Author Topic: help please nest problems (Read 3813 times)

demonfarmer2630 · « **on:** July 01, 2015, 08:27:04 pm »

i found out theres a song thrush nesting near my house and untill today my cats havnt gone near the nest today the one cat has knocked the nest over 4 times and iv replaced the babys evertime and i know what your thinking the mum wont come back but she has every time im keeping the cats in for now but its not fair on them so i need to either move the nest and hope she goes to them not really wanting to move them though or find away to keep the cats away please help and i know its natural for cats to kill birds but there not killing them they bring them to the house and they arnt even hurt what can i do please help asap

doganjo · « **Reply #1 on:** July 01, 2015, 08:35:47 pm »

I have been there - you have little choice

Let your cats out, nature will take it's course and they will kill them
Move the nest and the mother will in all probability abandon them and they will die

Your cats will probably still find the nest.
Sad but true

in the hills · « **Reply #2 on:** July 01, 2015, 08:40:19 pm »

Difficult to say whether or not it's possible without knowing exactly how the nest is positioned but my sister once secured a nest that was being attacked by both cats and magpies by securing a chicken wire 'bubble' around it. The 'bubble' was strengthened by a framework of thicker strands of wire and had 'bird-sized' entry hole. It did work and bird continued to feed young and they fledged successfully.

My father cut down a plant on one occasion and hadn't noticed a nest (he did check first but didn't spot it). He secured the nest back in place with wire.

HTH .... Good luck

Cross posted with Doganjo.

doganjo · « **Reply #3 on:** July 01, 2015, 08:43:17 pm »

I tried the chicken wire route too but my cat managed to pull it apart

demonfarmer2630 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 01, 2015, 08:55:48 pm »

nest is 4 foot off the ground in a buddliea and its too low

doganjo · « **Reply #5 on:** July 02, 2015, 08:14:51 pm »

The nest my cat got was in a purple beech tree - right at the top. Wire netting all round the base up to a height of 5 feet didn't stop her.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #6 on:** July 02, 2015, 09:20:37 pm »

Interesting that your cats are not actually killing the birds, but are bringing them to you as gifts, undamaged.

Although it's 'natural' for cats to kill birds, the population of cats is way, way beyond what you would expect in a wild population. This means that the normal predator/prey balance doesn't exist, a situation which is not natural at all, due to the human support for one species and not the other.

I like in the hills' idea of protecting the nest with a chicken wire ball. You would need the ball to be large enough that a cat's leg couldn't stretch to the nest. We did this once for a martin's nest which had been washed off the wall. We repaired it with mortar, wire mesh and baler twine, and restuffed it with sheep's fleece. Not only did that lot fledge, but they raised another brood in it.

I think though being practical that the only real way to protect the nestlings is to keep your cats in until a couple of days after the birds fledge, to give them time to learn to fly strongly. Many cats are indoor livers and never go out, so for yours to stay in for a week or two would be fine.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #7 on:** July 25, 2015, 07:05:27 pm »

demonfarmer2630 - what happened with your thrushes in the end?

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #8 on:** July 30, 2015, 12:04:43 pm »

You need to keep cats away for the first few days after they fledge, too. They're not up to speed on predator avoidance until a good ten days after fledging. We moved here with a couple of elderly cats but didn't replace them after they died and the local bird and wildlife have increased manyfold. In the immediate vicinity of the farmhouse we have nesting house sparrows, blackbirds (now on their third hatch), swallows, grey wagtails, robins, wrens, blue, great and long-tailed tits, dunnocks, wood pigeons, green and lesser spotted woodpeckers, song thrushes .....