How many hand feeds should my 11 week old eclectus be on?

[ashlaughton]

Hi everyone!
I am new to this parrot stuff. Had lots of birds in my life but never hand raised one. I picked up my baby a few weeks ago. When i picked him up he was on a hand feed in the morning and one at night. I was told to continue this until he rejects it. He went down from 10 teaspoons in the morning to about 4 for a while while he was learning to fly, but now he is eating a little more again. I have a variety of foods offered every day. He doesn't seem to be eating much fruit or veg though. My question is, i have heard mixed things. Should i be taking him off his morning feed and only offering solid foods? or should i be offering him solid foods before his formula to try to get him to choose those? I am happy to hand feed him for as long as it takes. Theres no rush there. He seems healthy and energetic and he is very happy and friendly.
Thanks Everyone!

 

[labell]

With eclectus a little bit of hand feeding will typically stimulate them to eat their solid foods. If you say he is not eating much of the fruits and veggies, what is he eating? We need a little more info to really help. Is he fully flying now? Are you feeding the formula from spoon or a syringe? At what temp are you feeding? I have had eclectus babies take between 5 and 7 months to give up formula completely.

 

[ashlaughton]

Thanks Iabell.
I am offering a little bit of everything. Peas, carrots, corn, spinach in small amounts, rocket, I have made a mash of sweet potato, egg, quinoa, brown rice, peas, corn, carrot...
I also put kiwi fruit, apple, strawberries, blueberries, a few nuts, milk arrowroot, and his pellets.
Ihave not put any seed in there yet as i was advised against seed and told to put pellets instead.
I put a variety in his cage every day. He likes the rocket, but only really has a little taste and nibble at the other stuff. He was eating the peas and corn but isnt too fussed now.
He has just in the last few days become very good at flying. Not crash landing as much and can fly around the room and land on my shoulder or something that he is aiming to land on. I am feeding him from a spoon (one of those bent ones that mimics a beak). I feed him at 41-42 degrees. Am definitely happy to feed him twice a day, but i just wanted to make sure that doing that wasn't stopping him from eating his solid foods.
Thanks so much