I am very sad and feel so bad that I lost a handfed owl chick, who was just about to fledge, when I found it dead with the head in the water cup ( for humidity in the baby wipe warmer). I cried and moped for days and now am asking everyone when they change from an incubator type setup to something else as the finch hatchling grows? This one had some feathers, but not all over yet when it died. I had not realized it was probably moving around and trying it's wings while I was off doing other things. I just went every three to four hours to feed the chick, but found it dead. I had a little wire nest with a pad and paper towels that were torn up as a bottom layer. The chick must have tried to fly and fell out of the nest and into the one inch cup for water I used as a humidifier.
Now, I realize I was not educated about how to decide when the chick is ready to start using the wings and moving around. I wonder now, what I could have done differently, besides not using a water cup, to house the almost fledgling? The baby was 18 days old when it died. So, I guess it would have fledged any day at that point. The bird was still so tiny, I did not think about the development and possible moving around.
