I have a confession to make...

[Sally]

I had an accident with my last clutch of Strawberries. I was climbing on a stepstool, bumped their nestbox, and knocked it off the cage. The babies all spilled out. I thought I had killed them all, but they were still alive. Not without injury, though. One was absolutely fine, one had a broken back toe, one had a broken leg or hip, and the fourth seemed fine at the time. Once they fledged, the problems became more evident with the fourth--it had balance problems, started having seizures, and was going downhill. I decided to euthanize that one. I felt terrible, as it was all my fault.

The rest continued to eat and grow. I thought I would have to have a special handicapped cage for them, but they are amazingly resilient. Even with a broken leg or hip, it manages to fly up to the perches and hang on, hang on the side of the cage, all the normal things. Of course, these two handicapped ones will stay with me for life now--I owe it to them to take care of them.

All three are now weaned--as expected, the non-injured one weaned first, followed by broken toe, and broken leg was last to wean. Every time I look at their cage, I am reminded of what a bit of a hurry and carelessness can do.

These are the last photos before weaning. The first shows the mouth markings really well, and the second photo shows how they will raise one (or both) wings when begging, as if to say 'me next'.

[poohbear]

Well done...You clumsy woman

[atarasi]

Sally, I think if everything went spendidly well all the time, we'd get bored with our finches. The fact that you're breeding some of the more difficult species, confirms that you like a challenge much like I feel most of us do.

[hfentj]

Atarasi is right, we all get these reminders that we need to slow down at times. And these will be your little angel reminders. They are so sweet, all things considering, Good Job

[dfcauley]

Sally, the babies are so sweet. Accidents happen to us all and you should not beat yourself up about it.

Your doing a wonderful job. And strawberry babies. How lucky are you?

[FeatherHarp]

Yes....accidents happen and we feel badly...but like dfcauley says don't beat yourself up over it. Congrats on the strawberries...how wonderful to have them!

[jamezyboo21]

I've had many accidens in the past and had two finches fly right out the door because of it. You had one little accident but much more success with evrything else. You have done a great job for your finches!!