A Blackbird has built its nest in a Honeysuckle bush growing against my neighbours fence in my rear garden. They are currently about 9 or 10 days old and to make matters even worse, the mother bird is raising them on her own after the male Blackbird appears to have been driven off by a rival which has built its nest in my Bay Tree, about 18 feet from the Honeysuckle. The bush is not very big and when it rained a few days ago it collapsed slightly, causing the nest to drop to an alarming angle and also opened up the bush allowing the rain to fall directly onto the nest soaking the three nestlings. When the Honeysuckle bush collapsed, they had very few feathers and the smallest, I guess youngest chick is very weak and has large areas of bare skin. The mother spent the night brooding her cold and wet chicks and I spent a sleepless night worried that I would find the nest and its contents scattered on the the ground. To my great relief the nest with its chicks were still in place and all alive but very cold, wet and hungry.
I set about repairing the damage and used a sweeping broom to push up and support the Honeysuckle bush and this corrected the angle of the nest to normal. I also placed a medium sized plastic dust scoop on top of the bush to try and prevent the rain falling on the nest, which was just in time before for a heavy downpour of rain, and it does appear to have helped and very possibly even saved the lives of the chicks. The next day it rained constantly and it was obvious the dust scoop on its own was not enough. I decided to use a piece of thin ply wood which was a bit bigger than than scoop and put that on the bush as well and this has kept most of the vertical rain off the nest, but when the wind changes direction and blows on the front of the Honeysuckle, I worry that the rain will once more soak the nest, so I am keeping a plastic sheet handy just in case. I remember watching the mother bird return to her nest for the first time after I made the repairs. She paused for a couple of seconds on the fence lath just in front of the entrance to her nest and looked back through veranda window into my kitchen. I had been waiting for her to return and she turned her head and looked straight at me as if to say, I can see you have you made a few changes, but can I trust you?
I looked online for info on how to feed Blackbird chicks and most said Mealworms or dog food, which apparently are a good substitute when their normal food is not around. I purchased a small bag of dried Mealworms (89p) as I could not find the live version and this appeared to be the best option. However after rehydrating them I discovered that dried Mealworms are little more than empty hollow shells with little nutria. So I decided to purchased a cheap can of dog food from Morrisons (I am ashamed to say .45p) and carefully cut it into small pieces, sifting out any offal and bits of bone. At this time the chicks were little more than two or three days old and without any feathers, they appeared grateful for the dog food I gave them in between the meagre scraps their mother collected from the neighbouring gardens. However due to the poor quality of the dog food, I have today started feeding the chicks hard boiled eggs and they seem to be OK with it. Their mother desperately needs help looking after her young chicks especially now she is constantly harassed by a very aggressive male Blackbird who chases her away when ever she returns to or leaves the nest. I have grown to hate this male Blackbird as he does not appear to have a female partner, nest or chicks of his own and his sole purpose in life is to fight with other male Blackbirds and keep all the food in my garden for himself. The chicks in the Bay Tree flew the nest a couple of days ago along with both their parents and have disappeared. I sometimes wonder if the lone male Blackbird is in fact the father of my Blackbird chicks and has for some reason turned into a psychopath and is now hell bent on destroying his family.
This morning the chicks looked very de-shelved and I was convinced the younger one was dead as he did not move when I touched him or respond to my offer of food. I managed to coax the eldest chick to eat some egg, but the middle size chick was not interested. I think they had a very tough, cold wet night. In the afternoon the rain stopped and out came the sun. This seemed to bring new life into the chicks and to my great surprise and joy, even the youngest chick was up and begging for freshly made boiled egg. Keeping out the rain saved these chicks and gave them time to dry out, I am thoroughly amazed how resilient these tiny and beautiful creatures are. I think and hope the worst is over. The mother trusts me now and the chicks think I'm their dad. The next chapter will be fledgling day and fighting off the psychopath in the Bay Tree.
I set about repairing the damage and used a sweeping broom to push up and support the Honeysuckle bush and this corrected the angle of the nest to normal. I also placed a medium sized plastic dust scoop on top of the bush to try and prevent the rain falling on the nest, which was just in time before for a heavy downpour of rain, and it does appear to have helped and very possibly even saved the lives of the chicks. The next day it rained constantly and it was obvious the dust scoop on its own was not enough. I decided to use a piece of thin ply wood which was a bit bigger than than scoop and put that on the bush as well and this has kept most of the vertical rain off the nest, but when the wind changes direction and blows on the front of the Honeysuckle, I worry that the rain will once more soak the nest, so I am keeping a plastic sheet handy just in case. I remember watching the mother bird return to her nest for the first time after I made the repairs. She paused for a couple of seconds on the fence lath just in front of the entrance to her nest and looked back through veranda window into my kitchen. I had been waiting for her to return and she turned her head and looked straight at me as if to say, I can see you have you made a few changes, but can I trust you?
I looked online for info on how to feed Blackbird chicks and most said Mealworms or dog food, which apparently are a good substitute when their normal food is not around. I purchased a small bag of dried Mealworms (89p) as I could not find the live version and this appeared to be the best option. However after rehydrating them I discovered that dried Mealworms are little more than empty hollow shells with little nutria. So I decided to purchased a cheap can of dog food from Morrisons (I am ashamed to say .45p) and carefully cut it into small pieces, sifting out any offal and bits of bone. At this time the chicks were little more than two or three days old and without any feathers, they appeared grateful for the dog food I gave them in between the meagre scraps their mother collected from the neighbouring gardens. However due to the poor quality of the dog food, I have today started feeding the chicks hard boiled eggs and they seem to be OK with it. Their mother desperately needs help looking after her young chicks especially now she is constantly harassed by a very aggressive male Blackbird who chases her away when ever she returns to or leaves the nest. I have grown to hate this male Blackbird as he does not appear to have a female partner, nest or chicks of his own and his sole purpose in life is to fight with other male Blackbirds and keep all the food in my garden for himself. The chicks in the Bay Tree flew the nest a couple of days ago along with both their parents and have disappeared. I sometimes wonder if the lone male Blackbird is in fact the father of my Blackbird chicks and has for some reason turned into a psychopath and is now hell bent on destroying his family.
This morning the chicks looked very de-shelved and I was convinced the younger one was dead as he did not move when I touched him or respond to my offer of food. I managed to coax the eldest chick to eat some egg, but the middle size chick was not interested. I think they had a very tough, cold wet night. In the afternoon the rain stopped and out came the sun. This seemed to bring new life into the chicks and to my great surprise and joy, even the youngest chick was up and begging for freshly made boiled egg. Keeping out the rain saved these chicks and gave them time to dry out, I am thoroughly amazed how resilient these tiny and beautiful creatures are. I think and hope the worst is over. The mother trusts me now and the chicks think I'm their dad. The next chapter will be fledgling day and fighting off the psychopath in the Bay Tree.
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