Blue tit nest dilemma

[darylp]

Hello

Firstly id like to say hello to everyone as this is my first foray onto the forum. Unfortunately its a foray tainted with bad news for me and my wildlife watching family. A few weeks ago we were lucky to be blessed with a nesting pair of blue tits in our camera fitted nestbox. We have all enjoyed immensely the comings and goings of this very busy pair culminating in the hatching of eleven chicks two days ago. All seemed to be going well until this morning when we awoke to find the hatchlings all apparently dead. The mother was on the nest first thing with some movement but then mother disappeared, and since then only one visit by the father. Here lies my dilemma, I loath to disturb the nest, will the blue tits remove the dead chicks, should i leave it a suitable time then remove them myself or alternative???? I can only hazard guesses about the cause. Any advice would be greatfully received.

A very sad D

[posie]

..Hello Daryl and a warm welcome to WAB, but as you say in sad circumstances. Bird experts will be along soon I'm sure, so I'll leave the advice to them, just came in to say Hello.....Posie..

[astarsdad]

Hi,

It is sad. There is a high mortality rate with young blue tits, hence the large clutches. If there is no predation, disease is a possibility. It could be that this is the first clutch these pair have laid and are inexperienced. Other people will advise about the nest, personally I would wait a week and if there is no change, clean out the box.

Terry

[feathered-friend]

We had the same dilemma, 5 dead chicks with 1 being about a week older than the other 4. The parents probably could not remove the other 4 and so the remaining one had been sitting on the others for about a week.

The box was attracting flies and knowing they were all dead, I cleaned it out.

If you know they are dead, I would clean it!

[pressld2]

Welcome to WAB Daryl.

The legal position is that you must not clean it before August. This is from the BTO Nest Box Challenge web site at Taking part...

What to do if the nest has been abandoned
Unfortunately, not all nests are successful. Some may be abandoned by the parents or attacked by predators. If you do find what looks like an abandoned nest, you may be tempted to remove the contents in an attempt to clean the box out for other birds. However, under bird protection law, it is actually illegal to clean out nest boxes during the breeding season, from 1st February to 31st July, in case active nests are inadvertently disturbed. If you do want to clean out the box at the end of the season, wait until the autumn when you can be sure that it is no longer being used and follow the guidelines on the NNBW web pages.

However, if it becomes a health hazard then personally I would clean it, law or no law. Especially as you can see from the cam whether they're trying for a second nest or not.

Dave P.

[feathered-friend]

Daryl

As per my earlier post we cleaned out our box, this was last Sunday. Having checked today the box is now fully lined with moss again and, what we assume is the female, is roosting at night again!

So if you clean it you might get them building again too!

[pressld2]

When I cleaned my box out last year, underneath the empty nest was another nest with 13 unhatched eggs in it. So the birds may just build a new nest straight on top of the dead chicks. Not the most hygenic of situations! I think in your situation I would certainly remove the dead chicks but perhaps leave the nest to give them a head start on a second attempt.

Dave P.

[rossy]

hello daryl and welcome, sorry to read of your blue tits , just wondering if the chicks died because the temperature dropped during the night ? rossy.

[darylp]

Firstly thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I have to say its a difficult decision to make and I am grateful for all of the advice tendered. On balance i feel that i shall give the nest a wide berth for a few days and see what happens. I have a horrible suspicion that the hen has been predated by either a cat or sparrowhawks, which have been seen in the garden and did appear to have a plucking post at one point. The male has been back several times with food but has chosen to perch outside the nest and then leave when the hen hasnt called. The hen hasnt been seen since first thing this morning. Due to the hens absence i believe you could be right Rossi, it may well have been the cold as the cause of death. Anyway on a more positive note we do have a few other nesting pairs in the locality as well as what looks like finch fledglings dogfighting among the beech brances first thing in the morning!!!

[Poppleford Ginny]

Hello everyone - as a newbie this is my first "proper" post. I also suspect baby bluetit problems. We started out with 9 eggs, 8 babies hatched and I believe that there is one unhatched egg left. The numbers seen rearing their heads have slowly dropped over the last few days to 5, and the nest has been visited a couple of times by a fly - I think a blowfly. The babies are not due to fly until towards the end of next week so the outlook seems grmi:confused. Very sad, because the parents are so attentive,and last year all the babies fledged and flew..... I hope that the rest stand a chance