Live Stream of my Bird Box - Bluetits Nesting - Chicks Hatching Now

Nazbit · 18 May 2020 at 19:08

Screenbeat said:
Sad to see that two have died! The smaller of the two that are left doesn't look good either, it seems to waste energy moving around while the mum is away then gets stomped on by the bigger chick on e she returns!

Yeah I believe it's actually the middle two that have died leaving the oldest (7 days) and youngest (5 days) remaining.

The youngest hasn't looked good for for more than two days now.

I guess it remains to be seen will he now get more attention and more food or is it already too late for him. He is lagging behind in his development.

He was the one id expected to loose. Not the other two.

Nazbit · 18 May 2020 at 19:10

saddler said:
My two are still alive, male has been feeding them all day and considering the female contributed nothing yesterday that's two days he's been the sole provider. Still another 9-10 days to go though.

That's good news for now though.

saddler said:
I've got some funny hedgehog videos I can share...

Always

shaank · 18 May 2020 at 19:11

I've been following, but haven't posted yet on this one - sad to hear two haven't made it in the last day though @Nazbit

Minxy · 18 May 2020 at 20:51

Gutted that two have perished. This thread is becoming quite sad.

Nazbit · 18 May 2020 at 21:11

@shaank @Minxy I know. Pretty sad all round.

Half wishing I hadn't shared the streams now as I think I've just made everyone sad. Particularly those who had children watching.

It has been interesting, insightful and educational but definitely sad. That is nature I guess.

As it stands we do still have two chicks although one is doing significantly better than the other it just remains to be seen if she can provide enough food to the two remaining mouths.

Mason- · 18 May 2020 at 22:04

No please don’t be upset. I got really fed up with the constant bickering and pettiness on this forum. This thread has brought me back. Yes it’s sad, and nature is both brutal and beautiful. But seeing them grow has been really fascinating.

Seriously, thank you for this

.

Minxy · 18 May 2020 at 22:10

Nazbit this has been a great thread to watch. Don’t feel guilty, as you say this is nature. It’s been so interesting to watch them. Thanks for all your efforts and I’ll be continuing to watch and hoping the two remaining babies make it.

Narj · 18 May 2020 at 22:14

Mason- said:
No please don’t be upset. I got really fed up with the constant bickering and pettiness on this forum.

100% - it's nice to have a thread where people aren't trying to point-score against each other from their ridiculous high horses.

Nature is brutal sometimes. Fingers crossed we'll see some sort of happy ending

saddler · 18 May 2020 at 22:42

It is hard watching the chicks die but its all part of the Bluetits survival strategy. By breeding lots of chicks theres a better chance one will make it to adulthood. Last year was the only time all the chicks in one of my boxes made it. between 1-3 is the norm unless you live in an oak woodland.

On a lighter note, as promised some hedgehog feeder videos. Once you start putting wildlife cameras out in your garden it can get quite addictive. This year i've had at least 5 hedgehog visit the garden and these little creatures are mainly pre-ocupied with the 3 f's

1) After coming out of hibernation the hedgehogs are still very drowsy and have often fallen asleep whilst feeding

2) Hedgehogs are solitary creatures and do not tolerate each others presesnce (skip halfway through for the action)

3) If you put food out other creatures will find it such as this wood mouse

Mcnumpty2323 · 19 May 2020 at 00:24

LeeUK said:
Wonder why the mother ignores the chicks when they have fallen out of the nest.

Survival of the fittest
If it's strong enough to climb back in then it's likely strong enough to be a survivor to carry good genes forward
And if it isn't then it's one less mouth to
Feed giving its siblings a larger supply of food
Sounds cruel perhaps but only if looked at from a humans perspective
That's why birds mostly lay a lot of eggs instead of only 1 or 2
Old argument is if you intervene then it's not natural any more
Though if the op feels differently then perhaps once the nest is empty make the boxes so the top and front can be easily hinged
Opened to help out if needed
Though if a parent bird thinks someone has interfered there may be a risk they
Just abandon all the chicks
It's of course sad especially if children have been watching the feed but they
Should learn how nature works

shaank · 19 May 2020 at 01:55

Narj said:
100% - it's nice to have a thread where people aren't trying to point-score against each other from their ridiculous high horses.

Motors

But yes, I agree.

Nazbit · 19 May 2020 at 09:20

So the situation this morning is that the youngest chick that hadn't looked well for a while has died. It did manage to outlast its two middle siblings which was very unexpected.

She removed one chick from the nest at 5:31 this morning.

Two dead chicks remain in the nest, one in the bowl of the nest which I assume she will remove at some point today, the other in is the one trapped in the corner which I'm not expecting her to remove because I don't think shes understood that its there.

So yeah we are down to one chick which I think we all expected at this point. He is the largest and oldest and now he will have 100% of the food supply to himself although I'm still not sure that shes bringing enough in without the father even for one chick.

So lets see what happens and see if she can get the one remaining chick through today.

I wont put any photos of the remaining chick up until she has removed the dead one so as not to upset anyone who doesn't want to see it.

Mason- · 19 May 2020 at 09:47

Got my fingers crossed for this last fella

He's still really alert and sharp. The second she comes back to the nest he's straight up for food.

kinetic747 · 19 May 2020 at 09:57

She just took another dead chick out. Fingers crossed for the survivor.

Mason- · 19 May 2020 at 09:58

She's trying to remove the chick that passed last night, right now.

kinetic747 · 19 May 2020 at 09:59

kinetic747 said:
She just took another dead chick out. Fingers crossed for the survivor.

and another.

Nazbit · 19 May 2020 at 10:28

Yeah she has removed the other chick at 9:57

So just our little guy left.

Not been watching for the last hour, has she fed him much?

Mason- · 19 May 2020 at 10:48

Yeah she's been in and out every 10 minutes or so. She caught some big winged insect earlier, and struggled to feed it to him, I think the bug was still alive. SO she ate that herself in the end.

kinetic747 · 19 May 2020 at 11:22

I'm wondering if the remaining chick will be warm enough without its siblings? Hopefully the warm spell will help in that regard and it'll be getting feathers soon.

Nazbit · 19 May 2020 at 11:45

She's going to have to strike a balance isn't she between going out to find them both food and staying in to keep him warm.

I suppose his volume to surface area ratio is increasing every day which makes him better able to handle the cold.

Weather station reporting 16.2c out there right now. Forecast generally good for the next week.

Looking at that growth chart he should have an initial thin feather coating within the next 48 hours.

Seen him being fed a few times now. She seems to have been away for a while not sure of the actual time.