Help with Great Tit Nestbox (1 Viewer)

[annallegro]

Hi - Apologies if this is a sad message. I need your help. I have a nestbox (without a camera) in my garden where a couple of great tits built their nest. Four little birds were born a couple of weeks ago. Everything seemed to be fine until yesterday when I stopped hearing the little birdies calling their parents. The parents also stopped entering the nest, so I understood something was wrong. Today, I opened the birdnest and found the little birds dead. They were almost fully grown. Can you please advise on the causes of their death? I just cannot understand what happened as this is my first experience with a birdbox. The past few days have been a bit rainy and cold, but the weather was not good even 2 weeks ago when they were born, so I don't know if this could be the cause of their death. Please advise me; I am so sad and disheartened I don't know if I will find the courage to have a birdnest again. Thank you.
Anna

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum.

Have you been looking in the box? I’m not sure how else you would know there were four hatchlings or that a nest had been built. That could be a cause for the nest to be abandoned.

The colder weather may have had an impact. I have a friend in Bavaria whose nest box has a camera, and the great tits had hatched 8 chicks. This week they all died, and she thinks it was due to the drop in temperature.

 

[annallegro]

Hi, thank you for your reply. I am sorry for your friend's loss.

I opened the box this morning for the first time, and that's when I saw there were four chicks... The parents have always stayed close to the box, so it was definitely never abandoned.

Maybe you're right; it could be a mix of a drop in temperature/humidity and more difficulty finding food... I'll never know for sure...

 

[Ollie owl]

Hi - Apologies if this is a sad message. I need your help. I have a nestbox (without a camera) in my garden where a couple of great tits built their nest. Four little birds were born a couple of weeks ago. Everything seemed to be fine until yesterday when I stopped hearing the little birdies calling their parents. The parents also stopped entering the nest, so I understood something was wrong. Today, I opened the birdnest and found the little birds dead. They were almost fully grown. Can you please advise on the causes of their death? I just cannot understand what happened as this is my first experience with a birdbox. The past few days have been a bit rainy and cold, but the weather was not good even 2 weeks ago when they were born, so I don't know if this could be the cause of their death. Please advise me; I am so sad and disheartened I don't know if I will find the courage to have a birdnest again. Thank you.
Anna

Maybe something frightened them away. They live to raise more chicks so that a positive.
Maybe if you can get one and a web cam you can see if something isn’t right and ask for help. Sorry for your sadness

 

[YuShan]

Of course I don't know what happened. But one thing that I have noticed with my own Blue Tit box (with camera) over the years is that often in the beginning things can look great and then after 1-2 weeks chicks start dying, sometimes in large numbers. I suspect that it has to do with them requiring more food when they grow bigger, and when that food is not sufficiently available the weaker birds die off. Just speculating here, but it is always the same pattern.

I have never had a complete clutch dying, but it has happened once that I started out with 9 or 10 chicks and in the end only 2 fledged. I think for a Great Tit 8-12 eggs is a normal clutch size. The fact that you found only 4 dead chicks suggests that quite a few had already died previously and have been removed from the nest. Weather can play a role. For example, if there is heavy rain/ storm, sometimes caterpillars can get washed out of the trees, which is bad for birds that forage in trees, like Blue and Great Tits, but a bonanza for ground feeders such as Robins and Blackbirds.

Anyway, when you are down to just a few chicks, you would expect these remaining chicks to get enough food without many siblings competing for it, so something else might have happened. Illness? Parent eaten by cat or Sparrowhawk? All possibilities. Not much you can do about it. Just hope for better luck next time.

 

[Ollie owl]

Welcome to Birdforum.

Have you been looking in the box? I’m not sure how else you would know there were four hatchlings or that a nest had been built. That could be a cause for the nest to be abandoned.

The colder weather may have had an impact. I have a friend in Bavaria whose nest box has a camera, and the great tits had hatched 8 chicks. This week they all died, and she thinks it was due to the drop in temperature.

That’s a myth have a look at YouTube, a chick called Albert. You’d be surprised give it a look.