We put up a standard bird box earlier this year and we now appear to have wrens in there. I can see that there is a nest in there and it's clearly a wren that has been going back & forth for the past month or two but I know the male builds several nests and the female chooses only one. So how do I tell if there are eggs/young in there without disturbing them? The nest is on a north facing wall of the house right underneath our (1st floor) bathroom window so quite high up for wrens. Now we are seeing much more activity - one or two adults fetching food & taking it into the nest but I can't hear any noise from the nest box. Is that likely if there are babies in there?
I am no expert but if you can see the wrens regularly taking food into the nest it is highly likely they have young in there. We have a nest box with a camera (and sound) in it. There are seven bluetit chicks and they are not making any noise as yet. They will obviously do so later on.
Hopefully, one of the more experienced members will reply in more detail.
Please keep us posted as to what happens.
Kind regards Jane.
Thanks Jef, I was thinking it was too late in the season for there to be chicks in there and with there being no noise as well, I was a bit doubtful. Like you say though, I think there is too much activity for there to be nothing going on.
What sort of price to you need to pay to get a suitable camera rigged up & where do you buy from?
I'm no expert either but my nest box has five four day old Robin chicks and this is her second brood of five this year. My boxes also have colour cameras with sound and the Robin chicks make absolutely no sound at all. My cameas came from www.handycam.com and cost around £50 or £60 if I remember right. Good luck with your Wren chicks.
Sorry the email address is www.handykam.com
So sorry for the delay in replying.
Funnily enough, I also obtained my nestbox and camera from Handykam,com.
£59.95 for the nest box, camera and extension cable plus £12.00 delivery, (this was three years ago).
I would definitely recommend them. I am really enjoying watching the seven bluetit chicks. Their eyes are now opening and they all appear to be the same size and at the same stage of development, which makes me very hopeful for their future prospects. Mum and Dad are feeding them more often and I am putting out mealworms just for a little extra help.
Please let us know if you see any fledglings around from your nest.
Will let you know if we see anything. It's been the female out fetching food back to the nest all morning today & yesterday it was the male so I wonder if they are still sitting on eggs & taking it in turns to feed each other.
We definitely have baby wrens now. We can just see 2 or 3 open beaks peeking out of the hole. Fingers crossed it keeps going well.
That's lovely Mags, I can clearly see the beaks...excellent news let us know how they progress.