Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

RE: Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:19:19 GMT

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]These are a pretty resilient species so have a better chance than the typical aggressive, hand-reared, chronic feather-plucking grey parrot...[/quote]OK I concede on that. And we do have someone locally who has aviaries and will take on cases like this with some success of giving it a reasonable life.

But my point is still valid. It is most likely this bird's behaviour is ingrained from the previous rubbish owners and it will continue in a new home. The kennel guarding dog will revert to normal when it goes home so its not a fair comparison, its more akin to the FIV+ve unhandleable feral cat that some nutty cat person keeps in their spare bedroom hiding under the wardrobe for the rest of its life condemned to a life of stress and misery. we have a few of those!

RE: Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

joanne mcallister — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:38:56 GMT

thanks for the Greg Glendell link, Marie, looks very interesting

RE: Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:33:11 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]Why bother. This is one unhappy bird, what is the point of prolonging its unhappiness? [/quote]

This is harsh assessment of a case where there are very few details provided to make any judgment. Many birds are stressed and difficult to handle by strangers unfamiliar with parrots, made worse when surrounded by predators and in a small and unfamiliar cage in a hospital. Would you recommend euthanasia of kennel guarding dogs as it is often equivalent?

Maybe this is a trainwreck of a bird that has had it's brain destroyed by hand-rearing and rubbish owners and euthanasia is appropriate but many birds can be managed without much human interference, or integrated into a suitable household. These are a pretty resilient species so have a better chance than the typical aggressive, hand-reared, chronic feather-plucking grey parrot...

RE: Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

joanne mcallister — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:31:39 GMT

unfortunately we have little information form the previous home, but trying to get some more. He had been fed parrot mix with fruit and we have been trying to wean onto Harrisons and wondered if that was a factor I am not a huge fan of keeping birds as pets but want to try to understand what is going on with this little guy and see if we can address any issues that will make a difference to his QOL.

RE: Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 09:28:41 GMT

[quote user="joanne mcallister"]

does anyone know of any good references on parrot behaviour? we have a black-headed caique to rehome that is attacking members of staff and biting.

[/quote]Why bother. This is one unhappy bird, what is the point of prolonging its unhappiness? Too many people keep unhappy animals alive for the sake of it rather than putting them out of their misery. One dead bird that is not going to support a breeding program in an endangered species wouldn't keep me awake at night.

RE: Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

Marie Kubiak — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:59:53 GMT

As Gillian says there are lots of key factors - previous handling, age, personality plus juvenile rearing technique, social contact, enclosure type, diet, underlying pain or debilitation...

You need to try and glean as many bits of information on previous care, then evaluate the details and the bird itself in detail to identify triggers and decide what (if anything) can be done.

Failing that chat to Greg Glendell (http://www.greg-parrots.co.uk/)

Marie

RE: Aggressive behaviour in a Caique

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 15:24:43 GMT

Sounds like a 'normal' black headed caique to me!. They are nasty little sods!

How old is the bird and has it ever been hand tame/trained?