How to Train a Caique

Caiques (pronounced kay-YEEK) are small to medium sized parrots native to South America. The two main species are the white-bellied caique, which has a white front, green back and wings, a yellow face, and orange head, and the black-headed caique, so-named for its black head. Caiques are clownish birds, prone to jumping and somersaulting and eager to interact and play with the human members of their flock.

Things You'll Need

  • Food for reward
  • Training clicker
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Instructions

  1. Training Your Caique With Positive Reinforcement

    • 1

      Develop a thorough understanding of your caique before you undertake a training regimen so you can tailor your training practices to your bird's personality. Determine how long a training session your parrot can tolerate. Learn how to read your caique's body language so you know how it is reacting and when you might be pushing it too far. It is important to understand what is reasonable to ask of your bird; caiques are acrobatic and playful but are known more as whistlers than as talkers and as jumpers and climbers rather than flyers. Teach your caique tricks that play to its strengths.

    • 2

      Use positive reinforcement to train your caique. Like all animals, birds respond best to being rewarded for doing something right, rather than being punished for doing something wrong. All parrots, including caiques, are susceptible to stress, and punishment for unwanted behavior may have negative effects,such as feather plucking, and will not help train your bird. Instead, every time the caique behaves correctly, reward it with a small treat. Usually a favorite food is best for this. Accompany the food with an auditory signal such as one from a training clicker. Verbal praise such as "good bird!" will also work. Using both is fine. The goal is to give the caique positive feedback each time it performs the desired task.

    • 3

      Break down complicated tricks or tasks into smaller, more manageable parts, to teach your caique. Although parrots are intelligent birds, they cannot immediately understand complex tasks. If you want to teach your caique to put a ball into a cup, for example, you will first have to train the bird to go to the ball, after which you will teach it to pick up the ball in its beak. Next, you must train the caique to bring the ball to the cup and finally, drop it into the cup. Once the parrot has mastered these separate actions, you can begin to link them

      by withholding the reward after one task, giving it only after the second task is completed. This is where multiple rewards can come in handy; praise the bird or make a click when it goes to the ball but withhold the treat until the ball is picked up. You can teach your bird to do many tricks and tasks this way. Training also leads to a happier, more secure bird that makes for a better animal companion.