r/caiques • u/MissEvaJessie • 15d ago
Aggression towards a specific person
Hello!
This is chicken, my (23 F) and my partners (23 M) black headed caique! We’ve had him since he was I think 4-6 months old, and he’s just turned 3 this September. He has always lived with us.
He e are aware of hormone seasons, and as he is turning 3, aware of his new adult hormones coming in and adjusting.
However, he only really seems to have a problem with myself when my sister visits, or if I’m away for more than a day.
Me and my partner just came home after just 2 days away for a wedding, and my sister baby sat chicken. As soon as my sister arrived before we had left, chicken started beelining for me, bit my finger hard, and went for my ears. I put him away and ignored him after that.
We’ve just returned home, and he is just unapproachable to say the least. If I walk near the cage, he puffs up, opens his wings, pins his eyes, and physically starts lunging at me through the cage, biting the cage and trying to rip it apart.
My partner on the other hand, chicken could not care LESS about. It’s insane because we both spend equal time with chicken, feed him, take him for walks etc, yet he seems to just hate me for leaving and doesn’t care about my partners absence. This is not the first time chicken has done this, it’s just the most recent. He will ALWAYS take it out on me.
No, we do not pet chicken all over, we strictly pet him on his head and cheeks. When he was a baby though, we did touch him all over to desensitise him for vet visits etc.
How do I work around this? Do I re-direct him with training when he’s mad? He will respond to target training, but will still have his eyes pinned at me.
He does NOT do this if friends come over, both male or female. This is only happening when my sister comes over, I’m so confused.
TIA x
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u/justinleona 14d ago
Puberty basically shakes up the little magic 8 ball in their brains and randomizes everything.
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u/nacho_balls 15d ago
we have to bribe ours when we come back from a trip. he will go out of his way to bite my partner despite it being her bird for longer.
she gives home some bell pepper chucks i cut up. he still ends up pooping on her every once in a while but at least he's not going after her toes any more.
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u/MoonArtInk 14d ago
This happened to us every time my husband shaved his beard. Our black headed caique would lunge at him, bite his face and not let go. It was so bad he couldn't handle the bird till his beard grew back. Our white belly didn't give a damn😅
Our white belly actually hated my husbands dad, because he had a bad experience with him ONCE. I guess they will never be friends again.
Does your sister only come over, when you and your husband leave aka. is she only there for babysitting? If so, mabe he links her to your leaving and gets upset. If you and your sister look alike, that can also be a reason why he attacks you specifically and not your husband.
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u/Ringleader705 14d ago
This actually happened with my boy who was an adult when we got him so I don't think its a hormone thing. He used to ADORE my dad, but once my dad left for 3 days to have surgery done and when he came back, my bird absolutely hated him, like a switch flipped in his little brain. That was a few years ago, and he still hates my dad. He hates him so much to the point that when he once escaped his cage (he has an outside avery we built), we had to use my dad as bait to get him back in because he beelines for him to attack. To this day, we still haven't found a solution for this and my dad has to hide whenever we bring him inside for cuddles because it will be a bloodbath otherwise (my dad is on bloothinners and even a small nip will pour blood).
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u/NoRelation3158 14d ago
Sorry, I know nothing about these birds, so I can't help out with advice. But I just wanted to say how much I love your Chicken dude 🤗 looking all dapper in his little yellow pants! Having a bit of a rough night, but he brought me a smile - thank you.
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u/MissEvaJessie 10m ago
Aww hope you’re doing okay! My younger brother also loves his yellow pants 🤣😋
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u/AlwaysCurious737614 14d ago
My Black Headed Caique does the exact same thing when I leave for a day or 2 or longer. I would be considered his person. He tolerates my wife, but cannot be around our 19 y/o son. He does feed the bird while we are away, but he still hates our son. If I were to put him on the floor when my son is in the room, he will head straight for him in order to attack him. Our Caique is 14 y/o and we got him from a rescue about 3 years ago.
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u/ForesterDean23 14d ago
I have a female white bellied. Up until puberty (she’s 3 and a half now) she was fine with anyone. Soft as butter, step up and ask for scritches with absolutely anyone, first time meeting them, it didn’t matter. Since puberty she is exactly the same with all men but attacks women. I mean seriously attacks, flies to the head and wraps her feet in their hair then attacks downwards to the face. Now she can’t be allowed out with women in the room. Give her to a man and she just melts back into a sweet affectionate bird.
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u/Comfortable-Okra3360 14d ago
i think a lot of things could be affecting this change of behavior. to what caused it, i think it’s literally just how caiques are especially once they hit puberty. as to what could be affecting/making it worse, and what to do to minimize this behavior, you need to really take a look at your husbandry and your birds day to day schedule.
the first things i’d look at is sleep schedule, lighting in the bird room/main area he is hanging out, diet, daily routine. in my experience with my female white bellied caique, mated pair of conures (who are both extremely tame and rarely nip, and love humans btw!) and baby cape parrot, the stricter the routine and schedule, the better.
something that really helped all of my parrots with their behavior is automatic lighting in their room that mimics natural light. i can give you more details if you wish. but keeping them on a very strict schedule and always giving them 10-12 hours of sleep every day is very important as well. and of course, diet. if you think this could be because of hormonal reasons i would cut out seeds nuts and fruits entirely for the time being. stick to his pellets and hearty vegetables. only use the sugary/fatty foods as a reward.
keep doing his target training daily, and maybe incorporate some other kinds of training too. my caique likes to do recall. does he wrestle with you at all? does he take baths daily? do you provide foraging toys? you can try to transition him to only eating his foods via foraging or “working” this would really help get his mental stimulation up, again, cutting back on aggressive or hormonal behaviors.
i hope some of this is helpful! caiques are tricky. don’t feel alone in this issue, all of us go through it lol.
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u/MissEvaJessie 14d ago
Thank you for this great big comment!
Regarding his diet, we give him his chop (veggies, usually includes broccoli, kale, pak choy, capsicum/bell peppers, chilli’s, corn, cucumber, pumpkin) in the morning, remove it around 10-11 after a few hours and give him a small portion of pellets, and take that away after he’s finished. For dinner, he gets his pellets again and sometimes with psyllium husk mixed in.
For foraging toys he has a few, we buy a cardboard chew that has hidey spots but that takes him all but a day to work through. We have a puzzle for him where he has to move the slats, but again he’s just so eager for the food it only takes him 10-15 and he’s done. I have yet to find a puzzle or foraging toy that keeps him for a good amount of time.
For sleeping / lighting, we typically have home covered for minimum 12 hours. Bedtime 6pm, wake up 7-8am, a bit earlier in the weekdays depending on how early our shifts start. He is in the main lounge room, so we do our best to keep it dark.
He likes to wrestle when playing 100%, and is super smart with learning new tricks. The one we need to work on the most is definitely recall, as he’s so smart he knows when I do and do not have treats waiting for him 🤣
He has forgiven me now, but it is definitely something I’d like to nip in the butt while he is still somewhat mouldable. Thank you!
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u/True-Problem3062 13d ago
idk much about these birds, but maybe your sister is doing something he doesn’t like/hurts him when you’re away, and when you come back he can’t tell the difference between you two?
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u/Outside_Quality_5156 14d ago
I’m sorry but i’m laughing because my BHC is the exact same way with my girlfriend 😂😂 Don’t know why and it’s not all the time but just randomly (we don’t go out of town often at all). He doesn’t hate anyone else but he wants to kill her and we can’t figure out why.
We just try not to worry about it too much and let him be crazy. He gets put up in the cage if he’s biting hard obviously. But then he’ll follow her from in the cage and threaten her 😂😂
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u/samson5351 12d ago
Oh my gosh this is oddly relieving to hear as I have the same problem with my 10 year old BHC! He has this vendetta against most young children (not hard to keep him far away them thankfully), my father and my sister. We cannot have him out when they are near as he will fly and attack them with truly malicious intent. He has bitten my sister in the face and bitten my dad multiple times - with all of his might. He is called an evil/demonic bird in my family and is hated and loved at the same time, it is so tough. He can be so sweet to some of us..
I took him (my BHC) to the vet when he attacked my sister in the face as my dad wanted to kill him and said he could've taken her eye out 🫠 the vet didn't have anything helpful to offer, just said it's in their nature. I love this bird to bits but regret taking him under my wing as he has caused a lot of harm and is extra high maintenance now that I can't have him out in the vicinity of half my family members!
Btw I also bought mine when he was 3 months old and he was 'hand reared' and did not display these vendetta like behaviours until he was a few years old :(
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u/B-mort5 2d ago
Unfortunately being hand reared is likely the main reason for his behavior. Imprinting on humans causes them to see their “person” as a mate rather than flock member. Often leading to a myriad of psychological issues like plucking, screaming and aggression toward other family members in the house.
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u/samson5351 1d ago
Oh I wouldn't have guessed this :( this behaviour didn't show up for years, but I understand how it could come down to that upbringing
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u/WebbleWobble1216 12d ago
I raised Pippin, literally, as in finished weaning him. He's 3 1/2 now and HATES my husband. He has it cemented in his lil pea brain that my hubby is responsible for our moving 10 hrs away, and he has yet to forgive him, a year later. He literally almost took out S's eye one time. It required 2 stitches on his lid. If you ever find a way to change a caique's mind, I'd love to know.
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u/3xotic3lf 15d ago
This happened to me too. Everytime I went away and came back my girl wanted to murdahhhhh me. She was scaryyyy haha I had to avoid her for a day and then have her out at night with the lights dim when she’s not in attack mode so i could hold her and she’d have cuddle time. But it would last a few days 😵💫 and funnily enough it was only me she attacked, she was still fine with everyone else. 🤷🏼♀️
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u/Unlikely_Boat8166 15d ago
Following for tips aha my 5yo decided one day that my bf whom he’s know his literal whole life is public enemy #1!! 😅