First of all, this website has been a sincere blessing. I'm not sure if I would have made it this far without it!! My name's Lindsey, and the following call for help is regarding my little squirt, Coco.

After alot of research, my husband and I decided to add a QP to our small family. I visited a breeder and returned home with our new feathered family member, a 4 week old QP. I'll admit this was irresponsible on my part, but fortunately, between the hundreds of questions I asked her about handfeeding and weaning, and the hours of research I did when I immediately arrived home, I feel it has gone really well thusfar. She'll be 11 weeks tomorrow, and though there has been progress in our weaning process, she's still being fed her formula atleast 2 times a day, though she'll only take 5-15cc's at each feeding.

With that being said, there's an issue that I'm seeking advice on. We eat breakfast together (I quickly noticed she'll eat more when I'm eating with her) which includes fruit, millet porridge (yes, we both eat this ) and veggies and pellets (for her, of course). She'll then refuse her formula (and want to play instead), though her crop isn't quite 'full enough.' About 2 hours later, she's screaming her little head off, which, after 2 weeks of troubleshooting, I've realized it's not boredom, fear, etc. (she receives 11-12 hrs undisturbed sleeptime at night, plenty of attention, affection, entertainment, etc) - it's because NOW she's decided she's feeling a little hungry and wants some formula. Since her crop is still about a third of the way full, I avoid putting new food ontop of old by trying to get her interested in eating more of her own food, or drinking some water, or playing -- but she'll inevitably continue to scream. I put up with it for as long as I can and when her crop is pretty much empty, I feed her her formula a little earlier than 'scheduled,' which then means that dinner will probably end up being earlier, since she'll oftentimes repeat this whole scenario and begin screaming 2-3 hours after lunch (keeping in mind that she grazes on her pellets and a variety of healthful foods in between feedings).

So, in a nutshell, she's dropped her breakfast formula, but will scream for her lunchtime formula early, as well as her dinner. And again, I assure you this is the cause of her screaming, since she's back to her silly, energetic self right after she's fed. This causes an inconsitent feeding schedule, as well as perhaps showing her that when she screams, she gets what she wants, which is the last thing I want her to learn! Obviously I'm in need of a little advice, so please do advise!!

i can't help with the formula part, but as far as her learning to scream for what she wants when she wants it, well... i'd be inclined to say don't worry about it just yet. she's still a baby and doesn't know any other way to get your attention. like a human. you could try telling her that she's getting fed because her crop is empty now. :: shrug ::

eventually you can work on teaching her screaming is not an appropriate reaction to something she doesn't like (if that's a problem). and i may get corrected on this because she IS a bird and not a child. but they really are so much like children, and many of the methods i use with our birds i wish i had used with my child. live and learn LOL.

good luck!

As a breeder I believe in abundance feeding, meaning as long as they want it they will get it until they are ready to stop. And believe me..when your baby decides she likes her regular food much better she will just suddenly stop. I am currently handfeeding 2 cockatiels and 1 parrotlet, they are over 8 weeks and normally would be backing off the formula by now, instead they are sipping breakfast then hollering every 4 hours after that until bedtime. Sometimes they will only take half a syringe, other times they will take 3 syringes at one feeding. I have a couple quakers here that are over a year old but when they see me feeding the babies they want a couple sips. LOL They don't get it often but once in a while I will let them have some. I had a yellow female parrotlet last spring that was 4 months old before she completely weaned. Each bird is individual on weaning time. As long as she is eating other foods and keep offering her new and different foods and probably in the next week or two she will start backing down or even completely give it up. Eleven weeks is not unusual for a baby weaning.

I meant to add mine are doing the same thing especially the morning feeding (and that is the one they usually give up first). They want fed as soon as they wake up but all they do is take a little and then a couple hours later they start hollering to be fed again. Keep in mind too at this age their crop is shrinking so they do not retain as much food in their crops as they did, they are now digesting some of their food when they take it in like an adult bird. So you have to be careful how much you feed them because you don't want it coming back up and going down into the lungs.