Breeding Caiques

Caiques are known for being able to breed, yet still be tame pets in the off-season. With my experience, I have found that this is somewhat true with my birds. Although my female is still as tame as ever away from her cage, my male is not as predictable. I have been bitten by him, even after he is removed from the room his cage is in.

My pair has a boot box, which I have added pine shaving to. Though I recommend putting the nest box towards to top of the cage, I had to mount it towards the bottom of the cage due to not having a proper breeder door on the cage.

My male still plays with toys though my female prefers to sit on the eggs obviously. While in the nest box, my female screams for the male to feed her, though he is still clueless as to what to do.
_______________________________________________________________________

Toys for Caiques:

My Caiques love the following types of toys:
Foraging toys such as: the treasure chest one (not the one with the bolts) and the circle with the hole in the top and bottom. I also have a bird kong (great for slamming against the cage), a peanut treat holder (looks like a woven rubber oval that you stuff treats into), and toys on springs so when they hang on them, they bounce ;) Those are fun!

I have found my guys also like just a long peice of rope with a ball or other toy at the end so they can hang upside down and swing while attacking the ball or whatever toy is on the bottom.

Foot toys are also great, and if they are acrylic, it is even better since Caiques are very rough players and acrylic can hold up to them.

Something with a bell on the end of it is also a favorite. Bells are great because they can make a lot of noise, and most Caiques live to make noise with their toys.

Also anything cardboard or tissue paper. They love bathroon tissue and paper towel rolls. I do not worry much about the glue on the paper towel rolls since they do not eat it, they just tear it up. I have also never had any problems with it.

BareFoot Aviary
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Diet for Caiques:

Caiques are said to be most closely related to Lories and Lorikeets, though they are across the globe. Because of this, Caiques tend to like fruit in their diet more than anything (though lots of sugary fruits are not good in any diet and should only be fed in moderation). Caiques tend to like citrus fruits, oranges being the favorite. Also, an occasional treat of Lory nectar is a welcome treat for any Caique.

Housing

My BH Caiques are in a 24"W X 24"L X 38"H stainless steel cage. They also get daily out-of-cage time but during breeding season, they prefer to stay in their cage for most of the day.