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Must have been disturbing to watch, but if the others are ok the 2 that died may have had something wrong with them when they hatched, and were not viable. Nothing gets wasted in nature. I'm not aware of any problems with fat balls.
Annie
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Einstein
last year i bought a camera nest box from aldi for £29.99 last year put up a month before nesting season no takers that year as some sparrows were quaraling over nesting rights, but this year a male and female house sparrow have succesfully nested in my nest box they have 3 chicks which are doing well and i have seen one chick flapping its wings. before the nesting season i created as much wild spots as i could to increase the number of insects log piles leaving areas to go wild so far it has paid off and there are plenty of insects around. hopefully mr and mrs sparrow will come back and raise another brood after this one. i also have a feeder cam. your 2 greattit chicks might have hade some birth defect
I've got a nest box cam too, someone gave it to me as her elderly father had found it too worrying to watch. He enjoyed it at first, but then became stressed about the babies having enough food, and worried about the adults out and about etc.
I've had it in place since early 2011, it has had a few blue tits showing interest, but I was beginning to think I would have to move it as no serious nest building had taken place, until Friday! Now a pair of blue tits have moved in and built a nest, and last night one of the adults spent the night in the box. From comments above, it seems they are late builders, and I must say I can see my friends father's point;are they too late? Plus it's very cold and very wet today,will they catch a chill? I'm thinking of knitting little raincoats for them!!!! Oh, and the badgers who come every night, they were soaked to the skin last night! What about the foxes..........
Oh my gosh, wildlife watching can be a worry.
Toadflax.
Hi Andrew
Blue tits do have a high fatality, think the weather is a lot to do with it this year.
Its a case of getting it just right for the natural food.
Ray
a good laugh is better than a tonic
Thanks for all the replies. At least water is not a problem this weekend....
I assume my female Blue tit, in sitting now. They had 7 or 8 eggs about 5 days ago. I have seen the male taking food into the female in the last couple of days. So about 2 weeks before the eggs hatch. I'm hoping that the weather improves before then, because it is grim here today.
At least the female is sat in her warm and dry nest box. Just heard the male calling as I type.
Reading the above replies. I didn't know that birds fed their fatalities to their other young.
Although it makes sense really thinking about it.
I have only found one fatality while cleaning out my boxes over the years. It was quite a mature fledgling though, with feathers. So I presume the parents probably couldn't get to it to remove it, or maybe it was to big. Also they would have been rather busy, as it was a large brood of 11 or 12 as I recall.
If it's not outdoors it's not worth watching.
Hi Snowman
Sometimes one of the chicks is greedy and gets too big to get out of the entrance
Seen this happen with a great tit