# Sophie is home!



## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

So I texted the breeder as soon as we got back from our holiday (which my trio very much enjoyed, egg woes forgotten), and got the news that Sophie (I named her when I first went to choose between the three babies) was all ready to come home with me. This was New Year's Day, and much to my disappointment I couldn't make it out there that evening, so the following afternoon my mum and I went to pick up my baby girl.

I knew it would be stressful, and it was. It always is. Taking her away from her parents, siblings and aviary was hard. I promised her she would have a loving new family and even more space to stretch her wings; plenty of food and treats of all kinds, and warm nights spent inside instead of outside. The only thing I asked of her was that she would have to abandon her wild aviary-dwelling ways in favour of becoming a house-bird. I thought it would take some time, but already, this little lady has surprised me!

At first, Sophie did _not_ like her quarantine cage, and I don't blame her. She had never been confined to a small cage before. She tried with all her might to get out, knocking out some feathers in the process. She drank a little bit and ate about two seeds the first day. The second day, I couldn't bear to watch her hurt herself like that, so I let her out, despite my gut feeling that it would be worse. Not so. She was completely calm, as if she'd been here all along. She perched on the top of her cage, preened and stretched, and promptly wolfed down some food (including pellets and veggies!). She _even_ stepped up onto a handheld perch for me about ten times without hesitation. She's not very frightened of my hands, despite never being handled as a chick (the breeder spending time with her in the aviary every day is probably the reason for this). It won't be long before she will be perching on my finger, I think. I'm sooo happy!



Here's a picture of her in her old aviary. I don't have any other decent pictures of her yet, she's a little camera shy. Her mutation is lutino pearl, and she carries the pied gene as well. She's about 9 weeks old and is just learning to eat from a bowl.

The only thing I'm slightly concerned about is, whenever she preens, she loses feathers. I'm not sure if it's because she knocked herself about or because of some medical condition. If it persists, I'll be taking her for a vet visit. Her droppings seem healthy, but her keel bone protrudes a bit (hopefully getting her onto a varied diet will fix that).

So, yay! My fourth 'tiel, and the sixth I have owned all up. I'm smitten with her already.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

What a beautiful bird! I love her coloring


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

She really is stunning!


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Sweet, you finally got her. Don't forget that she could be molting or be a tad stressed. Other than that congratulations!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I doubt she's molting, she's only a baby (then again, my house is a few degrees warmer than outside, maybe it's due to temperature change?). Stress could definitely be the cause, I'll keep that in mind.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

Wow, she is very pretty! Congrats!


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

She is beautiful!Congrats ! X x


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## susan (Jun 8, 2011)

Beautiful!!!


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## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Congrats, she is so yellow and pretty


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## Biscotti (Jun 13, 2013)

She's absolutely gorgeous! The colour of sunshine!


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*Sophie*

Oh, she is beautiful!


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## naniandcourtney (Sep 9, 2013)

shes beautiful! she looks like a young Banana, (my lutino pearl)
highlighter yellow!


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## BirdCrazyJill (Apr 23, 2013)

she is so stunning!!  glad to hear she is doing well!


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Congradulations on your new cockatiel!

She is very pretty


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## crafti142 (Dec 27, 2013)

Wow she is a really pretty colour. Our new baby is quite pale in comparison. Does she have a bald spot on the top of her head? I ask this because ours does, but I believe this is part of the mutation.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Yes, she has a bald spot. That's typical for lutinos, unfortunately.

Thanks everyone for the compliments.


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## Mezza (Feb 19, 2013)

She is so cute!


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## crafti142 (Dec 27, 2013)

Wow what a stunning bird. Hope the feather loss sorts itself out.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

She's settled in now and hasn't lost any more feathers, it must have just been stress. 

Here's a recent picture of her.


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

She gats more and more beautiful!Congrats!


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## crafti142 (Dec 27, 2013)

She really is beautiful. Her feathers look great. Do you know how many weeks old she is?


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

crafti142 said:


> Do you know how many weeks old she is?


Not exactly but she's around 9 weeks, and recently weaned.


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## crafti142 (Dec 27, 2013)

Oh, so probably the same age roughly as our new baby 'Kiki.' It is just that Sophie's feathers look so perfect compared to Kiki's. He has lots of fluffy looking ones around his leg and base of his tail. 

You must be very proud of her.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

She is so lovely, congrats!!









I was going to ask what you are naming her, then I remembered it is in the title, LOL. *headpalm*


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Thanks guys. 



crafti142 said:


> It is just that Sophie's feathers look so perfect compared to Kiki's.


Oh, she is actually quite scruffy looking, I just caught her on camera at the right moment after she fluffed up ready to sleep. She's quite good at preening herself, though, which is typically unusual for young ones, so that definitely helps.


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## crafti142 (Dec 27, 2013)

Good to know. I will try and get some. Nice pictures of Kiki too. Poor wee mite, we were wondering if we should have called him/her scruffy!


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## john9 (Nov 4, 2013)

BEAUTIFUL, has she seen the rest of the flock yet?


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

She is adorable.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

john9 said:


> has she seen the rest of the flock yet?


Yes, Sophie is with Henry, Honey and Coco now. She's so great! She shares a cage with Coco (I bought a second flight cage, it's right next to the other one). The boys aren't too fussed about her but they've accepted her as one of the flock, and Honey, surprisingly, is making a big effort to be friends with her. She loves her food and eats _anything_ I offer! She's put on some weight and the feather loss has stopped, and she's looking tidier, too. She enjoys her mist baths and sun time, steps up onto a handheld perch, loves to fly around at full speed, loves to explore, and is very curious about pretty much everything. She's stepped up onto my finger very briefly, but mostly she stays away from my hands. Once or twice she has landed near me and almost on me, lol. Whenever I am holding Coco she comes over to investigate.

I'm having issues uploading photos to my Photobucket, so no new pics yet.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

She's a cutie. I'm glad the flock likes her.


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

I'm late to the party. But wow, she's incredible. She sounds so sweet, too!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Hehe, thanks Amz. 

A few photos. More to come.


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## Scribbles (Jun 28, 2012)

Wow her color is so lush! She's a real beauty!


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

OMG!! She is so beautiful!! She looks like Juno...they are even the same mutation!

(She is on the left)


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Haimovfids said:


> She looks like Juno...they are even the same mutation!


They both have that mischievous look on their face, haha!

I'm suspecting Sophie is also pied, if not, she is definitely split to pied. Her parents sometimes have pied babies, the mother is visual pied and the father split. She has elongated yellow markings on her wing feathers, but I can't tell the difference between her tail feathers; each one seems to be pure yellow.

Disappointed that her beautiful pearls are non-existent in these pics. Will try get some better ones asap.


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

Cuteness overload!She s lovely ! x x


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Her nickname is officially pigeon legs


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Sophie is adorable!


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

Welcome home Sophie! She is so incredibly cute, CharVicki, really lovely! 
How long is she gonna be in quarantine? I am curious to know what Coco will think of her


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Thanks Bobobubu!
She's been with the flock for a while now. I bought another flight cage identical to H & H's and put them side by side. Coco and Sophie share one, and H & H share the other, but they keep playing musical cages, lol. Quite often I catch them all in one cage together! Or sometimes the pairs swap over for a change of scenery. There's been no problems, apart from a few minor scraps between Sophie and Coco (he's not very interested in her, but will happily share a cage with her as long as she doesn't venture into his personal space bubble, ha ha). I think she's a little too out-of-this-world crazy for him to handle, lol!


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## crafti142 (Dec 27, 2013)

Wow, I can't wait now until Kiki's tail and wing feathers grow now! Sophie is beautiful what are you feeding her in the photo at the top of the page - looks like crumbled polenta.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

crafti142 said:


> what are you feeding her in the photo at the top of the page - looks like crumbled polenta.


It's a special mix called Best Bird Apple and Honey Gold N Fruit. It had corn, millet and loads of other stuff in it. It's kind of nutritionally similar to pellets but in the form of a mash. They LOVE it.


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