Female bluetit in nest box!!!

[Sam 3323]

Have a bluetit with 6 chicks in nest box,the female is constantly fiddling with the nest material none stop,s this because of mites ect in the material!!
regards,
sam3323

[hobble]

Hi Sam and welcome to WAB.
Great to hear about your blue tits, do you have a camera?
We had bad mites in a box with Great tits, although they have fledged successfully now.
We had never cleaned the box out as it nailed shut and is in fact an old hand made letter box.
Later in the year I will clean it out to prevent the horrid mites returning.

[Jason Green]

Originally Posted by Sam 3323

...the female is constantly fiddling with the nest material none stop,s this because of mites ect in the material!!

Not necerssarily; have you seen the RSPB's Osprey webcam yet? She often fiddles with twigs, etc. for no apparent reson. Perfectionism?! Oh, and welcome to WAB!

[cathyh]

We have Great Tits nesting again.

Early this spring, I removed the old nest and our neighbour kindly let me use his aerosol bug spray. He is a specialist who breeds prize winning Canaries / budgies so knows the spray to use which will not harm birds.

I guess you can buy the spray in Pet shops for use in vacant boxes.

Cathy.

[Sam 3323]

Hi everyone,
This isn't my nestbox ,it belong to the Irish president who allowed the main Irish tv& radio station to put the box up with a web cam for people to observe,you can see it at mooney goes wild,and follow the link!!
Regards,