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Mother robin sitting on her dead babies (1 Viewer)

danielledianne

New member
Hello,

We were watching excitedly as a mother and father robin were taking care of a nest of 4 eggs which she built on our exterior light fixture by our front door. The babies hatched on this past Friday ( 4 days ago ), and we saw the mom with the little worms to feed them in her mouth. VERY UNFORTUNATELY our cat got out and attacked the nest on Sunday evening. He had one of the babies in his mouth which he dropped when I shook him. The nest and the three other babies had fallen 6 feet to the rock garden. We fortified the bottom of the nest with a paper sack because it no longer had a bottom, we replaced the 4 babies into the nest (assuming the one that was in the mouth of my cat was dead but not sure). The other three babies were breathing. The mother has been sitting on that nest for almost 2 days now, and she is not making any effort to collect food. They must be dead, right? My question is how long will the mother sit on the nest if her babies are dead? And would it be more humane for me to take the nest down and dispose of the dead babies and the nest so that the mother can move on? Thank you for any advice!
 
Hi danielledianne and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

I'm so sorry to hear about this sad incident. But my advice would be to leave them alone (is it possible not to use that door for the time being?) She will know when it's time to leave. Maybe the male is bringing food in when there's no sign of anyone about.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
 
Welcome to Birdforum! I am sure that you will find lots to interest you here and I hope that you enjoy your visits.

I would leave the nest alone.
 
Hi Danielle and a warm welcome to you from me in Myrtle Beach.

I am so very sorry this happened to the Robins. But as others have stated, it is best to stay away from the nest site for awhile and see if anything productive starts happening. Fingers crossed and prayers said.
 
Thank you for this advice. Yes we can avoid using that door. It's so sad watching her there. Do you know would the mom and dad be able to have more babies this year? Or do they only do this once a year?
 
Hi again danielledianne

From the information I've been able to glean, they often do have a second brood; and may or may not re-use the nest. Sometimes constructing the second nest on top of the first one.

I hope this helps.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the Robins.
 
Welcome! That was really a sad incident but is it part of the nature and animal instinct. Pretty sure the parent robins could move on.
 
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