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Dead Bluebird on nest with eggs

9 years ago

Earlier today I witnessed two females fighting with one male flying around them. There is a nest box in the area with eggs in it. I have never seen this before - they ended up on the ground a lot wrestling. A few hours later I decided to check the next box. It opens from the front and I could immediately see feathers sticking out of the nest. I tilted the nest a bit with a stick and there was a dead or dying bluebird on the eggs. The bird never moved. I closed the house back up. There are at least 4 to 5 eggs. A few hours later I noticed a male and female on the box. I went over and checked and confirmed the dead bird was still inside. I decided to remove it and leave the eggs. The male and female are at the box again and are now going in and out. Should I remove the eggs?

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Comment (1)

parkernicole01
9 years ago
Oh- how sad. I think the current female will want to lay her own eggs since it seems the existing eggs are from the female that died (hate that). Assuming the male is/was mating with both. Make absolutely sure the new female is not incubating those eggs. I just left in the previous message ways you can tell f the eggs are currently being incubated. My assumption is that they are not. After you know for sure that she has no interest in those eggs, remove them. You can try leaving the nest to see if they'll lay eggs in that nest, but you may end up removing the nest too, so they can build their own nest. Sorry about the loss of one of your females. Bless her heart!
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