Birds nest question

[ColeyS1]

The other day I was mowing around the bird house tree I made a while ago. I smashed into the side of the trunk by accident. Out of curiosity I lifted off the bird house lid and to my surprise/horror saw a bluetit looking back at me.
It's been playing on my kind cause my neighbour mentioned they don't like being disturbed.
To cut a long story short I just had another peak and noticed just the nest with eggs, but no bird :?

My questions are, did I probably frighten her away by opening it the first time round(I had no idea it was in use) ?
Is there a chance shes just left the eggs for a while?
The second question is how long should I leave it before I throw out the eggs/have another look ? 3 months ?

Really pleased it's getting used, when it's safe to empty it/start over, I'll try adding a camera inside to prevent gormlessness.

Might sit in the shed with my binoculars later :|

Thanks


Coley

 

[NikNak]

Sit in the shed... and watch... and wait...

It's probably just nipped off for a 'break'. We used to have a box on the side of the gazebo that every year the blue **** would use, and my missus was forever going and having a sneaky look in it, quite often catching the bird sat there.... so dont fret just yet.

I made 6 box's and they're all dotted around the garden.

This year we have Great **** nesting again in the same box as last year. We have Blue **** for the first time in one of the other box's (they've been there a few years now...) AND... this year one of the box's is home to bumble bees

We had to chase off the Spotted Woodpecker the other morning as he was errrr 'investigating' the baby birds in the Great *** box :shock:

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Some birds are "bad" mothers and may desert the nest if disturbed, Blackbirds and Song Thrushes are good examples. The *** family are staggeringly good mothers and will almost never desert the nest despite all manner of intervention from people. I have literally picked up an adult female Great *** off chicks before from a bird box such was her overwhelming instinct to protect her offspring. She flew off when I opened my hand and within 5 minutes was incubating again.

You wont have scared her off, she's either cat fodder by now or just foraging.

 

[n0legs]

Seeing as we're on a bird theme.
Does anyone have a solution to stopping the cat killing birds?
I love her to bits but in the last fortnight we've had three "gifts".
We've tried collars with bells but she loses or some how gets out of them. I don't want to be going down "Ali's Super-Duper Cut Price Pet Emporium" and getting one that doesn't have the breakaway clasp, but short of keeping her in I'm not sure what to do with her.
I've always had cats but this bugger is the most effective bird killing machine I've ever seen :lol:

 

[ColeyS1]

Appreciate the comments guys, it's put my mind at ease. I groom the dog outside and was surprised to see alot of his hairs in the nest . I'll keep my eyes peeled over the next few weeks.



Coley

 

[duncanh]

Appreciate the comments guys, it's put my mind at ease. I groom the dog outside and was surprised to see alot of his hairs in the nest . I'll keep my eyes peeled over the next few weeks.
Coley

I've known of people brushing their dogs, collecting the hair and leaving it out in woods for birds to use for nesting material

 

[Sheffield Tony]

The birds nests in our garden seem to be mostly built from wood shavings ! The blackbird nest with curly hand plane shavings sticking out was very funny !

We have a box with a camera which had blue **** in it last year, and yes, they do spend quite a bit of time off the nest, but more so when they are feeding chicks. Nature is quite brutal when watched close up; out of 11 eggs, 9 hatched and only one survived to fledge.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Seeing as we're on a bird theme.
Does anyone have a solution to stopping the cat killing birds?
I love her to bits but in the last fortnight we've had three "gifts".
We've tried collars with bells but she loses or some how gets out of them. I don't want to be going down "Ali's Super-Duper Cut Price Pet Emporium" and getting one that doesn't have the breakaway clasp, but short of keeping her in I'm not sure what to do with her.
I've always had cats but this pipper is the most effective bird killing machine I've ever seen :lol:

This'll do nicely. He'll eat the bird after killing the cat, mind.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

When I was a boy, blue **** nested in our disused mail box. I looked in on them every day - it didn't seem to worry them.

 

[ColeyS1]

I've known of people brushing their dogs, collecting the hair and leaving it out in woods for birds to use for nesting material

I use to cut my dad's hair and he'd always chuck it out on the garden for the birds. I thought he was just being odd, but guess he knew something I didn't
The morning after I looked, I opened up the blinds to see a different coloured bird gathering hair. It had a beak full, but still carried on gathering more. Nature really doesn't waste anything does it !!

Coley

 

[ColeyS1]

Crikey, I bet he'd give the cat a good shaking if he got hold of one !
My neighbour thought birds would have never nested in the box cause the jack Russell would have frightened them. It was quite humorous when I told her the news.She started getting shirty asking why birds don't go in her boxes :lol: - like I would know the answer !
I'm researching bird box cameras atm. I'm trying to figure out how to get a wire to it without looking to ugly.

Coley

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Seeing as we're on a bird theme.
Does anyone have a solution to stopping the cat killing birds?
I love her to bits but in the last fortnight we've had three "gifts".
We've tried collars with bells but she loses or some how gets out of them. I don't want to be going down "Ali's Super-Duper Cut Price Pet Emporium" and getting one that doesn't have the breakaway clasp, but short of keeping her in I'm not sure what to do with her.
I've always had cats but this pipper is the most effective bird killing machine I've ever seen :lol:

This'll do nicely. He'll eat the bird after killing the cat, mind.

I considered an ex-racing greyhound, as they are trained to chase something about the size of a cat and can really shift. But I'm reliably informed that a lurcher is what is required, because they corner better :twisted:

 

[NazNomad]

Does anyone have a solution to stopping the cat killing birds?

I'm guessing the same solution I use to stop foxes eating my chickens isn't what you're after? 8)

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

what does cat taste like?

(I know I'm going down for that)

 

[whiskywill]

I've known of people brushing their dogs, collecting the hair and leaving it out in woods for birds to use for nesting material

I collect the fluff out of our tumble dryer filter and put it out for the birds. At nesting time it disappears within a few hours.

 

[gwaithcoed]

My wife was about to throw out a feather filled pillow when she decided to open it up and put a couple of handfuls out for the sparrows and boy did they love them. We have jackdaws that pull the lining out of her hanging baskets and I rake moss out of the lawn which is collected by the blue ****. I have sparrows in three corners of my workshop, sparrows in the two boxes and blue **** in another two boxes.

Alan

 

[ColeyS1]

I think I've got away with it. Just looked out the window to see the bird sat on the fence then flying over to the house.
If I could only figure out what food they like - fussy little tinkers!

Coley

 

[davem62]

try dried meal worms soaked in a little hot water then drain off when softened
dave

 

[Phil Pascoe]

With a drop of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of smoked paprika?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

that's it....and saute'd with a "veloute" of something French!