Blue tits nesting; when do they leave? (1 Viewer)

[mr smith]

hi there,

i have some blue tits nesting in my box

when will the young have left the nest? and the adults finished for the year?

im asking this as i need work done on hte hous and i dont want to disturb them

 

[KnockerNorton]

They'll probably be gone by the end of the first week of June. Depending on where you are in the UK, it could be anytime from very end of May to middle of June.

Have a peek in the box now, when the birds are away. They've probably only just started laying (or may still be building the nest). Is the nest lined with feathers and/or hair/wool? Can you see any eggs? Have a very gentle feel at the bottom of the nest cup, as the first eggs are buried until incubation starts. How many eggs? If none, but the nest is lined, they'll probably have started laying within a week. If there are eggs, then they'll be laying one a day. Assume there are 10 eggs, so that's 10 days for laying. Then it's 13 days for incubation. Then 3 weeks for the chicks to fledge. So that's 7 weeks to be safe, from the date of the first egg.

Just remember not to keep checking aroudn fledging time to see if they've gone. You could make them fledge early if they're disturbed at that stage. You'll know when they've left, as the parents will not be around bringing in food and there will be no noise from chicks in the box. Give it another day to make sure they've stopped coming, then have a quick look. Once they've left, they wont come back to roost or anything, so you can get on with your job.

 

[Ian Hamiltan]

thats if they dont decide to have another brood.

 

[KnockerNorton]

second broods are very rare indeed, so rare that i wouldn't bother worrying about it. A replacement brood, if the first is lost, could occur, but probably not in the same nest.

 

[mr smith]

They'll probably be gone by the end of the first week of June. Depending on where you are in the UK, it could be anytime from very end of May to middle of June.

Have a peek in the box now, when the birds are away. They've probably only just started laying (or may still be building the nest). Is the nest lined with feathers and/or hair/wool? Can you see any eggs? Have a very gentle feel at the bottom of the nest cup, as the first eggs are buried until incubation starts. How many eggs? If none, but the nest is lined, they'll probably have started laying within a week. If there are eggs, then they'll be laying one a day. Assume there are 10 eggs, so that's 10 days for laying. Then it's 13 days for incubation. Then 3 weeks for the chicks to fledge. So that's 7 weeks to be safe, from the date of the first egg.

Just remember not to keep checking aroudn fledging time to see if they've gone. You could make them fledge early if they're disturbed at that stage. You'll know when they've left, as the parents will not be around bringing in food and there will be no noise from chicks in the box. Give it another day to make sure they've stopped coming, then have a quick look. Once they've left, they wont come back to roost or anything, so you can get on with your job.

many thanks great advice! but they seemed to have gone already
||

they were building for about 2 weeks and now i havent seen them in a whole week?

very sad, have i upset them or does this happen alot?

 

[KnockerNorton]

They're probably in the laying stage. When they are laying eggs they spend very little time near the nest and you will probably not see them at all. They lay one egg a day until the clutch is complete, and only then does the female start incubating. During incubation you might see them more, as the male comes to take the female off he nest about twice an hour, but they often don't make much fuss and keep away from the nest while they're away, so as not to draw attention. While they're laying, like now, they keep wll away from the nest.

I'll put a tenner on it, that if you look in the box you'll see a few cold eggs lightly covered with lining at the bottom of the nest cup.

Also, there can be quite a lag between uilding and actually statrting to lay, if the female needs building up. It can be as much as a few weeks.

It's very unlikely that they've gone to the trouble of building a nest only to desert it. Even if one were killed, a replacement can usually be found within a day or two.

 

[Drayton]

They're probably in the laying stage. When they are laying eggs they spend very little time near the nest and you will probably not see them at all. They lay one egg a day until the clutch is complete, and only then does the female start incubating. During incubation you might see them more, as the male comes to take the female off he nest about twice an hour, but they often don't make much fuss and keep away from the nest while they're away, so as not to draw attention. While they're laying, like now, they keep wll away from the nest.

I'll put a tenner on it, that if you look in the box you'll see a few cold eggs lightly covered with lining at the bottom of the nest cup.

Also, there can be quite a lag between uilding and actually statrting to lay, if the female needs building up. It can be as much as a few weeks.

It's very unlikely that they've gone to the trouble of building a nest only to desert it. Even if one were killed, a replacement can usually be found within a day or two.

Thanks for this information. We have several nestboxes in our garden and I know at least three of them were being used to build nests, as there were frequent visits by the birds delivering nesting materials. Then about a week ago it went very quiet, with just a very occasional sighting of a bird visiting one of the boxes. After reading your post I now think they must be in the egg laying cycle, which explains the current lack of activity.

 

[woofer48]

They'll probably be gone by the end of the first week of June. Depending on where you are in the UK, it could be anytime from very end of May to middle of June.

Have a peek in the box now, when the birds are away. They've probably only just started laying (or may still be building the nest). Is the nest lined with feathers and/or hair/wool? Can you see any eggs? Have a very gentle feel at the bottom of the nest cup, as the first eggs are buried until incubation starts. How many eggs? If none, but the nest is lined, they'll probably have started laying within a week. If there are eggs, then they'll be laying one a day. Assume there are 10 eggs, so that's 10 days for laying. Then it's 13 days for incubation. Then 3 weeks for the chicks to fledge. So that's 7 weeks to be safe, from the date of the first egg.

Just remember not to keep checking aroudn fledging time to see if they've gone. You could make them fledge early if they're disturbed at that stage. You'll know when they've left, as the parents will not be around bringing in food and there will be no noise from chicks in the box. Give it another day to make sure they've stopped coming, then have a quick look. Once they've left, they wont come back to roost or anything, so you can get on with your job.

Hi , my nesting pair have fledged their young but one of the adults keeps returning to the nesting box and stays inside for sometime, why is this ?

 

[delia todd]

Probably just checking there are none left in there???

Hi Woofer and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Johnandmo]

hi there,

i have some blue tits nesting in my box

when will the young have left the nest? and the adults finished for the year?

im asking this as i need work done on hte hous and i dont want to disturb them