Blue Tits nesting

[oysterboy]

I've read that you do need to clean out your birdbox each year after the birds have left. You should remove any old nests or bedding and wash out the box with warm soapy water.

I have put up a blue tit box for the first time this year. Out of 10 chicks that hatched though, only 2 have survived. Yesterday there was 5 healthy looking chicks who looked like they were nearly ready to fledge. This morning I checked the camera and only 2 of them are alive. I am really upset and perplexed by this. I am also a bit worried as the bodies are far too big for the mother to lift so they may soon attract flies, as it is supposed to be a warm day today. I really hope the 2 surviving chicks fledge today! Does anybody have any idea why those 3 chicks might have died during the night? It wasn't all that cold last night.


PS. As I finish writing this flies have already started arriving. I really feel like opening the box and removing the bodies, but I know I'm not supposed to interfere.

[Tinkerbell]

We opened the tits nesting box last week and removed the dead young. The nest has now been replaced on the wall; sometimes a Coal tit will use an old nest, and I've seen the odd Coal tit in the garden, so fingers crossed. If unused over the next few months we will remove and discard the nest, though is occurs to me that nature isn't quite so fussy. (P.S. I've uploaded a picture of the nest into the Birds category of the Gallery - the colours and construction are beautiful and the nest was about 12cm (5in) deep).

[oysterboy]

Against all odds the last two chicks in my box left early this morning. Unfortunately they did so when I was in still in bed so I missed their departure. I'm very happy that they fledged successfully though.

[montrosefc]

Moved to a new house recently and inherited a bird nesting box. I was delighted to notice a few weeks ago that a couple of blue tits were nest building. Over the weeks I have observed the successful raising of five chicks and have managed to take a series of pictures of the various stages. This morning I was lucky enough to observe the chicks leaving the nest one by one, and even managed to capture a picture of the last one leaving the box. I read that the chicks will often stay close together after leaving the nest and I would love to capture this on camera. I'm not sure though whether they remain in the vicinity or if they move on to a different area. I could hear the chicks calling from a thick group of trees at the foot of the garden shortly after leaving the nest, but alls gone quiet at the moment so I guess they have moved on somewhere. I'm sure the neighbours think I've gone mad as I have spent most of the morning out in the rain scouring the skies!

[henrya]

Quote
I read that the chicks will often stay close together after leaving the nest and I would love to capture this on camera
Endquote

You ought to have been standing with me this morning, looking out of my front door, when I was watching a family of Great Tits. Two chicks sat together on a branch waiting to be fed by harassed parent. There were other chicks about but sadly I still have to earn a living and had to got to work! But yes, they do seem to hang around together for a few days - presumably as long as they can persuade mum and dad to keep on providing for them (why does that sound familiar?).

henrya

[dial999]

Apparently even Bill Oddie had the same problem with the parents deserting the nest at the later stages. My mother-in-law saw him on the tv and he said it was sheer work overload with them making many hundreds of visits per day.

He came up with an easy solution: putting out mealworms (easily obtainable from pet shops, etc. and on the net), which are full of protein and fat, in a little box he knocked up and hung near to the bird box. They took to it readily - problem solved!

I can't find a decent link to the Bill Oddie thing, but I am sure you will get the idea from looking at the pics on this site:

http://www.backyardbirdsdiscoverycen...ird_feeder.php

And here's a place I found with a plan to build your own if you don't want to design one yourself. (And even breed your own mealworms as they can be pricey.)

http://birding.about.com/library/weekly/aa021401c.htm

While I'm at it, another good site about breeding mealworms: http://www.mealworms.com/

Just a word of caution but I thought maggots might be just as good and nutritious, but the RSPB do not recommend feeding maggots, which can carry all sorts of nasties. I hope this has been of some help.