Wow Deb! Thats great! Good luck!

I just got back from new york so I will try to make it into the store soon to visit!

Caique babies!!!!

heh heh heh They are right in the living room next to Pico's, the Scarlet, cage, along with all the other birds all around them and everyone comes out of their houses to run across their cage to play with toys and such that are hanging above all the cages. This has been the environment for YEARS. Noise to a minimum???? Not in this house! :-) And their nesting box is a 'Tiel nest box that I gave them to chew up and sleep in. Not your normal "breeding" environment but it seems to work well for me.

I raised both parents from babies and they are very much bonded to me. So, I don't think there is much I could do to disturb them. This is a wait and see, and if they know enough to feed them babies. Sitting is obviously NOT a problem. I thought about pulling the "youngest" egg and putting it in the incubator so she will only have two eggs to worry about. They appear to be closer together in development. What is your opinion on this?

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New York?!??!!? Wow! I bet you had a grand time! I am envious... no vacations planned anytime soon for this zoo keeper!

I think all the eggs should be left. I have hand raised suns that feed babies fine. It fact last time they sort of over fed the baby and he had a very heavy weaning weight. They don't have to sit all the time if the air around them is warm. Leave the egg shells in the box when they hatch because the babies use them to lean on. If the parents are so tame there is a very good chance of co-parented tame babies. I am never in favor of incubating eggs since I believe that babies incubated and fed by parents make better pets. Parents can manage different age babies, a miracle of nature. I also make available to the parents more soft porridge to help the feed the babies. Best of luck.

Well I hope it works well for them (the Caiques that is).

Birds often take on a different personality when breeding, sitting on eggs and feeding babies. So IMO & IME, there is a possibility you now could be disturbing them, possibly and the closeness of the other birds could be also - especially the noisy large ones?

I definitely agree with Angie & the 2 horses she rode in on . I would NOT pull any eggs and use the incubator. Again, good luck.

Congrats! I can't wait to see the little cuties!

Well, we will see what happens. I never intended them to breed and their box will come out of their house after these eggs. I have breeder birds, finches and conures, and the Caiques are not part of that plan. Seems all the birds in my house that breed are not part of my breeding plan. Go figure.

IMO & IME, if I was disturbing them, I would imagine that the eggs would not be developing and she would not be sitting them so tight. I can enter my breeding room once a day to feed and water and disturb enough that I lose eggs regularly. The Caiques are thriving in the environment they are in.

Oh, and my Caiques ARE my loudest and noisiest birds by far. That is why they are out with the big kids and not in the bird room with the birds of similar size. The Caiques would definitely disturb the Conures and finches.

I always replace accidental eggs with dummy eggs so they may sit and fulfill a need. The Caiques are accidental eggs. I was shocked to find them and to find they are fertile. If I did not have homes already lined up for the "possible" babies, I would have definitely pulled the eggs and replaced them with dummy eggs.

Deb, like I said before, my friend who breeds caiques says that they maintain their friendliness during the whole egg-laying, hatching and raising period. Says they come out regularly seeking attention from her -- would never know they were raising young. Since your two took up housekeeping with all the ruckus around them, I'm betting that changing their environment may lead to their abandonment of eggs. They must be perfectly happy right where they are!

But caiques louder than macaws? Wow!! Mine are not nearly as noisy as Cooper so I'll bet your two took their cue from the big guys. I think birds are generally as loud as their surrounding environment. Sounds like your must sound like a jungle! LOL

Good luck with the caique babies. Can't wait to see the little darlings. I just love caiques!

How very sad IMO that you would say that but of course that is just that = my opinion.

Btw, to MAYBE keep you from ever destroying fertile future life, I will buy all your future babies from you (at local breeder to breeder prices minus shipping costs) so therefore you do now have a place lined up for them.