbalances the
bird, and the resulting uncontrolled flight may result in injury. The goal is to have enough primary
flight feathers clipped so that the bird can flutter to the floor rather than hit with a thud, which may
result in injury, but cannot gain altitude.
Leaving too many feathers is equally dangerous. Many birds considered well-clipped by their
owners have been known to fly great distances if frightened or startled. Ceiling fans, mirrors, open
toilets, uncovered windows, and uncovered pots and pans are major hazards to an unclipped or
insufficiently clipped parrot.
We suggest having wings and nails clipped every 6 months. If you do it yourself, use scissors with
blunt ends for the wing clip. The addition of a short concrete perch to the cage will help keep nails
trim. We use professional quality cat-claw clippers to do nails. Be sure you have some Kwik Stop
on hand in case you clip too much and the nail bleeds.
We know you love your bird, so hopefully it won't be too traumatic to rid yourself of TeflonTM
products. When overheated, Teflon, which really includes all nonstick-surfaced products, gives off
an odorless toxic gas that will kill your bird. Besides cookware, don't forget such items as irons
and ironing board covers. Because it's so difficult to find irons that don't have a nonstick surface,
simply change the location of its use to a totally separate area of the house that is well-ventilated.
Your kitchen may contain other hazards. The self-cleaning cycle on some ovens can be lethal. We
know of one person who lost two large Macaws and nearly lost two more to a self-cleaning oven. If
you must use the self-cleaning cycle on your oven, remove your bird from your house first, and
ensure that the house has been totally aired out before returning your bird. And, we have heard
that some cook-tops and ovens have a coating that burns off the first time the stove is used and
can cause respiratory arrest. We have heard of several birds that have been killed by new stoves.
Other items reported as dangerous include plug-in, spray aerosols, and chemical carpet cleaners.
Parrots have incredibly efficient respiratory systems and, are therefore, sensitive to
concentrations of vapors that don't bother other animals or people. As a general rule, if something
emits strong odors, it may be injurious to your bird. And, never spray an aerosol around your bird.
While on the subject of poisonous items, you should that know certain "organic" items are offlimits. Items that can be dangerous include peach and apricot pits and some houseplants
including philodendron and dumb cane. You may hear that apples seeds are toxic. Apple seeds do
contain cyanide, but in such tiny amounts that you don't need to worry about coring apples before
feeding.
Birds need sunlight just like we do. If you can, place the cage by a window that can be opened.
Unfortunately, sunlight filtered through glass loses its beneficial properties for vitamin D
production. You can also use an avian full spectrum light to provide the needed vitamin D
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact us and we always love to receive
updates and photos of our babies.
TIKI ROOM AVIARIES
FORT WORTH, TEXAS (817) 266-5207
Kim@TikiRoomAviaries.com www.TikiRoomAviaries.com