We had some newly hatched blue tit chicks in our box but noticed the mum had stopped returning yesterday. Today there was silence from the nest and when we opened it, all the chicks had died. One of them had its mouth completely stuffed with these little seed things and I just wonder if they were harmful or if they weren't getting the bugs they need for liquid in the recent hot weather.
It looks like rice to me!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
ha, similar but a lot smaller!
It looks like something I have seen before but could not think what. Now I remember. When we had cats, in warm weather when there were bluebottles about, you had to check the wet food, as they would lay their eggs! I think that could be it?
just looked them up and very similar! you could be right
Definitely fly eggs, used to see them often on leftover wet food for Hedgehogs, got rid of pdq!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Thanks both, looks like they may have been dead longer than i thought. Such a shame, wait all year hoping to get more chicks in the box and its over before they barely got started
The same has happened to my bluetit nest. 12 eggs - all hatched, I think, today all dead, the mum is coming back one by one raking them out of the nest. She is not dropping them outside so I am not sure what she is doing with them. So sad
sorry to hear that, fingers crossed for next year
Please ensure the box is changed so as to deter parasites & flies which lay eggs. We're lucky we don't have mango flies which affect birds hideously in warmer climes. We do have flat fly (louse fly) which feed from birds & spread disease but they don't lay eggs on them as the female carries her egg inside. Some blood sucking mites can stay around nests and wait for next clutch. so best to change or clean them thoroughly after or before each clutch.
This year I decided to try and help the blackbirds/bluetits/Robins etc. I knew we had a breeding pair visited regularly. This increased. Then after 3 weeks there was the reward..2 babies!! Then another 2 blackbirds came. The garden was getting visited by more blue tits. After a few weeks.. a baby.. few days later 2 tiny babies came. Because of the dry/ hot weather the ground is hard for birds to get worms etc. The lack of water is another worrying factor. I purchased from Amazon a few buckets of peanut butter nuggets. We chopped them up daily so they were small enough to feed to babies and they're soft. It was like a shuttle service with the parents coming for it. Then the babies came to feed on it. I've placed water dishes all around the home as there's no water as no rain. These might be a few ideas for you to place out next time you have a nest to help the parents feed the babies. Biggest laugh.. when I take feeders in overnight.. there was the baby bluetit on the shelf in the shed helping itself to the peanut butter!! I also bought boxes of peanut/suet fat balls as they love those. Hope you have the same joy we've had