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The great tit, (Parus major ) the most studied bird in the world! Although its preferred habitat is deciduous woodland it is very familiar in our gardens as a frequent visitor to feeders and also frequently using nest boxes. With a summer population of around 2 million pairs here in the UK (2000) and its widespread distribution, it is very rewarding to attract a pair to use a nest box you have put up for them.
Great tit nest box – all looks quiet at a first glance!
Many birds will use a nest box with a hole, including blue tits, sparrows, wrens, treecreepers and a host of about 60 other species! In fact the size of the entrance hole can determine the species of bird that will use it. For example a great tit needs a 28mm diameter hole and the blue tit uses a 25mm hole entrance. This nest box has been used by both great and blue tits in the past.
Great tit checking out nest box
Females usually check out the nest boxes and if in situ over the winter, may use it to roost in during the cold nights. This one was used over the winter by a great tit. This may or may not be the same female. Sometimes they spend several minutes outside and then fly away. Eventually she will venture inside, no doubt to check the decor! If it is to her liking she will attract the attention of the male with his bolder and wider black stripe running down his breast as a badge of status, usually on guard nearby, with his familiar ‘teacher teacher’ call to assure her he is watching over her and remind other males he is there and this is his territory. The calling will decline as the nest season progresses.
Great tit female checking out internal decor before deciding to move in!
Once inside and after consultation with the partner, the pair then take several days to construct the nest itself. I helped out here putting out feathers from a pillar, small piles of dried moss from the garden, hamster bedding material, horse hair and sheep’s wool gathered from barbed wire alongside farmers fields. This would save the birds a lot of time and energy searching for warm, insulating nesting material. Then I let nature take its course……after which the female has to find a source of calcium and gorge herself before laying her eggs………..for more info….. http://bit.ly/szORPY
After sitting on her eggs for a couple of weeks……the result of her hard work?
Young, blind and featherless great tits- bet they are glad of the nesting material I put out to keep them warm!
The young helpless great tits have an almost insatiable appetite. All of the nine eggs in this nest hatched, now for the parents the real fun begins! Eat, sleep and grow! That is the life of these chicks for the next 3 weeks or so. This will be the parents’ only brood so they are determined to keep their young alive. It is their way of ensuring their DNA is passed on to the next generation.
Great tits- naked, blind and helpless- We want more food!
The parents will feed their young on a variety of invertebrates such as aphids, spiders, small beetles, caterpillars, bugs and other juicy insects, all full of protein to aid the growing birds to develop a sound bone structure. Not being as agile as other smaller tits, the great tit will regularly use the ground to search in its quest to find food and has even been seen climbing up and down tree trunks, similar to the nuthatch, so putting out live meal worms, which are really beneficial, in a saucer on the ground where the adults will readily take them with profound thanks!
Great tits growing larger inside the nest box
The diet is obviously working, which by now will include some small seeds, these great tits are growing with the plentiful food the adults are bringing to them. In fact one BTO researcher , Dr. Andy Gosler, who studied great tits for many years, calculated that the effort feeding chicks was equivalent to us humans bringing home over 100 kgs of shopping EVERYDAY for 3 WEEKS!!!
Great tits growing- soon ready to fledge from this crowded nest box
After their high protein diet of insects, the adults slowly introduce seeds to their young. For example, I often watch the adults taking sunflower hearts from my feeder and taking them straight away to the brood. Its high energy, oils and minerals makes it almost a complete for for birds at this time of their soon to be perilous lives!
Great tit- what are you looking at? !
Once all the chicks have fledged, the parents will still feed the young and travel some distance to find food, which will now include food put out by us in feeders and on tables etc. At this time unless food is available many may die. If lucky the parents will be around to show the youngsters how to hold food items and how to deal with large caterpillars, which are capable of clamping their jaws on the inside of the throat of young birds as they are swallowed by them, if they are not killed first. The adults kill the caterpillars by pecking their heads, in the process destroying the troublesome jaws, whilst holding onto the prey with one foot, the other foot grasping the twig or branch upon which they are sitting. They will also show them how to peck at larger seeds to break them into smaller more manageable pieces. After a couple of weeks the young will leave their parents and are independent of them.
Blue tit shouting to neighbouring great tit family ” Hey keep the noise down will you. I have a family trying to sleep in here!”
Just 10 feet away opposite the occupied great tit nest box a pair of blue tits successfully raised a family themselves.
Stuck for a Christmas present? Wanting to give your loved ones something different? Want more information about garden birds, feeding and nests go to : http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw
A quick snippet of information…..
Did you know that the bill of a Great Tit is longer in the summer than in the winter? Research by Andy Gosler and others has shown that winter bills are deeper and shorter, useful when tackling beech mast, whilst summer bills are narrower and longer, which makes it easier to grab insects. Their bills wear down during the course of the winter and grow in the spring. The amount that the bill shape changes also seems to depend on the percentage of beech mast present in the winter diet, which is linked to availability.
Not only does bill shape change between seasons, there are also differences between the sexes, with males having chunkier bills, especially during the winter. In winter feeding flocks, males and females will often feed in different ways, on different food items. The difference in bill shape may not be as obvious to us as it is for a Curlew, where a male may have a bill as short as 83mm and a female as long as 167mm, but it’s enough to make a difference when it’s time to look for lunch.
Stuck for a Christmas present? Wanting to give your loved ones something different? Want more information about garden birds, feeding and nests go to :
http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw
Refs….Besides my own experiences and observations….
Chris du Feu, (1993), ” Nestboxes. BTO Guide 23″, British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford
Perrins, C (1979), “British tits”, Collins New Naturalist Series, London
Toms, M & Stery, P (2008) ” BTO- Garden Birds and wildlife”, AA Publishing, Basingstoke, Hants
Web info used….
http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob14640.htm
http://www.bto.org/news-events/e-newsletter/e-newsletter-library/story-archive/did-you-know
I have a bird box at home which I am preparing for a group of great tits but I do not know what bedding I need to provide them with. Could you please let me know ASAP! Thank You!
Hi Darcy, Dog hair, sheeps wool, wool, cotton wool, dried moss will all help. Put them in a cheap plastic peanut feeder they will soon find it and use it! Cheers HTH, George
I have bird boxes complete with cameras. Come nesting season, I leave out an array of materials for the mating pairs to choose from (preserves their precious energy reserves as they can harvest bedding close to the boxes). Cotton wool is highly absorbent and is probably not a good choice as it will not dry out in the box if it becomes wet through normal body functions and/or if there is any external penetrating water. I tend to put out moss, hay, dog’s hair, sheep’s wool and very small twigs.
Yes Dinny, I have used sheets wool several times. Dog hair and moss has been used. Love the activity! Thanks for sharing ! Cheers, George
I have a blue tit box in my back garden and they have 7 babies tonight the magpie has taken 3 my husband has made the hole a bit small but not seen mum or dad what do I do next I need help please x
Birds such as Blue tits have evolved with magpies and other native predators of a very long time. They lay so many eggs to cater to this natural predation. See BTO nest boxes book for hole sizes. Best, George
I have a baby great tit looking out of the box for about 5 hours. Parents keep perching close by. Is this normal
Its probably one of several that poke their heads out Susan. Cheers George
The great tit box hole is big enough for a small tree sparrow .box has young in .should I make the hole smaller ?
Visit the RSPB site for nest hole dimensions may be a good idea. Cheers George
Right now, I have a little family of blue tits nesting in the nest box I put up last year. Every evening (and weekend) I watch the parents busily flying in and out of the nest. What puzzles me is that the parents seem to fly off at night and not return to the nest box. I suppose the little family will fledge soon. I take particular care around this time of year to keep my 4 feeders fully stocked with Sunflower seeds in one, mixed birdseed, nyger seed and peanuts in the others, so I am glad to read that the parent birds change from the high-protein insect diet, to include more seeds just before the babies fledge.
They do Clio and once they start to feed their young on seeds you are right in saying that they are almost ready to fledge. This year I had some fat with seeds in a coconut shell. Blue tits, great tits, starlings all came and soon polished it off. I saw the great tits take it to the nest box. I have made a video of the young birds to go on my web site when I get a little spare time. Cheers George
Hi Clio,
I feed birds all year round. I too try to vary the diet and put out food sources appealing to a wide range of species. When the young are in the nests, I either stop putting peanuts out in the feeders or crush the peanuts very finely to avoid choking the fledglings.
I hope this helps.
A decent stainless steel peanut feeder from a repeatable supplier is safe for young birds as only tit bits cha be taken. You are 100% right about whole peanuts. Cheers, George
Should I clean out the box when the tits have gone.
Absolutely, though wait a little longer. Check out RSPB and cleaning nest boxes. HTH, George
I have been given a great tit fledgling by a neighbour who has tried to put it on his flat garage roof away from his cat who wants to kill it. However it keeps flying off and on the ground it is very vulnerable as there are at least 3 other cats near by.
So it is very active and terrified if I come near it.
Please advise. Should I just put it in the undergrowth of a near by garden?
Check out the RSPB site they have some useful info there. HTH, George
I have 2 nest boxes with cameras and a over 1 and half years ago a Great Tit started roosting in one of them every night. Last Spring I thought that it would find a mate and nest in it, but it didn’t. It has been continually roosting but no nesting again this year. Is this normal? Thanks Frances
Hi Frances, I have come across this myself many many times. I had a nest box last year used by a blue tit to roost. They did not nest in it. Great tis have done the same, roosted overwinter and not nested. I think this may be a precaution against a build up of pests and they move to another nest and collect fresh material. HTH, cheers, George
All 5 great tit chicks died suddenly over night , they were about 7 to 9 days from fledging. I have a camera in the box and all looked well…any ideas
Are the parents alive? It may well be that the female was not sitting on them and they died of cold… Aw. G
I’m worried about my great tit family. They are constantly feeding and being attentive but a crow is constantly trying to get near today. I’ve scared it away so far but worried it will attack. The feeder is on the ground on my patio. I don’t think the hole is 6 inches deep?
I only use nest boxes designed by bird experts so all the dimensions will be right to provide the chicks with the best chances.
I live in Spain an had a great tit nesting in a large earthenware pot in the garden, there were about 8 eggs and they hatched about 3 or 4 days ago. Today there is nothing in the urn at all, can I assume they have died or been killed by a predator, we do have snakes around but I doubt they could get into the urn. Very upsetting
Hi Jenny, I think you have hit the nail on the head. Probably a predator has found them and taken them as food for itself or its own young.In the wild, bird nests are much harder to find for predators, but in gardens they are much easier and therefore there is more chance they will be found by a predator.Birds quite often select nest sites that are very easy to find in gardens…. thanks for sharing, George
we had great tits nesting all went quite,when we looked we found 3 eggs and 3 with feathers all dead don’t understand what could have happened any idieas
Hi Julie, several things spring to mind. The weather has been dreadful around here, very chilly winds and heavy rain. Cold and damp is not helpful to newly emerged chicks and they can die.This can have a detrimental effect on young birds. Heavy rain can knock caterpillars from leaves to the ground. Great tits depend upon this huge food resource in trees, if they have been knocked to the ground, they will die and great tits will have to search longer to find some on leaves in trees. This could cause young to starve. If one adult has been killed then again one parent adult can struggle to find enough food to feed its young.
Cheers, George
Hello George, just found your website. Great tits used one of my boxes, laying 10 eggs. 9 hatched, but the chicks seem to have fledged amazingly quickly. Similarly some robins. They laid 5 eggs but less than 10 days after I checked it, the nest is empty. I’ve not noticed the parents coming in with food, though they are discreet. Do you know if robins have more than one nest in a season? I saw an adult feeding a juvenile before these eggs had hatched, and given how territorial they are, it seemed unlikely to be an intruder. Thank you.
Hi Judith, Robins may have more than one brood, perhaps two if conditions are right. HTH, Thanks for sharing, George
Hi. Am I right in thinking that once the blue tits have fledged, they leave the nest for good and do not return and likewise the adult birds will also stop using the nest box?
Bob, in short yes..pests inside, predator knowledge, etc. Cheers, George
Hi. We’ve had a breeding pair of great tits in our nesting box, who laid 11 eggs, all hatched. Approx 2 weeks later there were only 7, and we only saw 5 fledglings emerge this week. What happened to the other 6 do you think as there’s no sign of bodies or bones?
Thanks
Graham
Hi Graham, Really interesting question! You say you had 11 eggs, all hatched?? Then 7, then 5?? As the birds have fledged it would be worth opening the bird box and teasing apart the nest material to see what, if anything can be found. That may give you an idea. Then remove everything from inside the nest box and simply pour boiling water into it to kill off any nasties.Then replace it. Let me know if you find anything! Thanks, George
Should I clear out the nest of the great tit box when thay have fledged
Yes and use boiling water inside nest box and return it to its site.
I’m feeling very sad. We had blue tits nesting for the first time in years in a box on the wall of our house. Recently there has been lots of chirping going on and the adult birds were incredibly busy going in and out feeding their babies. Then yesterday,nothing. Today my Husband looked into the box and said there is hardly anything in there. It’s not a box we can open though so not easy to see. Why would this be?
Its probable that they have fledged! Its a good idea to buy/make boxes that you can open to clean out and use again. After cleaning use boiling water with no bleach/similar as it is not needed. Let it dry and replace. Cheers, George
Hi,
This year we had three nest boxes used by blue tits during May. All three were deserted leaving the eggs in the box. We also had a great tit using a box around the same time, the garden is around a 1/4 of an acre. What do you think is the most likely cause?
Hi David, Several things spring to mind. The weather may have been unfavourable locally making the food supply poor for the chicks. One or both adults were killed. The parents may have been spooked by predators and abandoned the nest. The nest boxes may be leaking, allow wind to enter making nesting conditions unsuitable. Predators may have eaten some chicks or eggs.Clean them out with boiling water and replace, they will be used later in the year for roosting birds.Cheers, George
We have a family of great tits that have nested just under our guttering (it is a wooden facia which has a hole in the side so they are very safe!). We found a fledgling on the ground two days ago and left it alone as the parents were feeding it regularly. It seems to have been very happy and noisy in one of our shrubs, being regularly fed by the parents. However, this afternoon we can no longer hear its call and although the parents are still visiting the shrub and picking up sunflower seeds, etc, from the ground we don’t think the fledgling is there anymore? We’ve had lots of magpies around this afternoon and a lot of commotion. Could they have attacked the baby or is it possible it’s now able to fly and left the shrub? How can we tell? The rest of the nest is safe and well and parents are still feeding the young. Thank you.
Difficult to say Elena. Once fledged they stay nearby but will move way eventually. The parents would have been protecting their brood hence the commotion. Magpies have young to feed and only predate on chicks for a very short period of time when they need the protein. Other predatory species kill birds for pleasure 365 days a year….thanks for sharing, Goerge
we have great tits nesting in our bird box on the fence, the council are coming to replace the fence next week .if we move the bird box will the adults stop feeding the young ? at the moment they are both backwards and forwards, so they must have baby chicks what should I do?
Difficult one that.The fence men will disturb the birds from feeding as the replace the fencing. (Don’t forget your hedgehog hole!) Could they work it so that it is the last panel to replace in the day and remove nest box, replace new panel and put nest box up in same area on new panel? Cheers G
We have a family of great tits nesting in our camera box just now. We’ve had blue tits and greats nesting in it each year now for about 5 or 6 years. It’s a wonderful experience, but also very traumatic. There were eight eggs all of which hatched, but unfortunately a spotted woodpecker has found the nest and has already had two of the chicks. I’m now sat in my lounge and have been since 5.45am ready to frighten it off if it returns, which it has done once this morning. I know its only trying to feed it’s own young, but not with my babies it’s not, not if I can help it. Steve
Hi Steve, Put a metal or plastic cover over the hole with a hole cut in the middles of it of the same size as the hole in the nest box. This should stop the wood pecker enlarging the wooden hole. You can buy nest boxes with this metal plate already in situ. Thanks for sharing! Cheers, George
Morning back on guard duty again. Three times yesterday the woodpecker came and three times I chased him off. The box I have has the metal around the hole, thats not how he’s getting them. He gets hold of the nest pulls it out with the chicks still clinging to it. I covered it in anti pigeon spikes hoping that would deter him but alas it hasn’t. Next year I’m going to put an extra thickness of wood around the hole, creating a tunnel. Until then my chick vigil continues.
🙂 metal is better than wood !! Cheers G
Hi Steve,
We had a troublesome woodpecker visiting our nest box over several days. I could see his beak appear inside the box via our nest box camera. Each time his shadow appeared, the blind chicks lifted their heads for food! It was clear it was only a matter of time before he picked them off one by one. We decided, after much deliberation knowing the potential risk of abandonment, to modify the hole. The plan was to make it deeper and prevent the woodpecker from being able to reach into the box. When night fell, and the female was over the cup, we reinforced the hole with a 2-inch thick ‘frame’. It involved one screw, a hand drill and 5 seconds of drilling. The female was only temporarily disturbed and the risk paid off. The woodpecker has reappeared but discovered he can’t get to the chicks. We are happier and more optimistic the young will fledge in two weeks.
Hi. Just to let you know that we have moved the bird box with the great tits in (we moved it at night when the parents were with the chicks) it was only a couple of feet forward and we used bricks to heighten the stand we used so everything was as high as the fence and they are still backwards and forwards feeding the babies you can actually hear the babies squeaking now so they are getting stronger, so if anyone needs to move a box I suggest doing it at night when all is asleeo goodness knows what our neighbours thought though creeping around in the dark!!!!!
Hi Dinny
Thats exactly what i was going to do, but like you I was afraid it might disturb them. Sadly despite my efforts to frighten him away his determination is paying off and we only have two left. But i will do that tonight and hopefully it’ll work and be woodpecker proof. Its heartbreaking to see it happen as I’m sure you already know. Good luck with yours.
Hi Steve,
You will find photos of the alteration to the nest box with this link:
http://birdboxcamera.tumblr.com/
Do let me know if your babies survive.
Good luck,
Dinny
Hi Dinny I’ve made the outer part ready to go on but luckily I’m glad to say our remaining two are about to fledge as they’re about 8 or 9 days in front of yours. So rather than risk upsetting the apple cart I’ll continue with guard duties till they go. We didn’t see the woodpecker yesterday hopefully fed up with being chased off. Thanks for the link I love your box very contemporary 🙂
Hi. We have had a nest box up for several years, no birds used it until his year. We can hear the young cheeping from several yards away. I assumed that since it was intended for blue tits, and had a small hole, that we had blue tits, but they are actually great tits. Presumably, they excavated out the entrance hole to fit? On another point, are dried mealworms OK for the young?
They are Alan but soak them in water overnight, otherwise they can dehydrate the chicks who get their fluids from living caterpillars. It depends on the original size of the hole 32mm great 25mm blue tits. HTH, Cheers G
we have a nest box in our garden fitted with a camera. We have watched the great tit build the nest and go on to lay 9 eggs. All but one of the eggs hatched we have watched the parents feeding the chicks and have plenty of food, sunflower hearts, niger seed and coconuts with fat and seeds but sadly the chicks are dying one by one. We are now down to 3. It is 9 pm and one of the chicks is still chirping for food and the mother is being it on the nest where there are dead chicks. What has gone wrong?
A whole host of things can go wrong Elaine. There may be only one parent, chicks need insect food such as caterpillars, there may be a lack of them. Try soaking mealworms overnight and offer them in a dish for the great tit adults to feed their chicks on. Only one chick and one adult may survive to breed next year.That is how nature has evolved for these birds.its natural HTH cheers G
Well we are now down to 2 chicks on day 16. Both of them are of a good size. There has been no sign of the male for the last 3 or 4 days but the female is still coming in and feeding them. We are confident that both of them are going to leave the next probably in the next couple of days so fingers crossed. Our little female great tit has done a stirling job. There have been a couple of blue bottle flies coming into the nest probably to lay eggs so my husband is unsure if he should completely empty the nest once the chicks have left or should he leave the nest but remove the chicks that didn’t make it in case the great tit has another brood. Any advice would be welcome
I would completely remove and use boiling water to clean nest box, then it dry completely and put it back up. Birds costs in them overnight, esp in winter. Not sure great tits will have another brood… if only one is left of pair highly unlikely. Cheers, George
both birds have now left the nest the first one on the 18th day and the second one the day after. We glimpsed the second one on the lawn just in time to see a neighbour’s cat get hold of it. We chased after the cat and thankfully it dropped the chick which fluttered off into some shrubs. My husband watched the garden for another hour before he had to leave for work and the female was keeping her eye on the chick. When I got home from work there was no sign of either bird so fingers crossed the cat never came back and the chick managed to fly off to somewhere safer. It’s been a very traumatic experience from start to finish but to say nature is amazing is an understatement. Thank you for your advice
My pleasure Elaine. Cheers, George
Hi Dinny/Graham
Well we made it betweem my wife and I we managed to keep the woodpecker at bay and the final 2 chicks fledged today. Not the best of weather and I know its just the start of their dangerous little lives, but at least we’ve done our best for them. I’ve fitted the extra thick entrance now and replaced the metal rim so hopefully next year the woodpecker won’t be such a problem. Hope yours are still doing ok
Congratulations!!! I am so pleased for you. It is amazing how attached we have become to these young, I turn the camera on first thing in the morning to see the female leave the nest and keep it on for long hours to watch the ongoing nurturing.
The young in our nest box are close to fledging, maybe another five days. The parents are bringing in big, fat, juicy spiders (some so large the young almost gag), craneflies and caterpillars of all descriptions. We are down to five babies but not because of the activities of the woodpecker. Good luck with next year. Dinny
Great, hopefully sort that issue! I have dunnocks and blue tits chicks. I will be doing a film on the blue tits shortly so do visit the site. Cheers, George
Help please.
I don’t know what to do, we have great tits nesting in our box and there are babies in there. The little chirps have been getting louder each day and mum and dad have been happily feeding them.
Today, there’s no sign of mum or dad. I’ve been sat watching for a couple of hours now and the babies are really noisy. I’m worried. 🙁
Difficult one that Paula. If you have n’t seen the parents something untoward may have happened. Just keep watch they literally dive in and out, you may have missed them.Try contacting the RSPB, RSCPA for advice if you do not see them. Feeding them by hand could turn out to be a long job! Hope you sort it out Cheers, George
I’m so sad, had an active pair of blue tits parents, for 7 days cared so well for brood, that called out loud and happy then, the weather changed and parents abandoned. Sadly chicks died. I could stand to leave nest until later in season so yesterday opened box. There were six babies in a beautiful well constructed nest, could see the poo stacked neatly to rear of box. I cleared contents and used hot water to sterilise. I’ve hygienically disposed of contents. I’m not sure I can go through this sadness again next year but put box back up again. I can only think it was the sudden, wet and windy weather as I did observe the parents returning without any food, think they just gave up.
Wet and windy weather is no good for blue tit chicks. The wind and rain can knock caterpillars, their main food resource, off tree leaves. A day or two of this weather can prove fatal to chicks. Thx for sharing George
Hi
We’ve had a pair of great tits doing a fab job with their nest and heard lots of chicks chirping, and much activity with the collecting of food!
As we have no camera in the box, we are unsure how many chicks, but literally overnight there is nothing! No noise and no activity.
We’re hoping it because they have fledged but are worried something else has happened 🙁
How long should we leave it before we take the box down to have a peak?
Thanks Clair
I suspect they may have left. Just watch a while and if not adults return, by all means open up and clean it out, then put it up again. Cheers, George
Thanks George, opened up the box and spotless apart from the compact nest material!!
So great news looks like all the chicks have fledged but feel cheated we didn’t get to see them! New box with camera on order!
Apart from a bit of poop the nest is really clean, no shell or nasties, should I completely empty it though and clean with boiling water or leave the bedding intact?
Thanks 😀
Yes completely Romove and put on compost heap! Boiling water, dry and replace box. Cheers G
I have a pair of Great tits that that have taken over the robins old nest box. It is a robin nest box with a large square opening to it and they have just jammed it full of nesting material, does anyone know if this is unusual?
I am aware that Great tits will use larger nest boxes and line it with nesting material, even though it is not required. This sounds like a very useful adaptation of an otherwise unsuitable nest box! Gotta hand it to them. thx for sharing, George
Thanks for the reply George I’ll watch them with interest at the moment I can’t see how they will get in and out without knocking all the extra material out of the nest
Yes unusual that. Send me a photo please. Thx G
Hi
I have great tits nesting in a box in my garden. I have been observing them daily and have noticed that the parents are both out finding food and are now taking seeds from the garden feeders into the box, which I think is a sign that fledging might occur soon. For years I have watched nesting broods but have never seen fledging and would love to see it. Is there any specifics to look out for or any time of day it usually occurs? I also have 2 cats and want to make sure that any unsuccessful flying birds aren’t prey for the cats!! So I’m happy to keep them in the house for a few days if needed!!
Hi Laura, Fledge time early morning 🙂 better get to bed early Cheers G
Hi, I have a pair of Great tits nesting in a traffic cone in my garden. I looked in 3 days ago and there were 5 open beaks looking up at me as they have nested at the bottom of the cone I am unable to see how old the chicks might be. Mum and Dad are regularly coming back and fro with food but I am worried that when they are ready to fledge the chicks wont be able to get out. Any advice on what i can do would be appreciated.
A traffic cone in your garden? 😉 I assume it is standing the right way up? I can only think of putting a stick or two down towards the nest for them to climb up, or when you see the parents trying to wean the birds out and nothing happens, you may consider simply lifting the cone off and hoping the birds will fly to shelter. They usually fledge early morning…. HTH George
There is one pair of great tits coming in my hand made bird house I want to know why they are so confuse while living in bird house or the will take some time .”
Sorry Vikram, Don’t understand your question. Cheers, George
We had two great tits who laid 5 eggs which all hatched.theparents fed them well,all got their feathers when suddenly 3 dead and two dying.they died over next 24 hours.why? We’re they poisoned or what?
We emptied out box and scalded it out and now the mother sleeps in the empty box almost every night.so sad!
Hi Jo,
I had a similar experience myself this year and in the past. Its likely they died of a lack of food. Thanks for sharing. George
Cleaned out box 2 weeks ago. Inserted a camera. Next day a tit appeared. It leaves early and returns just before dusk every day since. No activity other than tbat. No other birds. Would it be a female ? I think it might be a blue tit ? Any ideas . Ray.
Probably as females will use nest boxes to roost overnight in the winter. It may also be a Blue tit that is awaiting better weather before she builds her nest. HTH Cheers, george
Hello, l have a bird box in the garden that l haven’t cleaned out. I have noticed some great tits have been going in and out of the box. I thought they were building a nest, to my surprise they are removing the old nest that is in there.
Are they removing the old nest, to then make a new one ?
Hi Christine, that sounds highly likely.They would not waste their time spring cleaning for another bird! Thanks, George
I have 2 bird boxes in my garden, one for great tits which have been going in and out and a blue tit box about 15 feet apart but same fence,great tits won’t allow the blue tits anywhere near their potential nest box.what do you suggest?
Move Blue tit box where GT can’t see it. Both birds feed on similar prey so become competitors. HTH, cheers G
HI I WAS WONDERING IF ANYBODY HAS SEEN BLUE TITS TAKING OUT BEDDING THEY HAVE JUST PUT IN ITS A NEW BOX SO IT WAS EMPTY WHEN THEY BEGAN ITS LIKE THEY CANT MAKE UP THERE MINDS SEEMS ORE GOING OUT THAN IN HOPE YOU CAN HELP WERE NEW TO THIS MARCH 27TH 2017
It’s possible that they can’t make their minds up but more likely another female is removing the nesting material another female has put inside. If so eventually one will win the nest box battle! Cheers G
I have Great Tips nesting in my garden in a box. We have heard the chicks for the past week and have been watching the very busy parents tirelessly to-ing and fro-ing with tasty spiders and grubs etc. I don’t know how many chicks there were as we don’t have a camera but they were very noisy when they knew food was coming! Activity from mum and dad slowed over last couple of days. Found a pile of black feathers on the lawn this afternoon and one chick hopping around the garden. Parents are still feeding him but are much more nervous coming down to the ground. Is there anything I can do to help? Do you think others have perished or successfully flown? Thanks.
Difficult to say Holly. If all the feathers are black/brown they well well be that of another bird, e.g. blackbird or robin. They may still be inside the nest box if that is the case. I have Blue tits feeding right now. Thanks for sharing, George
We’ve been watching a pair of great tits nesting in an old pump. They’ve been feeding four chicks successfully for about a week. The chicks started chirping yesterday however, we have not seen either adult since 11 a.m. Is it too soon to think the chicks have been abandoned?
Sometimes one adult is killed a s happened to my Blue tits last year and the female carried on although most of her chicks died….
https://nurturing-nature.co.uk/wildlife-garden-videos/6-blue-tit-chicks-die-in-my-nest-box-in-worst-year-ever-2016-video/
Hi, we have blue tits nesting in a box in our garden for the first time. We can hear the young chirping when parents arrive with food, this chirping only started a day or so ago. We are expected to have work done in our garden, scheduled for the next week or so but it is right underneath the post holding the box in place. How long would it be before they fledged the nest and would the work disturb them? We are having existing decking ripped and and slabs laying right under them so will be quite noisy/busy….. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
It wont be to long now.. hang on in there as Blue tits had a terrible year lost year…. HTH, Cheers George
Thankfully bot h adults have been in and out of the nest, frantically feeding since Friday evening. The rain and a noisy 4 year old grandson probably made the adults far more cautious than usual. I am deeply relieved as I truly believed something untoward had happened. Phew
Phew! Thanks for sharing, George
Help great tits have hatched burds busy feeding but my cat has sussed what can I do I’m worried…
Hopefully they will stay in the trees and be reasonably safe from the predatory cat orkeep it indoors until they leave your garden? Cheers G
I have 2 best boxes with cameras, now. Initial box has had Bluetits nest almost every year with varying successes. This year is a first a successful brood of great tits, 7 eggs + 7 chicks until day before yesterday calamity! Visitation of a predator took 4 chicks + nest material! Hubble straight up ladder + fixed metal plate. suspected magpie/Great spotted woodpecker- as both seen in locality. unsure which but saw a long black beak enter via camera returned but didn’t manage to claim anymore. Fingers crossed remaining 3 mature to fledge! Any ideas? Thanks Sue
Yes you can buy a product to stop this…find it on this site.. https://www.livingwithbirds.com cheers G
Last year we fitted a camera to our nest box and to our delight great tits moved in. 9 eggs were laid with 8 hatching. Shortly after the male stopped coming so we could only assume it had died leaving the female alone to feed them. One by one they died until only 2 were left which considering only the female was left was a good result however the last chick was caught by the neighbour’s cat as soon as it left the nest box. We managed to chase it and it let go of the chick which flew into some bushes. We could only hope it survived. This year we had great tits again but after the trauma of last year we could only worry about what the outcome would be. Well to say it has been fantastic is an understatement. 7 eggs were laid with all of them hatching, one fell out of the nest early on and died but the other 6 have all thrived. One left the nest yesterday and the other 5 have gone today, what a stirling job the parents have done. We can only hope that they survive now they have left the nest.
Hopefully a few may survive. George
Blue tits have made a nest in our meter box, on the side of the house and about ~10 days ago they have hatched. In about 10 days builders were going to put on scaffolding around the house to redo the roof. Will the Blue tits be affected by that and is it better to postpone the work or will the fledglings have flown the nest? What would be best?
It would certainly hamper/distract the adults flying in and out. they are not chicks for too long and will fledge in a short time… its up to you, wait a few weeks longer? George
Good evening. We have a nest box with a camera and we have been watching great tits hatch and grow. There are four young, three of which will clearly be ready to leave the box in a few days, but the fourth bird is way behind. It is frustrating to watch the much larger siblings take nearly all the food. When the larger birds leave the nest, do you think that the parents continue to come back to feed the late developer? Many thanks. Regards, Robin
That Robin is an intersting question. There are factors which the parents will have to consider.i think all in all they would feed the 3 giving them more of a chance than wasting time, energy and effort on one weak sibling. Let me know what happens please. Thanks, George
Thank you for your reply. It was clear last night that the three larger birds were ready to leave. The much smaller fourth bird was nevertheless still very active. Early this morning the three larger birds had left the nest and the smaller bird was on its side, but still breathing. The mother did return to tidy the nest as usual. My impression is that she might have continued feeding, but the bird was unresponsive. Sadly the little bird has died and nature is taking its course. Regards, Robin
Hi,
I have, i presume, a female great tit who goes in my nest box every evening since early feb this year, but no nesting material in it yet. Is it too early for nesting as its now late march? Or is she waiting for the weather to warm up?
Same thing happened last year, i thought they were going to nest, but alas was not to be!
James ditto here. It’s the weather.
Watching our Great Tit babies grow – amazing to watch them turn around, present their bottoms to their parents where a quite solid white globule comes out and is flown off with. Also the mother spends a lot of time almost doing headstands in the box and rummaging under the chicks – presume she is checking out for parasites? bird droppings?
Probably both Nicky. Cheers, George
On Monday of this week I looked in my nest box and there were 9 blue tit eggs.Today I saw a sparrow going into the box and when I looked in the box was empty no eggs or shells completly empty, will the sparrow have predated the eggs?
Doubt it Stuart. They are not bird predators, and something else has taken them unless they have flown the nest. Cheers, George
We have just found our 4 great tits chicks all dead in there nest, we have a nest box’s hidden under a wisteria and we heard the chicks chirping away last week, we thought the birds had flown the nest, how could this happen?
I’m not sure, Lee, lack of food in area or one parent killed and not enough food fed to chicks. Sad. George
How long from hatching to fledging for great tits?
It depends on many factors, food, weather, try RSPB web site for more precise answer. Cheers, George
Hi all,
I’ve had the great pleasure of having an nesting pair of great tits. I’m new to having a garden which such a variety of birds visit, let alone nest so it’s been facinating seeing them build the nest and raising their young. They’re been frantically back and forth feeding the little chicks for weeks but I noticed this morning one of the parents acting strangely, lot’s of noise and hopping from one area to the next constantly looking down. I went outside and saw one of the chicks in the grass and then realised what had happened but my cat was outside. I know you aren’t meant to mess around without them and let nature take its course but I really would have been upset if my cat had brought the chick in so with gloves on picked the chick up and put it back into the nest.
Now I was concerned as for hours the parent was still squeaking around it’s last position but eventually I saw the chicks head at the bird box hole and the parent trying to feed. Then I realised the parent not releasing the food to the chick, instead encouraging it to drop out of the bird box. The chick followed the food and fell to the ground once more. I’ve left them to it this time as the cat is indoors but with another good week of weather ahead I can’t keep the cat’s indoors for long so my question to you lovely knowledgeable people is, what next for the chick? Fight or flight as it were? Will the chick either be strong enough to fly at some point or as it seemed not ready today is it likely to die either by a predator or from lack of food/shelter?
Thank you
Jess
Your cat Jess is probably a predator and will kill the bird. This is not really nature as the cat kills, not for food, which I suspect you feed, but to hone its hunting techniques, even though as a pet, it does not need to hunt. The chick will fly when it is fully developed and fledged. It cant fifgt a cat. Flight may be out of the question. Just keep your eye out and hope the chick makes it. Cheers, George
Thanks George, I’m aware that my cat would kill it if found hence why I had to initially put the chick back in the nest and got the cat indoors. Is it normal for the parents to encourage the chicks out of the nest before they seem ready?
Unfortunately I don’t know how many chicks they raised, it seemed by the noise more than one but upon reading it seems normal they would raise one or two so perhaps this was the weaker of two chicks but I’ll never know for sure.
The afternoon went on the parent was hovering around the back of the garden where I think the chick has hopped too. I kept the cat’s in for the rest of the day and I’ve not seen any tit since yesterday so let’s hope he gathered enough strength to fly away!
How long should I leave the nest alone before checking it and cleaning it?
We’ll put cameras in there fit next winter, ready for hopefully nesting next year
In 2016 Great Tits nested in our nest box(fitted with camera) 9 eggs were laid (one per night over 9 nights) then 8 chicks hatched. Sadly over the next 10 days all chicks died. Can only presume it was the wet, windy coolish weather that spring. We did notice that the parents removed the dead chicks. This year we again have Great Tits nesting, but only laid 4 eggs over a 6 day period, all 4 chicks have hatched and are now nearly fully feathered and being well fed by both parents . Mum has great problem keeping them quiet and still overnight..not much room for her in the overcrowded nest, just as well only 4chicks, Mum must be exhausted, the chicks shuffling keeps her awake most of the night and the foraging for food starts at dawn. We think the chicks might fledge sometime over next day or two. Costing us a fortune in live meal worms, going to breed my own next year. !! Starlings queue up for feeders being replenished every morning and evening..they probably feeding their chicks too, and the Robins, blackbirds, goldfinches, bull-finches and a pair of Thrushes. Nature is a wonderful thing !!
Glad you had success this year. It can take 4-5 months to breed your own mealworms. You could use dried ones as long as you soak them overnight. Thanks for sharing. George
I have a nest box with great tit chicks that must be almost ready to fledge (first time I noticed food being brought in by both parents was 12th May). Today, I am positive that 3 different adults have been feeding the chicks. I know long-tailed tits have help with feeding duties, but can’t find anything about this with great tits – is this common? Thanks in advance!
Hi Kirsten, I have not heard of this before either. Maybe an idea to phone BTO Garden BirdWatch team 01842 750050 HTH Cheers George
Hey all,
I did have a great tit family nesting in my bird box. All but one chick have fledged the nest. One chick is left behind. There was one a few days ago that tryried fleeing and fell on the floor, so i picked him up and put him back in the box. Im not sure i did the right thing. Also he sits on the edge of the nest hole and one of the parents has been back. Im worried he isnt able to fly. He is moving though. Any advice much appreecited. Do i leave alone and monitor or can i call someone to help?
Hi Urvi, It may be an idea to put it into a dense bush or similar at least the parents may find and feed it. Not sure who would actually come out to a wild great tit.Things like this cost lots of money…thanks for sharing
I have a camera box and had 7 chicks all but 3 have fledged. The parents have been feeding 2 of the remaining chicks however the 3rd chick is definitely the runt of the litter and is being ignored by the parents. Should I wait for the remaining two to fledge and pop food in the entrance hole for the 3rd one? It’s distressing to watch the young chick starving and I feel completely helpless.
Difficult call Rachel. Birds will invest in the well being of their young if they feel there is enough food for them to survive, and in some cases, they calculate that the fittest are worth feeding whilst other may not be worth the time investment in feeding…. HTH Cheers George
Hi, have new box with camera and great tits have been visiting for around ten days. No nest material yet but a daily twenty minutes or so pecking quite hard at the walls, think it’s the female, she also flaps her wings on the floor area. It’s now end of first week in April, still time yet?
Have enjoyed reading the comments and hope to add mine eventually.
Brian.
Hi Brian, still plenty of time. They will seek out other nest boxes and go through the same procedure every time, eventually selecting one. Signs of actually going inside is a favourable sign that she is narrowing her choice. Thanks for sharing, George
Hi there
I have a Bluetit box outside and it’s been used for the last 3/4 years, however last Saturday there was a showdown!!
The blue tits had taken up residency as usual backwards and forwards etc, and then appeared the Great Tits!!
They started to use the box too until all 4 were in and out and backwards and forwards etc!!!!
It’s only 1 box,only enough room for 1 family ..and so I watched with fascination the sharing what was going on!!
Well the day after..Last Sunday all became clear,
The Blue Tits had given up and now it’s just the Great Tits using the box, backwards and forwards with all those worms etc..
There are no discarded eggs or chicks outside on ground so I am fascinated what exactly is in the box!!(no camera.. birds have never nested in my other box with camera in!)
I have never had this happen before , and the little blue tits are still coming back acting restless looking at the box and then flying off..such a shame..feel for the little mites!!
Mesmerising though!!
Has any one else had this happen
Sue🐣
When nest sites are in short supply, the larger bird generally muscle their way in! In future buy a nest box with a 25mm entrance hole for Blue tits and 28mm hole for great tits. Place them so that they cannot see each other or the Great tits may drive away from the Blue tits who are competitors for food resources. Cheers, George
Hi we have a blue tit family in a camera nest box . The chicks have hatched at least 11, and we find watching them on tv very addictive.
One odd thing the mum regulars dives down under the chicks almost flipping right over. We cannot work out why as she never seems to have anything in her beak if tidying or eating. We wondered if she may be pushinh chicks from the bottom to the top.
Of course, that’s possible or she may be fluffing the material upwards to better improve the heat insulation. Cheers, George
Hi, I’ve got a nest box with camera. There are nine great tit chicks that look as they are about to fledge. I’ve seen the parents feeding them the live mealworms I’ve provided up to 1.00 pm yesterday. Since then I’ve not seen the parents (18 hours as I write this). Is this the normal strategy they use to make the chicks leave the nest or has something happened to the parents. What should I do, wait and hope the parents return or try to feed them myself?
Have they already fledged David? It’s usually in the early morning that this happens. Are the chicks still alive? Have you seen any bumblebee activity around the nest? Birds don’t simply abaondon such an investment as their chicks. Phone the local RSPB rep and ask their advice. Cheers, George
Chicks still alive, seem healthy and up at the nestbox hole, but no sign of parents. What is the significance of bumblebee activity. Cheers David
We have great tit babies in bird box and they must be about 2 weeks old now. Both parents have been very busy every day feeding them until today, we havent seen the parents at all. It sounds like there are about two babies in the box. Could it be some have fledged? Would the parents abandon the ones that havent? Or has the worst happened, the parents have died? Poor babies, horrid to hear them calling and to think they will just die 😔 ive sat and watched for about an hour and still no sign. They usually pop in and out all the time.
We checked the box as all was quiet and still no sign of parents and sadly all the chicks were dead 😔 we have removed their little bodies. The parents must have been attacked as they had been so attentive. 1 baby was quite alot bigger than the rest. So sad.
Do we leave the nest in the box or clear it out?
Knock on the outside of the box a few times, you may have a bumblebee queen inside. If not and no sign of adults, clean out and scold with boiling water.
This is why they lay so many eggs. In urban areas, they are not as successful as rural areas simply because there is a distinct lack of oak trees which provide the BTs with their forage. Parents usually don’t abandon their chicks so something may have happened to one or both of them
Hi. I’ve had 7 great tit chicks in my camera nest box. 4 hatched on the first day and the remaining 3 a day later. This morning, 4 of the chicks appear to have fledged before I got up – they looked ready to go yesterday evening so I’m not surprised. The remaining 3 have stayed firmly in the nest box all day, despite some wing stretching and flapping. I’m wondering if these are the 3 younger chicks. They seem lively and are being fed, although not as regularly. Is it usual for chicks to fledge in 2 batches? I’m assuming/hoping the biggest 4 weren’t all predated overnight – I’ve heard plenty of calling in the garden today so think they have been around although I haven’t managed to get a good look.
Some are more adventurous than others but eventually, they will fledge.
A month ago, a great Tit laid 9 eggs in the nest box (camera) – they have still not hatched although every night she comes in, rearranges them and sits on them. In the morning she covers them and goes off for the day. How could she not realise they are dead? However, 2 days ago, we looked and she had laid 3 more eggs!!! She is still doing re-arranging, sitting at night and covering when she goes out. What on earth is going on??? Will the next ones hatch and just be on top of the old eggs? Could the old eggs possibly ever hatch?? I wi have to wait and see but on an emotional roller-coaster!!
There is a good book to buy British Tits by Christopher Perrins
Hello. We’ve had a brood of great tit chicks in our garden bird box which fledged yesterday. Might we expect another brood this year from the same parents? And if so, how quickly might we see the adults returning to the box? And should we clean out the next box now, or might the parents like to use the same nesting material for their second brood? Thanks for your help.
I believe they only have one brood, I would leave the nest in situ for a while, then clean out completely and replace nest box. Best, George
We have a great tit hatching chicks in nest, when female feeds she then sits on them & frequently wriggles around, does anyone know why?
Ask RSPB they may know. Cheers George
I have nesting Great Tits in my back garden. They have to fly across the garden to access the box. Will I disturb them if I garden quietly and gently out there? Thanks for helping if you can.
Mine are used to me pottering around my garden…. Cheers George
After 8 years I finally have blue tits using my nest box and busily feeding their young. Unaware, I have been mowing my lawn close by. Should I now stop mowing?
Good idea you may have some lovely wildflowers waiting to grow and flower! Cheers George
We have Great tits feeding their chicks unfortunately we have found out today that one of them has been killed by a cat, the other one has carried on feeding will it complete the job?
Hopefully, it will Vic. Cheers George
I’ve had several nesting boxes in garden for years, whilst nests have been built previous years it’s first time this year a box has been used to hatch eggs, no camera but can hear the chicks chirruping. Once the chicks have fledged do they still use box for a while? not sure when to clean it out. Just hope they survive as whilst we don’t have a cat it seems a number of cats in neighbourhood use my garden as a thoroughfare.
Doubtful they will reuse depending on species. Try the RSPB site where you can find useful info Viv. Cheers, George
im sure three adult great tits are feeding the clutch in my nest box
That’s a difficult call to prove without marking them Nigel. Occasionally wrens helps to feed tit chicks, not sure if another adult tit would feed them. Check out the RSPB forums.. Cheers George
I have great tits nesting in my nest box. The parents have been very busy feeding them for about three weeks now. I know they are almost ready to leave the nest but tonight at about 8:45 one of the chicks flew out of the nest box and landed on a cage that I have round my strawberry plant. It then went into some plants under the hedge. Neither of the parents were there so the fledgling is alone. The weather is quite warm at the moment so that shouldn’t be a problem but it’s dark now. Do you think the parents will find it in the morning?
Yes, I do. The RSPB offers some good advice about this very topic. May be worth checking it out. Cheers George
Hi George
We had some great tits nesting in a nest box in our garden and have looked forward to watching the parents relentlessly flit back and forth to feed the chicks but it has suddenly stopped with no sign of any fledgling s – is this normal or could something have happened to them ? we noticed the adults taking seeds from from our bird feeder to feed them so they must have been nearly ready to leave the nest.
All my blue and great tits fledge the other day.. probably so have yours. Cheers George
Hi George
When they fledge do they normally stay close to the nest and continue to be fed by the parents? Or would they just fly off somewhere else ?
That depends on where the food is.. the parents have to fly to collect it and weather, dense vegetation, etc etc., can determine where these little flyers can or will fly to. Cheers George
Hi We have been feeding two great tits since they fell out of the nest. I put hem back in but they kept falling out so we lined a box and put them in to be safe from magpies and cats.
We fed them on waxworms between their parents coming to feed them.
We had to bring them in during the night as the cats would have got them, we put them out again at dawn.
We watched one of the chicks come out of the box flap its wings fly up to the roof with its parents but we still have one left, it is a bit smaller than the other one. It flaps its wings but is unable to get any height and the parents are coming back less and less.
Can you tell me when to take the great tit chick in as it comes out of the box on to the floor, we are so worried about all the cats and magpies round here.
We are still feeding it waxworms but not to often as we do not want it to become dependent on us
Any help would be gratefully appreciated
Alex…………………..
OK Alex, replied to your other comment1 Cheers George
Hi no need reply as the last bird decided to fly this morning around 7ish, gave it a couple of grubs left it outside and its parent came down flapping its wings then they both went up to the roof. So that was two for two “successes”. yey. I will seal off the hole in the brickwork to discourage them nesting there again and put up a sturdy birdbox they can not fall out of next time they nest again.
Thanks for sharing Alex. Nice to hear of a success! Cheers George
Hi George,
We’ve had a female great tit nesting in a nestcam box since the 1st April and she’s roosted in the box every night since. Is it too late in the year for her to start laying eggs?
Thanks, Glenn
Probably Glenn. Cheers George
Thanks George it was a great feeling when they went off.
The dawn feeds was just like getting up to feed my baby,
walking round like a zombie lol.
Will keep putting some waxworms out sporadically over the next few weeks
as I do not want them to become dependent on me.
I will come back and let you all know if I get birds nesting in the
new bird box, I will put some of the old nest in the box to see if
it encourages them to nest.
Bye for now.
Hi there. I’ve been given a lovely nestbox made from a hollowed out tree branch (from Wildlife World). It seems very small inside – the diameter being only 8.5cm. Do you think this will be large enough for tits to nest? Thanks
Hi Jo Jo. Ask Wildlife World if you are unsure. It sounds like a solitary bee nest? Cheers, George
Hi, we had great tits nesting in a small terracotta pot on our balcony. All was well until a day or so ago when there was no activity from the adult birds and no noise from the chicks. Today there was a smell coming from the pot and unfortunately all the chicks have died. We emptied out 7 chicks all complete with feathers and almost ready to leave the nest. The weather here in Greece has been unseasonably hot these last couple of days – could this have been the problem?
Probably Jackie. It sounds as if it was simply too hot inside the pot, poor ventilation and poor choise by the birds. You may have to move it if you want to attract birds to a shadier place of by a proper bird nest box. HTH, Cheers George NN
We have great tits nesting in a box in our garden.There is a male blackbird who keeps going to the box with food and putting his head into the hole,he then seems to fly away with the food still in his beak.He watches the bird box constantly and follows the adult great tits backwards and forwards to the box.What do you think the blackbird is trying to do.Do you think he will harm the babies?
I have not come across blackbirds predating other garden bird chicks. He may just hear the chicks begging sound and either be curious or thinks it may be his birds! Cheers George