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Blue Tit Chicks All Died - Advice Wanted

Michael Sutcliffe
16/05/2024 18:08

Hi everyone,

At the start of February this year, I put a nest box up. As someone who is new-ish to the world of bird watching and feeding, this was the first time I had done something like this. With this in mind, I made sure to do my research, ensuring that the box was protected from direct sunlight and out of reach of any strong winds. I settled on attaching the box around 2pm up the trunk of a sycamore tree in my garden, along with a camera that I attached in place.
Much to my delight, the box was quickly inspected by a set of blue tits and the first sign of nest building was evident at the start of March. The nest was seemingly complete at the start of April and 9 eggs were then laid from April 10th - April 18th. 6 of these eggs hatched on April 30th, with the remaining 3 on May 1st.
To my dismay, by the morning of May 15th, all the chicks had died. This was a gradual process. First, I noticed the brood dropping from 9 to 8 chicks quite early on. A further 3 apiece perished around May 7th and May 10th respectively, leaving 2 remaining chicks. With both chicks reaching the 14th still alive and surviving the night without their Mother, I was hopeful they may fledge. This was unfortunately short lived as the remaining two chicks died the morning of May 15th.
I would like to gauge from anyone whether there is anything I could have done to avoid this? To see all 9 chicks pass away was heartbreaking and I am now questioning whether there is a point of putting a nest box up again next year. I did notice that the male blue tit seemed to stop coming to the nest around the 13th. I also noticed at times issues with the size of food the parents were feeding the chicks (too big) - I would flag that I made sure to only leave small-sized bits of food in the feeders.
Has anyone else had similar cases this year? Has this been a particularly bad year for blue tit chicks survivability? 
Any feedback anyone can offer would be much appreciated. Apologies about the long message.
Michael 
  • 0 22/05/2024 08:22 in reply to Irene Parsons

    Unfortunately, RSPB doesn't monitor or reply to questions regarding birds on here. Presumably both parents were feeding from Day 1 up to the death of the last chick?

  • 0 23/05/2024 00:38 in reply to Irene Parsons

    Thanks for your reply Irene and sorry you also went through the same experience. Your experience sounds very similar to mine in all honesty. I leave similar food to you out, but appreciate that may not be an effective enough substitute for caterpillars (especially given the points about the lack of moisture in certain foods). Like you, I was so excited seeing all the activity in the box and it was a real shame to see the chicks pass away. Perhaps, for one reason or another, this was just a bad year for blue tit mortality?

  • 0 27/05/2024 10:57

    I’ve had the same issue. Went to throw away an old disused squirrel box to find it had a nest with eggs. So fix it back up and notice two blue tits then coming and going where is not noticed before. I left mealworms and suet blocks nearby but they only attracted larger birds in a magpie and crow. So fast forward a couple of weeks and we’ve got 3 chicks. But over the last few days I’ve not seen any traffic in or out of the nest. I checked on it yesterday to find the 3 chicks had died. I can’t believe how saddening it is considering i wasn’t aware of them only a few weeks ago. I don’t if mum and dad haven’t returned because the chicks are dead or are they dead because mum and dad haven’t been back. Have larger birds scared them off? 

    what do I do with the nest and chicks? They’ll eventually attack pests surely? 

    Thanks for any advice.