Zoe

[Shae26]

Hi guys!

I have six birds in total (3 cockatiels, 2 rainbow lorikeets and a green cheek conure) and I will introduce them all eventually but right now I only have a few minutes so I will introduce you to Zoe!

Zoe is a 12 week old cinnamon pied baby that I have raised since day 7. Her parents (who I will introduce later) had 3 eggs total. One was infertile and two hatched, but the other baby didn't make it. On day 7 Odie and Luna started pecking at the surviving baby so I pulled her out. She was small, red, dry and dehydrated and as a result she was a stunted baby. This was her on day 7:

I tried twice to give her back to her parents but they just weren't interested, so I took on the responsibility of raising her myself. It was a rough few weeks to begin with. Being stunted she had trouble gaining weight and she wasn't growing at the usual rate. At 16 days old she was barely getting her pin feathers:

But she was getting stronger every day and soldiering on like a pro. At 27 days old she finally started to look like a bird. At this point I had decided to name her "Zoe", which in Greek means "life, alive":

At 34 days her big girl feathers were on show and looking beautiful:

At 42 days (6 weeks) we went on a 2.5 hour road trip to the avian vet because I was sure zoe had aspirated and I didn't want to leave it up to chance. Turns out her chest and airways were all clear and she was just fine, but I felt much much better knowing for sure. We still had fun exploring the consult room though:

And now at 12 weeks and 5 days, Zoe is a happy, healthy baby who loves cuddles, kisses and sharing your food.

So that's the story of Zoe!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Thank you so very much for sharing this heart-warming story about your Zoe! WOW, what a GORGEOUS girl she is!! I'm sure the 2 of you have a very special bond.

Looking at her now, it's got to be hard to believe what a rough start she had, isn't it? I've got chills running up and down my spine after reading about her and seeing her grow. Thanks again!!

 

[thekarens]

Precious tiel!

 

[GreatBlue320]

Thanks for much for sharing Zoe's story! Watching her grow from a struggling, stunted baby to the healthy, thriving bird she is now was, as Wendy said, truly heart-warming.

 

[Shae26]

Thanks guys She's my sassy little princess haha.

It definitely is hard to believe she had such a rough start. It was really touch and go there for a while, particularly around the 16-20 day mark because I had to take a random 9 hour drive down to my home town to help sort out a family issue, and I had no one I trusted enough to care for Zoe so I had to take her with me. She handled the trip well but it did take an obvious toll on her.

The best thing I did for her was switch her food when she was around 27 days. The food I was using wasn't one i'd heard of before, but it was all the pet store had in stock and it was a 2kg bag. I don't like wasting stuff but I really didn't feel like it was doing her any favours so I sourced a couple packets of Vetafarm (highly recommended hand rearing food here in Aus) and switched her to it. Literally immediate results. At that point she was lucky to gain and keep on 2 grams in a day, but she put on and kept on 2 grams after her first feed of Vetafarm. From then on she was gaining weight like no ones business lol.

She is almost fully weaned. I usually like to have my chicks weaned by 12 weeks, but Zoe's taking a bit longer because of all the troubles i've had putting weight on her. But she's on one small feed a day now and i'm cutting it back 1cc every day and monitoring her weight (she lingers around 72-75 grams) and she's doing really well. She should be off it completely by the end of the weekend

Thank you guys again for the kind words! I love sharing her story just because it was such a journey (emotional rollercoaster about sums it up lol), and hopefully we can give hope to someone else in a similar situation should they happen upon our posts.

 

[Allee]

Zoe is a beautiful little tiel, I'm glad her amazing story is such a happy one. She was so tiny and looked so fragile in those first photos. The two of you must have a very special bond after everything you've been through. Thank you for sharing Zoe's story with us.

 

[veimar]

Aww, what a wonderful story! Zoe is such a beauty.

 

[EAI]

What a perfect name for her, she looks stunning (sorry, Im a bit biased towards cinnamons!)! I'm so happy to hear that her story is a happy one, and that road trip is going to be such a great thing for her socialization later on

Can't wait to hear more about her and her flock!

 

[Shae26]

Whoops I completely forgot about this! Thank you everyone for the kind words!

Zoe is now a happy and healthy 6 month old! She is extremely bossy LOL but I love her.

She is the most vocal female cockatiel i've ever had! She doesn't sing, but she makes all kinds of random noises and it's hilarious when she gets going lol. My Lorikeet has started mimicking a lot of the noises Zoe makes and half the time I can't tell whether it's her or Oscar haha!

 

[Nakiska]

Awww....I am totally melting here! Zoe is beautiful! I am and always will be a sucker for the tiels! The 5 who have owned me over the years have been absolute joys in my life.

Thank you for such an amazing introduction. Can't wait to "meet" the rest of your flock.

Toni