I have a camera nest box in the garden with 11 six day old blue tits in. Everything was fine until yesterday morning when the mother has gone missing. I guess she's taken by a predator. Father has been in and out all day and this morning feeding and removing waste, but I'm worried that he's got too much to do. The chicks stayed on their own overnight and I'm worried that they'll get cold or abandoned and all not survive.
Can anyone suggest anything to save the brood? The garden has feeders of heart seeds and fat balls.
Update on day 14. 9 chicks all appearing to be keeping well. Dad's still working with feeds. Chicks bigger and aggressively take food.
Diet supplimented with live mealworms from feeders.
I make today day 17, and it doesn't look like the chicks are very far from leaving the nest. The chicks from the great tit nest have all left, so it's just our blue tits that are nearly ready to go.
Dad has looked after these chicks on his own from day 6, so to us, he's a super hero. There looks to be 8 from the 9 chicks still going strong, so I'll need an early start tomorrow just in case.
The news today is that 2 chicks have fledged the nest box, but there's no sign of dad today. He's neither been the nest box or the garden. I saw him last night as he sat on a feeder at about 8pm and called for a minute or two, almost calling for his lost mate, before flying into the trees. There's still 6 chicks in the nest box who haven't been fed in 12 hours. This isn't easy.