abandoned nest

11 years ago

The dad was never involved it seems. mama was doing great! she laid 5 eggs. i see 4 little mouths! but this morning around 6:30 was the last she has been seen...wondering how i can save these 4 little ones. I have been giving them bits of mealworms every hour. one has his eyes open. they all have tufted "hair" on their heads. I just wonder what anyone might think. I wonder what happened to the mama? I live in West central Indiana. judy

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

ohsoblue77
11 years ago
Judy, I would observe the box for a couple hours at a time and make sure you know if anyone is showing up. Also, you can place an obstruction like a blade of grass in the hole, and if it's gone you may have activity. Make sure the wind can't also remove it.

It's hard to say exactly what happened to the mother. Hawks, owls, pesticides, car accidents, etc. All possibilities. Unless you find a body, you might never know.

I've had several parents go disappearing and I know the sad feeling and thought about what may have happened. I've lost several female bluebirds, and just this year, my first couple male bluebirds. It's a tough world they endure.

If they're truly abandoned, try to find the number of a local wildlife rehabber and give them a call. You should look into this BEFORE an emergency occurs. Its good that you're feeding, but don't force feed them!

~Tim~

Here is a link that might be useful: Bluebird Widows, Widowers and Orphans
nicknackhummer
11 years ago
Judy, did the mom ever show up? The blade of grass trick that Tim mentioned is the best way to be certain whether the mom is around or not. She can sneak in really quickly.
Related Discussions
Why would a hummingbird abandon her nest?
Q
Comments (46)
I have a hummingbird nest precariosly balanced but sticking way out of an established ficus pemalia plant that has engulfed my column by my main entrance. I have several feeders and the hummers are always feeding. Recently I watched one buzz me and continuously return to her nest right there. We had a freak cold storm out of Alaska coming with freezing rain and strong winds. I know the nest is too exposed to survive it. I wanted to help protect it a little and I was able to install and umbrella in such a way as to protect the nest without ever having to touch it. Momma hummer was doing her due diligence to ward me off but I was done very quickly and still saw her. She did go back to the nest but when I checked on it later she wasnt there. I was very relieved to be buzzed by her the next morning but I havent seen her sit on the nest and now I havent seen her the rest of the day or evening. I am devestated that in trying to subtly protect the nest that i caused her to abandon it. Especially since she has dealt with my constant in and out of the front door the last two weeks. Will she be back? Did I cause her to leave? Input is greatly appreciated.
...See More
do bluebirds ever abandon nest?
Q
Comments (3)
They can but once the female starts incubating you don't see them very often. You may just be missing them. What you could do is very carefully take a sharpie and mark a small dot on one of the eggs and then check the next day to see if the mark has moved. The eggs are turned during incubation so the dot should not stay in the same place. Even if the dot doesn't move though give the eggs the proper 14+ days to hatch, so count from the day the last egg was laid and then at least 14 days from that date to decide if the eggs aren't viable anymore. I have had a male go missing when the female was incubating, he was gone for four days but she as still there. Good luck, hope you are just missing seeing them.
...See More
Abandoned nest
Q
Comments (0)
We moved into our house in March, and I was so excited to find that the previous owners had a bluebird box up and that we had a bluebird pair checking it out. Im honestly not a bird person but I am partial to bluebirds because they remind me of my mom. For 2 months I saw the bluebirds every day and there was a nest inside. One morning I woke up to find the front of the box on the ground. There were no eggs and no sign of any struggle and the nest was mostly in tact. We closed the box and secured it and within a couple of days the bluebirds were back and clearly working on their nest. The male was scaring off the other birds and I saw the mama bird peeking her head out from time to time. I thought all was well. Then about 2 weeks ago it seemed like they weren't coming around as much. The male was nowhere in sight so I went to check on the box and when I went near the hole, the mama bird flew out and startled me. That was the last I have seen of my bluebirds. About a week later, my husband opened the box to check on it and found the nest with an egg underneath. We closed it back up and waited but still saw no sign of the bluebirds. A few days ago, he took a closer peek, digging around a bit with a stick, and this time he found 4 eggs. We think they were probably all there the first time but he didn't dig so he only saw the one. All the eggs were under the nest, not on top like I'd expect. Still, we were hopeful that the mama was just being sneaky about when she came around, so we closed the box back up. Then yesterday I noticed something hanging out of the box so my husband checked again. 2 of the eggs were in pieces (the thing I saw poking out was a bit of shell) and 2 remained in tact. We took an egg in the dark with the flashlight and it looked empty so we cleaned out the nest in hopes that they will come back and start fresh. I'm so upset that this happened. Is it possible that by peeking in that one day I scared the mama enough to abandon her eggs?? I feel awful that I might be the reason for them leaving, and am looking for advice on how to get them to come back, and what to do differently so that we have more success next time. I so miss seeing them every day.
...See More
Abandoned Nest
Q
Comments (3)
Hi- just left a detailed message with another that they may want to leave their message on bluebirdnut.com, which is a more active site. This may be helpful to you as well. Has there been any bad weather or circumstances to delay the process for them? Once you are absolutely certain that the nest has been abandoned, you may want to clean out the box to give them or another couple another chance since it is still early in the season. Have you tried putting a blade of grass in the entrance to make sure there is no activity coming or going? Best of luck!
...See More
birdldy
11 years ago
What would cause bluebirds to abandoned 5 eggs in the nest box ? It's been over a week now have seen no signs of mom or dad, they have been hanging around for weeks now, so I decided to look in today, very sad. Should I clean out eggs and nest or just eggs? Never had this happen in this box. No bee hive in box. Thanks
dzyg
11 years ago
birdldy...they wouldn't unless something happened to the female or something happened to the eggs. Are the eggs intact, there are no holes poked in them are there? If they look fine (don't touch them) I would put a dot with a marker on one of the eggs today. Check tomorrow to see if the dot is in the same place or if it has moved. The female turns the eggs during incubation and sometimes they can be rather scarce during this incubation period. The female does not sit on those eggs 24/7 so hopefully you just aren't seeing her. If your dot is moved the day after you mark the egg, then she has been in there. If not then maybe something did happen to the female and the male left as he cannot incubate the eggs. Hopefully you just aren't seeing them but they are still there!

donna
birdldy
11 years ago
Thanks Donna, eggs are intact nest is perfect, looks like she never returned. I was seeing them all day long, he did not go far . I have been feeding meal worms here for years. I will put a dot on one just to make sure, and see what happens but I would have seen them by now. The male would chase anythng that got near that nest box, no action out front what so ever for over a week:(

Kelli
sagrinin
11 years ago
Bird lady, that happened to me. I had four eggs. All of a sudden I didn't see the parents for awhile, then I would see a male every once in awhile. I waited to make sure and put a mark on the eggs, Eggs were not turned. Finally a wren got them and pierced them. Eggs were not viable. Then a nest was built in another box. I assumed something must have happened to the female and the male got another mate. Two lived out of four of those.

abandoned nest

Comments (6)

ohsoblue77

nicknackhummer

Related Discussions

birdldy

dzyg

birdldy

sagrinin

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US