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This is my 1st Post on here so hope you can help
I have a web cam nest box and Blue Tits have nested in there yearly. This year 8 eggs were laid & 7 hatched but one by one the babies are dying . A few died very young. We went down to 5 babies - they now have feathers and are at the preening stage and look a good size. Since yesterday morning - there is now definetely only 4. I'm worried and just don't know why this could be happening!! Is it the weather or some disease??? The parents are doing a good job feeding them. I almost dreading checking on them each day just incase anoher one is missing.
Thanks for the Reply Yosa, Just thought the chicks might have been too young to digest the seeds they were being fed, Anyway as you say fingers crossed for next year, Don't think i could handle this every year :-(
No probs wullieboy and i know what u mean about losing the chicks its heart breaking when they die. This year we had a nesting box without a camera in it but for next year i"m thinking of getting a box with a camera in it and just wondered if you or anyone on this forum knows of a decent one to buy. I dont want the most expensive one (finances wont allow lol) but i dont want the cheapest one either. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, many thanks guys
Was thinking the same Yosa, But my garden is realy LONG and narrow, so would need loads of cable, treble what would be supplied with the box lol Do keep us imformed if you do get 1 and how you get on ;-)
DANGER is all around for the newly fledged Blue Tits. 'My' 4 fledged a couple of weeks ago and I just hope they are O.K. Very late yesterday afternoon I noticed a newly fledged BT on it's own in my garden. I watched it for about an hour and it was crying out for it's parents. It coud fly just short distances and then it mainly hopped around still crying out. I was really concerned due to it being on it's own but kept waiting to see if a parent would come along. To my HORROR a Magpie swooped down to get the fledgling, Thank Goodness I saw it just as it was about to pounce and the Magpie quickly flew off when I banged on the window. The fledgling had a 'near miss' it then hopped into the middle of the lawn so I went out encouraged it to move to some ground cover under a large conifer. It stayed in that area on it's own for a while and then I could see another bird with it ...hopefully a parent!!! The light was fading so I couldn't see much more so I just pray that it is still O.K this morning.
When I opened the curtains this morning .....I saw at least 20 + newly fledged BT's flying around with their parents obviously showing them the ropes and feeding them. It was definetely a case of trial & error as you could see that they were trying to fly to a tree but some ended up clinging to the branches not quite having made it. It was amusing to watch!
I aslo saw a newly fledged woodpecker with a parent showing it around!
It was obviously a busy fledging time yesterday & today so I guess what I'm trying to say is that although we have all had some fatalities in the nest boxes quite a lot have made it to fledging stage. Now is the difficult part for them ....survival!!!!!!!!!!!!!
today Monday we have five babies, but, theres always a but, I have this morning only seen the female feeding them, there are still three eggs to hatch so poor girl is going to have her work cut out. Amazing how they are driven to succeed. Fingers crossed they survive this time.
Do you clean the box so soon? Do you keep any of the nesting material? I have had all 8 of my chicks die over a period of 24 days. Ossie.
Hi ossy, sorry to hear u lost all your 8 chicks thats so sad. Regarding cleaning out the nest box i"m sure i heard on springwatch that you throw away the nest and clean out the box with boiling hot water only no chemical cleaners to be added (i hope thats right, learning things myself at the moment) Good luck for next year i think a lot of us need it!!
another update - three eggs didn't hatch and we are now down to 2 chicks, it's not looking good and very upsetting as this is the second clutch. It is as we suspected only the female on her own, she is doing a really good job but I think nature may again defeat her. She is beginnning to look very bedraggled and worn out bless her. Only rests for a couple of minutes then she's off again finding more food, very dedicated to her chicks.
Maybe if you find it too upsetting take the camera out. Its nature but our human emotions get in the way. Animals know when there is something wrong with their young and reject them. Sad but true.
When I went out this morning, our Apple Tree nesting box which had occupied by Blue Tits was silent. No sound at all. I waited a while and then started to investigate.
Using a torch and a mirror I saw a still chick. I took the box inside and unscrewed the lid to find all 4 chicks dead. I can only think it was the windy weather and heavy rain we've had that has upset things. On Friday I was convinced they were going to fledge this weekend as I could see one of the chicks poking it's head through the entrance hole. We have a feeding station in the garden and there had been a lot of tooing and froing.
I've come here for some advice about what to do now.
What's the best thing to do with the nest boxes now? There are insects making the most of the corpses now and they're rather smelly. Should I clean the next box completely with just boing water? The nesting material is quite soiled with remains of chicks.
We have chickens and I put some of their wood shavings in the bottom to get things started. Shall I do the same?
Thanks for any advice.