Our caiques run to the shoulder and stay there..

[nickmartin]

Hi all,

Fantastic forum so far!!! I apologize if this has been covered but I tried searching with no real luck.

We just got two baby caiques (about 3 months old). They are adorable but think they still have to get used to us. They were hand fed and are pretty tame.

When we take them out of the cage they are very set on climbing toour shoulders/backs and like to stay there (almost hiding). I've read that it's a dominating behaviour and would love to get some feedback/ideas as to how we can tackle this.

We have only had the birds for a few days, so not sure if we should let them stay there in order to get used to us and the surroundings, or whether we should start training them not to go on the shoulder? If we can train them wht would you suggest?

Thanks in advance!!!

Nick & Lea

[sweetpeaches]

Welcome Nick and Lea,
Congratulations on your babies. Hmmm..this can be kind of a two sided thing. Some people love to have their birds on their shoulders and don't have an issue, others perfer not to have their birds on their shoulders. I for one think its a personal choice and one that would have to be made on what you want and what the behavior of your bird may be.
I will occassionally let Bailey on my shoulder. But he LOVES my ear lobes and let me tell ya when he grabes one...YIKES...it's like trying to get a vice grip off your ear and doing that without yelling in pain ain't easy.

[Chelle]

Welcome to you both.
My Soel sits on my shoulder all the time. She doesn't bite me, she preens me though.
I have been around other Caiques that have drawn blood to my ears and face. You will get to know them better and will be better able to read their moods.
If your birds automatically run up your arm and demand that they be left to their own decisions- I would stop that!

[Nailhole]

Hello Nick Lea and Babies Welcome,


I had the same problem with Jack when i first brought him home
and i didn't know what to do so i used to let him go up there,
for the first months it was all good i would take him out of the cage
and he would run up to my shoulder no problem,
the problem was when i wanted him to come down to my hand
he got so used to run up to my shoulder that he didn't want to
be on my arm anymore and he got really aggressive and mad
just because i wouldn't let him go on my shoulder,
after the second incident i decided not to let him go up there no
more,
it was really frustrating for him but it was the best thing for everyone,
sooo i came up with the idea of blocking the way up to the shoulder
(i'm sure i'm not the first one to come out with this but it work)
when i say blocking the way i mean puttin my free palm on the arm
where i was holding Jack, i would put my free palm up to my half way
Right where the join is,
but guess what? he would climb the free hand so what you have to do
is swich the now free hand and block the busy hand,

That worked grate for me and still does,
i do let him go up there but only when i want
you have to make the decition,

hope i you make the best decition,

Uriel.

[LeRoy's owner]

Hi and welcome.

Susan is right, it is a personal choice. When leroy was a baby I would let him crawl up by my throat where he would flop over for a nap. The only time he is allowed on my shoulder is when I say it is ok not when he wants to. He will now be 2 in June and to this day he cuddles up under my chin for a little nap each day and I love it. He hardly ever tries to go to my shoulder anymore. Good luck on whatever you decide.....connie

[nickmartin]

Hey all,

Thanks so much for your replies!

Yeah it's a tough call and no matter what we decide it will be quite a trial I'm sure (either now or in the long run). It's even harder as we have two of them and they just love being together on the shoulder/neck area. They will sit and cuddle/play and it's so cute. But they won't step down on their own. One of them is picking up real quick to get on the finger, but only for play - not for comming off the shoulder.

No matter where we are or what we are doing they will try to climb us and get on the shoulder.

So one way of stopping this behaviour is simply limiting access? Can we use our hands to pick them up and move them elsewhere everytime they try to climb the shoulder? They're pretty good at finding alternative routes lol!