nesting robins

[arn]

we have a nest of robins outside the window overlooking the garden so we are avidly watching all the activity! The chicks hatched two days ago and both parents are constantly flying back and forth with food for them but we are puzzled about the large pieces of white material they are also flying from the nest with in their beaks.Is it shell? Regurgitated food?Nest cleaning? Could anyone tell us?

[Tursiops]

Hello arn and welcome to the forum.
The white objects will be faecal sacs produced by the chicks; many (but not all) species of birds remove these from the nest to keep it clean and avoid attracting flies, predators, etc.

Tursiops

[Alan]

Hello arn, and welcome to WAB.

As tursiops says they are faecal sacs (poo parcels ). The chicks of some birds just squirt it over the side! Nice to know you have Robins breeding, please keep us updated on their progress

[rlchew]

Hello Arn

A warm welcome to WAB.

Poo parcels is some way to make your debut here!

Enjoy your Robins. I hope everything progresses well.

Richard

[glsammy]

Hi Arn and Welcome! Please keep in touch re the Robins, be great to here how they are getting on!

[RogerM]

I went out to start work in my garage today on a project involving using woodwork machinery - planer, tablesaw etc. I started moving stuff around before starting work and heard a twittering from amongst the tins on the shelves. It appears that I have a family of Robins nesting on the shelf, and they come and go by squeezing under the garage door.

Now, given that I have a project that I need to get on with, how long are the Robins likely to be there? The young are twittering away but I can't see them, and the parents are coming and going continuously. If I work in the garage am I likely to stop them feeding their young? Should I continue regardless? Could I work but stop periodically to let them come and go - and if so, how frequently? I really can't afford to stop using my garage for any lengthy period of time, but I don't want to be the cause of the nest being abandoned. When they are ready to leave the nest, do they return each night?

Informed advice please!

[Alan]

Hello Roger, and welcome to the forum.

Since the Robin has been sat on the nest incubating the eggs while you've been unaware that it was there, shows that it's not to bothered with your presence. Now the chicks are hatched the parent birds are unlikely to abandon them, and the chicks will also get quite used to you going about you usual business. It may be a good idea not to linger to close to the nest, otherwise you should be ok. One word of warning though, cover up anything valuable with polythene because when the chicks start to fly about, they may leave a few dropping about the place. When the chick eventually fledge - which will probably be around a week to two weeks, they'll hang around a few days but will eventually follow their parents outside and disperse into different areas to be fed individually by the parents. This is so if a predator comes along it wont get all of the young.

Hope this helps.

[nightshade]

Hello Arn welcom,you could supplement the robins food with meal worms they would love you for it (could even come to the hand)