Help with terrorised blue tit nest box (1 Viewer)

Sorry, originally submitted to wrong area of the forum. Hope you can help...

Hello All,

I will post in the Hello forum shortly as I am new to the forum, but firstly need some help!
I have noticed this morning that the whole on my blue tit nest box has been made bigger (now almost double the size), probably by our resident squirrel or GSW? I can hear that there are chicks in there and husband has had a very quick peek in there and they seem to be OK. Should I glue a metal plate over the extended hole whilst chicks are in there, or just hope for the best?
Also, a lot of the nest has been strewn on the floor, should we leave it for the blue tits to rebuild?
It's the first year we have had blue tits nesting and I really want them all to fledge successfully but a novice at this.
Any help would be appreciated as I am really worried about them.
Thanks in advance,
Janie

It sounds like a curious squirrel.

If the new hole is massive, get any old bit of plywood, roughly the same colour as the box, and make a new hole and then screw it onto the front of the box, over the old hole. If the parents are refusing to go in at the present time, they you need to do this immediately (within the hour).

Look inside the box (very carefully), either lifting the roof a bit or using a torch. If the nest is more or less intact then leave it, or pick up the stuff from the ground and use it to pad out the front of the nest if there's little little nest material left inside. The chicks should be within a small 'cup' towards the back. Be careful that the chicks are not fully feathered and jumpy, if they are then don't touch the inside or they might all jump out. The parents wont rebuild. Check carefully below the box, as chicks may have been pulled out.

If the adults are still feeding the chicks, and the hole is not massive, and there is a semi-intact nest inside, then you can leave them to it. A squirrel can totally destroy the box if it wants to, no matter what you do, but its curiosity might have been satisfied.

If it was a woodpecker then it will probably come back for more, and there's nothing you can do. It's just what happens. Blue Tits are closer to the bottom of the food chain than the top.

Thanks for the reply.

I've been sat watching for the last couple of hours and the parents are happily flying in and out.
My suspicions are that it's the GSW and it has been 3 times in the last 2 hours and I haven't seen him around for a while.
The chicks are snuggled into a corner but I'm wary about drilling etc. Think I'm going to head to the garden centre and see if I can just a get a reinforced plate that I can quickly superglue onto the outside of the box, just in two minds whether to leave well alone and leave it to nature as hard as that is!

Thanks again!

Janie1975 said:

Thanks for the reply.

I've been sat watching for the last couple of hours and the parents are happily flying in and out.
My suspicions are that it's the GSW and it has been 3 times in the last 2 hours and I haven't seen him around for a while.
The chicks are snuggled into a corner but I'm wary about drilling etc. Think I'm going to head to the garden centre and see if I can just a get a reinforced plate that I can quickly superglue onto the outside of the box, just in two minds whether to leave well alone and leave it to nature as hard as that is!

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

A metal plate really isn't a good idea at this point - a shiny bit of metal over their nest hole might well be the last straw for the adults, as they've never seen it before and its very 'different' to what they're used to. And anyway, the GSW will just drill round the outside if it wants to get back in.

I'd leave it, and hope for the best.

I've attached a pic if it helps.

Thanks Alf,

I hadn't even thought of that. I do have a bit of plywood but they seem quite happy, if you look at the pic I don't hold out much hope, but fingers crossed.
Thanks for your help.

from looking at the picture of the bird box was the original hole into the nest box just a small round circle? if it was then what is present in your photo now is hugh so i,m unclear
on that to me it looks like it has just been widened a bit at the top but from the lenght
of the hole it looks like the original size of when you put the box up in that case it was
to big could easily take a starling inside, thou even with a normal sized entrance hole i
have seen a great spotted woodpecker manage to widen a hole sufficently to try and get
at the young blue tits inside unravelling the nest beneath them so their chances of survival from that were not good but as somebody mentioned earlier if the grey squirrel and woodpecker are determined they will succeed in takeing the young from any box if access is available to them.

HI Coal Tit,

Yes, it was just a small hole so goodness knows how it's go so big in just a short space of time :-(
I am going to leave nature to it and see what happens, I know I shouldn't interfere. Just so sad with it being our first ones. The parents have been great and I have been watching them in and out all afternoon.
I am definitely getting a reinforced hole in my next bird box. You live and learn :-(

Oh, I am just wishing you all the best!! We also have our first blue tits nesting (in THIS house) and can understand your pride and worry! Ours is made of stone so no fears of this happening.
Do, please update us?

I think you would be doing the right thing if you just left them to get on with it, nature can be so cruel but I agree altering the nestbox too much now would probably be the last straw for the parents. Fingers crossed they are close to fledging and get a chance of life! Nature is so cruel but wonderful at the same time, eh?! Keep us updated.

Just to say that what you said about leaving nature to it is no doubt very good advice and as worried as I get about these things, I will remember that "owlsgomoo"...thank you.
Any updates to this post please? xx