Black Capped Chickadee Nest Q's/Abandoning (1 Viewer)

[emmadog]

Hello,
New to the forum and my first post. Bear with me as I include as many details I can to help you guys with responses. So I built a couple of mid century modern styled birdhouses as much for decor in the front yard as for the birds. Within 3 days a pair of Black Capped Chickadees (BCC) found them and the feeder and proceeded to build a nest. Like clockwork they came and ate and carried material into the nest. The whole process took a couple of weeks and we had great fun watching them. I managed to get a few pics of the nest after making sure (as much as is possible) that they weren't around. The last pic showed animal hair lining the nest which I took as a sign that egg laying was the next step. After that for 3 days in a row only one of the birds would return. He (?) would call and fly to the nest, stand on the perch and look inside but not enter, fly to a branch and call some more. It did this half a dozen times a day for 3 days and then no more. Me and my girl were bummed at the prospect of not having the birds around. I snapped a pic and the nest has not changed other than there are some pink flower petals that I'm pretty sure have blown in from the tree that overhangs the nest box. I read that they mate for life or are at least long-term mates and also that after they line the nest they seldom abandon it. So with this info I surmised that the worst has happened to one of the birds. There's also a neighborhood cat that hangs around my house and I think he may have gotten one of the birds. Anyway, I haven't heard a chickadee for 3 days until today. A pair flew into the tree outside the porch and didn't go to the feeder right away-almost like they didn't know it was there. They then went to the house with the nest in it but didn't go inside but did go inside the other nest box without a nest. However, they went to the one with the nest 3 or 4 times in two separate visits but wouldn't go in. I'm thinking this is a new pair based on their behavior so my question is will an old nest deter them from nesting and if so should I remove it? Or will they build on top if they accept the nest box?
Thanks for any info, I'd really like to get another pair in there.

 

[DownyWP]

I would recommend you baffle the pole that your bird box sits upon, this will protect the next from raccoons, squirrels and other predators; also how big is that hole? For Black-capped Chickadees, the hole needs to be small, 1 1/4

Here is a link to the Sialis site, the most comprehensive guide to nesting birds:
http://www.sialis.org/chickadee.htm

I would leave the nest alone at this time; if a new pair takes over the box they will build over the old one.

 

[emmadog]

Thanks for the info. The hole is 1-3/8".

 

[AlfArbuthnot]

They might actually be laying eggs. They lay one egg per day, in the very early morning, but usually cover them over with nest material until they have laid them all (about 7-10). Only when they have laid the last eggs will the female start incubating. Until then, after laying the egg in the morning, they don't hang aorund the nest much.

Also, they sometimes have a break between building the nest and beginning laying, or between the end of laying and the start of incubation. This can be several days or even a couple of weeks.

So I would wait and see what happens. If you are seeing two BCC around the yard, then they are probably still intending to breed, and there might even be eggs in the box that are hidden in the nest.