And new baby caique makes 3....

[Stizby]

I got a 4-month old White Belly Caique (which I named Splash) a few weeks ago. Splash had one clutchmate that had already been spoken for at the time I acquired her. Well, I was contacted by Splash's breeder this morning who offered me Splash's clutchmate. Turns out that the buyer of Splash's clutchmate never was able to come up with all the money to pay for him/her and the breeder had run out of patience.

If you will recall, I also recently acquired a Black Head Caique, whom I have named Cricket.

I have fallen head over heels for Splash and Cricket -- they are total clowns and Splash, in particular, is extremely affectionate.

Anyway, I told Splash's breeder that I would stop by on my way home this evening to see whether Splash's clutchmate would take to me. That was my first mistake.....

Splash's clutchmate is now home with me and is safely tucked away in bed for the night.

[Dayna]

How exciting!

[Baby5566]

That's awesome! I want pics! :D

[The Outlaw]

Kelly:

You are so easy. I'm gonna have all of the caique breeders locally give you a call. Congratulations. I know they are cute little buggers. I almost succumbed myself on more than one occasion. However, the ones I looked at were $1200 a piece and that's too rich for my blood.

[FeathersNFur8]

Congratulations Kelly! Glad you're enjoying them, they all sound cute. So what's the new ones name?

[Stizby]

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

Kelly:

I'm gonna have all of the caique breeders locally give you a call.

Oh lordy, Nancy, please don't do that or else I'll have to declare personal bankruptcy!!

Yes, they are a bit pricey but well worth the money. They have made me laugh so much since I've gotten them. There's a reason they are called "clowns of the parrot world"! I believe you say that every home should have a quaker. For me, I think it should be a caique!!

[The Outlaw]

Quakers: the POOR man's caique

[Stizby]

Took me a while to settle on Splash's name and I've got to get to know the little guy a bit more before I find a name that suits him. As for pics, those will have to wait until tomorrow as he is sleeping for the night. I will tell you that he looks much different than Splash -- he has no black feathers on his head and his beak is completely horn colored. [It is my understanding that Splash's black feathers (or most of them anyway) should change to orange as she matures.]

[Stizby]

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

Quakers: the POOR man's caique

I actually got Cricket for a pretty good price. She has a couple "behavior" issues that were the result of being in the shop for too long -- she is 13 months old. She had become quite the biter in the shop, especially when crowded by admirers. She does much better one-on-one and is thriving here. She took to me right away in the shop which totally surprised the shop owner. But I got a couple of nasty bites from her in the first few days of bringing her home which I believe was her way of trying to dominate me. (Frankly, those bites were far more wicked than any I have ever suffered from my bigger birds and, to be honest, it was hard to not be fearful of that darn little beak!) But I refused to let her bully me with her biting and used the Intensive Loving technique that you have written about before, Nancy (which I believe you heard about from Land of Vos). That has definitely made a huge difference in getting Cricket to trust me and I would highly recommend it to anyone with a bird that has domination issues.

[The Outlaw]

You are correct. That is from Carolyn's site. I think its a wonderful way to handle frightened birds that have learned to fear bite.