How about trying the "oatmeal trick" to get him finally weaned? Instead of feeding him with the syringe, make some oatmeal and add a little formula for taste and make it thick enough to stay on your finger. Offer it to him in small bites from your finger. When he is well into his little feeding frenzy, move your finger with the oatmeal closer and closer to the bowl with the goal of getting him to take it from your finger in the bowl so that he is eating out of the dish. You cannot leave anything with formula in it in the cage because it will spoil in less than half an hour, but you can make plain oatmeal, cream of wheat, soaked shredded wheat squares, or a soft food mix and leave a bowl of that for him to eat free choice. You can flavor the soft food with whatever his favorite food is in order to tempt him.

Be sure to give him lots of love and attention, because it may be that he demands the hand feeding in order to get you to spend more time with him. The first few times doing the oatmeal trick may take as long as a regular syringe feeding, but once he discovers eating from the bowl, you are home free!

Just one more thought....I'm sure you remember never to put a bird to bed hungry. If a bird refuses to eat enough soft food from your finger or from the bowl, it would be better to syringe feed him at night than to let him go to bed hungry. It is natural for them to lose some weight at weaning time so don't worry if he loses a few grams.

I like the idea of giving weanlings pasta, and of offering Nutriberries--all my babies learn to like those right away! Also, "plumped" millet sprays and sunflower seeds are irresistible to birds of any age. I've described the process in some tips I'm including below. And how could any of us wean babies without cooked corn on the cob? All of my babies will eat it first.

If I had this situation, the first thing I would do is substitute finger-fed hot wet foods for the formula feedings. I believe that since she is nibbling regular foods, she is ready to wean but her begging is more of a dependency issue which originated in her rough start early on.

When she begs for her formula, arrange everything just as though you were about to feed her the formula as usual. Instead, flavor some other hot wet foods with the formula and feed her from your fingers. It's messy but it works! As soon as she accepts these foods, leave off the formula altogether as she is already a month past the time that she should have given it up. Soon I believe that she will be diving into the dish of hot wet foods on her own, and from there you can gradually minimize the hot foods and maximize the regular foods until you're home free!

Some of the hot foods that you can use are oatmeal, cream of wheat, polenta or corn mush made just as you would make cream of wheat except that you use corn flour instead, soaked shredded wheat squares, soaked whole grain breads, baby foods thickened with formula or bread crumbs, mashed white or sweet potatoes, warm scrambled eggs, and others.

Although I have no experience with Scotchguarding carpets because I have tile, I personally would not add ANY chemical to my family's or my birds' environment unless I thought it was absolutely necessary. Time and again we have seen some chemical concoction used by the American public for years before discovering the deadly effects of it. I do know that many people have been made very ill by "toxic carpets" and the effect would be much more devastating to a bird. I was shocked to see the list of chemicals that carpets are treated with....such as anti-mold, anti-mildew, anti-static, anti-stain, flame retardant, and on & on. I'm sorry to sound like a fanatic but adding yet another chemical to an already overtreated carpet sounds like a recipe for disaster. Personally I would prefer to clean the carpet more often, not a bad idea anyway here in Florida.

I've seen my birds do this yawning thing too. They are perfectly healthy so I must assume that for whatever reason, this is normal behavior. Some of my thoughts on why they do it are:

1. They may be clearing their ears, just as we might do during descent on jet flights.
2. They could be performing a maneuver which scratches an itchy throat or ears, like opening their beak halfway so they can move their tongue back & forth on their throat.
3. Maybe they yawn for the same reason we do--to get extra oxygen.

These are strictly my thoughts on the subject of yawning parrots, but as far as I know, yawning is not diagnostic of any disease. Perhaps it could be said that "sick birds may yawn, but yawning birds are not necessarily sick."

Yawning is a natural reflex that happens when your brain recognizes a physiological need for oxygen. When your brain registers this need, it stimulates muscles to open your mouth wide and take the oxygen from the surrounding air. Oxygen combines with glucose in your body, in order to make energy. The yawning reflex is most often triggered when you're tired, for example, after a long day at work. Then a good yawn--a good long gulp of oxygen--can actually make you feel better. Yawning is also common at night as our bodies prepare for sleep. You know how sometimes if you're too tired, you can't sleep. Your brain may trigger yawning to provide the oxygen it needs to sleep well.

Many people wonder about all the different words that they hear in reference to the Eclectus parrot. Here is some information from A GUIDE TO ECLECTUS PARROTS by Australian Birdkeeper.

The nominate race is the Grand Eclectus, "Eclectus roratus roratus". There are nine sub-species. The full names of these sub-species of Eclectus are:

• Red-sided Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus polychloros (blue eye ring/no yellow)
• Vosmaeri Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus vosmaeri (yellow on tail/no blue eye ring)
• Solomon Island Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus solomonensis (like small Red-sided)
• Aruensis Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus aruensis (larger Red-sided/male has red eyes)
• Macgillivray Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus macgillivrayi (largest, like Red-sided)
• Biaki Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus biaki
• Cornelia's Eclectus~~ Eclectus roratus cornelia
• Riedeli's Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus riedeli
• Westermani Eclectus~~Eclectus roratus westermani

Sounds like you, Skipper & Marianne are "in the same boat" (sorry couldn't resist an attempted pun) with Tricia, Fiji & Bali! In fact with those great names, all of you could sail away in your yachts to an island in the South Pacific and set up an Eclectus colony where the rest of us and our birds can come for an extended visit! ;)

Although Fiji would REALLY prefer not to share his beloved mom with the new baby girl, Bali, even he is losing ground with the method Tricia is using. That is, letting them each have their own private area, especially the first bird who is attached to his cage by now, but give them a communal area such as a parrot tower, play pen, or tree perch between their cages. That way, neither feels that the other is intruding on their space.

Ideally, you would have a cage on each side, the play area in the middle, and a rope or perch leading to it from each cage. That way if either bird, and usually it's the established one, becomes possessive of the communal area, you can temporarily remove the rope or perch which allows him to go there until the other bird can establish a little more dominance in that area. Then allow him access again and eventually they will figure out that it can be just as much fun playing with another Eclectus as it is to play with you.

When Tricia introduced Bali, she gave her time in the play area alone first to let her get accustomed to it before she allowed Fiji to join her there. I believe that both her pair of young birds, and yours, will become friends in a short period of time using this method. With older birds, hormones can play a major role in helping them become bonded. It's rare for Eclectus of any age to actually fight when they get together, although sometimes they do a little harmless sparring in an attempt to establish dominance. You should be in earshot at least when they first play together, just in case one does get too aggressive, but that's an unlikely occurrence.

Pretty soon, you'll find one sleeping in the other's cage and then you'll suffer that terrible "empty cage syndrome"; you know, the one where you say "I've already got an extra cage, so why not get another bird?" UH OH!