Bluetit Diary    May 2006 (12)

Here comes either Claire or Sam with a late feed for the three chicks.  They all seem equally healthy and eager for food.  However, from what happened later, it is clear that one of the chicks must have been suffering from something.

Similarly this is a picture taken of Kate's chicks just before lights out.  It shows all eight chicks which is the maximum we have seen at a time since they hatched out.

But what's this?  It is first thing this morning and one of Claire's chicks appears to be lying at the bottom of the nest cup.

A quick check of Kate's chicks shows us that there are still eight chicks there and eager for food!

Watching her behaviour, it appears that at first Claire (and Sam) is unaware of the problem that one of her chicks has.  I suppose she is programmed to get on with feeding the rest rather than worry about what might have happened to the unresponsive one.

Finally she starts to take notice of the chick that is clearly now dead.  She first tries unsuccessfully to move it out of the nest cup at about half past eleven.

As is shown here, she tries again an hour later and although this time she manages to pick it up, she is still not successful in removing it from the nest cup.

Just before 2 o'clock she makes another attempt.

This time she manages to get it to the nest box hole but cannot manage to get through the hole with the body in her beak.

This shows her trying to fly out while carrying the dead chick.  The hole is a fairly tight fit at the best of times and she finds it impossible to go though it with the load that she is carrying.

After many such attempts she sensibly gives up the struggle and gets on with feeding her remaining two chicks.  The body is left just beneath the entrance hole.

Both parents pass over the body as they come and go during their normal feeding routine.  They appear to have forgotten about it.  Of course, such behaviour will have survival advantages.  Worrying about what you can do nothing about is a totally useless activity!

Although the parents appear not to notice the dead body, flies certainly do!  Flies are arriving in increasing numbers and we face the prospect of seeing a body crawling with maggots before too long.

Realising that the parents are unlikely to desert the chicks at this age, we decide that I will have to remove the dead body.  We also agree that the sooner it is done the better as this will allow more time for feeding to be re-established before nightfall.

The design of the box and the location of the chick's body make it a simple affair.  The box lid hinges up and so does the baffle which holds the lighting system and stops the birds from getting up to the camera area.

Here you can see what the camera is looking at when the lid of the box is raised.  The collar was added by me in an attempt to prevent birds from getting into the roof space.

This shows me lifting the baffle in order to get at the nest area beneath it.

It is then a simple matter of picking up the dead body and dropping it outside for later removal.

A couple of minutes later and it's all over.  The remaining chicks are cowering in the nest cup but I didn't have to go too near them because Claire has done the difficult job of taking the body out of the nest cup and putting it near the entrance hole.

About five minutes later Claire was back with some food for the chicks.  Much to our relief, it was business as usual!

And how have Kate's chicks fared today?  Well, here are seven gapes ...

... and here with a bit of effort you can see all eight chicks.  Well, that's a relief then!!