Doug

I thought that it was interesting to read the following: Source: http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/stanford-fellowship.pdf

Kim, Even a fat human like ME won't gain 22 oz in one day! I guess you meant grams... I'm glad to hear that Xandir is doing better!!

Ellie's food isn't too bad! A bit fruity (some apple?), a bit nutty, a bit toasty... I don't think I'll make a regular habit of snacking on her food, though. I prefer my snacks salty... Kim, was Xandir showing any symptoms? I'm not a biologist, but it seems like vitamin D toxicity (hypercalcemia) is not a long term concern if the cause is stopped and the bird is well hydrated to flush the kidneys.

I'd really like to know what you material your welded wire is... From reading on-line, it seems that a lot of people use galvanized welded wire, which is simply dipping the wire in zinc...

If I happen to have some extra cash at the end of the year, I may purchase some stainless welded wire... http://www.twpinc.com/wire-mesh/TWPCAT_14/p_1_1_2X1_2W0630W48T

Well, I still have plenty of time to read all of these conflicting opinions as Ellie hasn't started molting her wing feathers...

What material is the welded wire? The only stuff that I've seen at the home-improvement stores is galvanized. I thought that was a no-no for parrots.

Ellie is just "trimmed" - she can fly about thirty feet, without gaining altitude, but without losing much. I gently "toss" her towards her cage so she can practice landing. She's pretty good, but she's not able to fly around a corner and up the stairs. Other than that, not too bad. I am still torn about whether to trim some of her flight feathers when she replaces the trimmed feathers. I've seen the passionate pleas against it, but I also know that if she happens to escape our house, we'll never find her. We have miles and miles of national forest across the road. My parents had a fully flighted cockatiel (one of the babies hatched in my house) escape in rural Missouri and were not able to get her back.

That's interesting that that model doesn't have Teflon according to the manufacturer. Most of the units that I've looked at in the stores have a Teflon lining. I got rid of both of mine. (Which is no big deal for me - it isn't hard to deep-fry on the stove...)

Your mother-in-law lives in a hardware store? <grin> Gorgeous pictures as always!

That looks like he's having a blast! I need to figure out where I could put something like that for Ellie...

Hmm. I'll have to taste Ellie's pellets to see if I can tell why she loves them so much...

More ideas to "borrow"... I really need to get to work on my next playstand...

I trust my golden retriever a heck of a lot more than my shih-poo. Not that I allow either of them unsupervised access to Ellie. In the reversal of roles, Ellie has tried to steal one of Piper's nasty tennis balls. Piper thought they were going to have a wonderful tug of war, so I had to quickly step in. One little tug by Piper and Ellie would be in the next state...

After a lot of time on line and a lot of angst, I have settled on Elegua (eh LEG wa) because it lends itself well to nicknames: Ellie & Ellie-bird. (Even though Elegua is typically a male god, there is also a path of Elegua where the essence is of a woman.) Elegua is the Lucumi* version of Eshu, who is a spirit of Chaos and Trickery (seems appropriate!). One source said, "Since he is as playful as a child, tops, marbles and kites hold a special fascination for him." Again, appropriate!! The same source described Elegua as being "Like a very large and powerful child". Another source says, "This extravert loves being the center of attention." Since Elegua is a messenger to the higher Gods, of course he has a command of all languages. (*Lucumi is an Afro-Dominican/Afro-Cuban ethnic group. Many Lucumi claim to be of Yoruba ancestry. The Yoruba are from Southwestern Nigeria, Southern and Central Benin and Central Togo which are within the Timneh's natural range. I picked the Lucumi variant because of the sound and because my wife & I plan to retire to the Dominican Republic, so it seemed extra fitting.)

Sounds like DJ is better about the veggies than Ellie is... On Monday, Ellie said, "Are you working?". Luckily she skipped the second part of the question that my wife usually asks me, "or screwing around?" Last night, just before her bed time, I put Ellie on my stomach, with her on her back, and scratched her head for about 40 minutes. I was really surprised that she stayed on her back that long. It was just like having the dog on my lap! The only reason that she got up was that I was spending too much time trying to change the channel with the remote control and not scratching her... It was so cute!

Some websites to buy bits and pieces to make toys for your baby: http://cabirdnerds.com/toymasu.html http://www.mysafebirdstore.com/cart.cgi?group=6586 http://www.bluesbirdtoys.com/Bird-Toy-Parts_c_7.html Buy the leather cords, twine and rope from these sites as well.

Try pine nuts. They are small enough to use as training treats. Ellie loves them, but your mileage may vary... I don't know anything whatsoever about clicker training. I guess it is time to do some research...

Sterilization is about the combination of heat and time. According to the wikipedia article, "Boiling a sample for 30 minutes or more will kill virtually all vegetative cells present, but will not kill spores, which can germinate shortly thereafter and resume growth. Therefore, boiling is an insufficient method to achieve sterilisation." Of course, life is a series of compromises. We can try to sanitize but it is very difficult to sterilize. Everything has risk. We all make our decisions which risks are acceptable and which are not. (If we didn't, we'd never ride in a car...) Even reputable bird toy sellers have things that some people claim are not safe for parrots.

I picked the name before bringing Ellie home and let her personality infuse the name instead of vice versa... I'm a lazy person and decided that Elegua (three syllables) was too long and I call her Ellie most of the time... Will you call your baby, "Kayode", or something shorter?

It is awfully hard to completely clean out the inner parts of shells, so I'd be concerned about bacteria. And if you don't know that the twine has not been treated with chemicals, then it is better to just purchase new. (Twine is cheap...)

It's funny how aggressive they are to the bells. I wonder what is going through their heads!!

Welcome! I find it hard to keep up with two kids, two dogs, a map turtle and Ellie!

Jay, Kroger carries unsalted, roasted-in-the-shell peanuts, which I was giving to Ellie every day (she LOVES them). But you said not to do that due to aspergillis concerns. So I roasted them myself per your recommendation (see page 5 of this thread), but you said that still wasn't safe. So I've been looking for unshelled almonds and walnuts (she loves almonds and tolerates walnuts).

Welcome to you and Bongo! It is still so amazing to have Ellie as part of my life. They are such special critters...